1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, April 25, 2022 6 9:00 a.m. 7 Commissioners' Courtroom 8 Kerr County Courthouse 9 Kerrville, Texas 78028 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 T. BECK GIPSON, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Public Input. 5 4 1.1 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 8 action to authorize the Kerr County 5 Commissioners' Court to obligate the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for projects 6 including but not limited to the new countywide communication system for the Kerr 7 County Sheriff's Office and Volunteer Fire Departments. 8 1.2 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 40 9 action on request to use Flat Rock Park to host a high school cross country meet. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 11 action on request to hold Summer History Camp 2022 in the Union Church Building from 12 Monday, June 6 through Friday, June 10. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 action on request to place yard signs on 14 lawn of Kerr County Courthouse in May for Mental Health Awareness month. 15 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 48 16 action on variance request from Section 5.01.F, building setbacks of Kerr County 17 Subdivision Rules and Regulations. 18 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 50 action on QroMex Construction Contract 19 Amendment No. 1 for Contract Numbers 7217045, 7218045, and 7218055. 20 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 51 21 action for the Court to approve a Final Plat for Love Lee Place. 22 1.14 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 52 23 action on a preliminary plat for Hirsch Ranch. 24 1.5 Recognize Ashli Badders for the honor of 57 being invited to speak at the Texas Onsite 25 Wastewater Association Conference in Galveston held last month. 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 59 action to approve a contract with 4 AmeriTex Elevators. 5 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 61 action on request to add domain name 6 "kerrcountytx.gov" for the new Kerr County website. 7 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 8 action to appoint a member of Commissioners' Court or designate a person to perform an 9 investigation pursuant to the Texas Health and Safety Code for the purpose of determining 10 if the minimum standards for ensuring public safety and order as prescribed by law will be 11 maintained under the application for permit for mass gathering by the Kerrville Folk 12 Festival Foundation from May 26 - June 12, 2022. Hearing on mass gathering permit has 13 been set for May 2nd at 8:30 a.m. 14 1.9 Discussion regarding resolution of proposed 63 expansion of Hill Country Regional Public 15 Defender's Office. 16 1.10 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 68 action to amend the Hill Country Regional 17 Public Defender Office Interlocal Agreement between Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, 18 and Medina Counties to make Medina County the fiscal agent for the Hill Country Regional 19 Public Defender Office effective October 1, 2022. 20 1.15 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 70 21 action to authorize County Attorney to report 381 agreements to the Texas Comptroller of 22 Public Accounts as required by House Bill 2404. 23 1.16 Presentation of Fiscal Year 2022-2023 73 proposed budget. 24 2.1 Budget Amendments. 83 25 4 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 2.2 Pay Bills. 85 4 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 85 5 2.6 Court Orders. 86 6 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 86 7 *** Adjournment. 88 8 *** Reporter's Certificate. 89 9 * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 JUDGE KELLY: Come to order. It is Monday, 2 April the 25th, 2022. It's 9:00 o'clock in the morning 3 and the Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in 4 session. If you would, please stand for the prayer and 5 pledge, which will be led by Commissioner Harris. 6 (Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. As we begin 8 this morning I'll ask everybody to please turn your 9 phones to silent or vibrate or off. Just so that it 10 doesn't interrupt the Court proceedings. 11 The first thing we've got today is public 12 input, which we do this at the beginning of every 13 regular meeting. And this is for topics that are not on 14 the agenda. If the item is on the agenda then we ask 15 that you wait until that agenda item is called. Is 16 there anyone that would like to offer input to the 17 Court? Okay. There being none, we'll proceed onto 18 Commissioners' Comments. Precinct 1. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The County said goodbye 20 to Buster Baldwin this weekend. A guy who sat in this 21 chair many years, amused us, angered us, made us laugh 22 and made us proud that we live here in Kerr County. So 23 God bless his family. 24 And like everybody else, I look forward to a 25 little bit of rain. I'm hopeful. The map looks good 6 1 for this weekend or -- or for this week. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Precinct 2. 3 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: We had a good 4 EasterFest. And everything came off just fine. Cudos 5 to the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department to make 6 sure everybody felt safe about it. Good times for all. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Good. Precinct 3. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one of -- a little 9 bit of an update. I know that our Hill Country regional 10 public defender office has been in the news again. And 11 we talked about it a little bit here and the -- in my 12 mind it will be coming to the Court, all the 13 Commissioners' Courts in the five counties that 14 participate in the future, but it's a positive thing 15 that has happened is we have been so successful, as 16 we've mentioned before, that people wanted to join us 17 from the south primarily. And went back and forth, a 18 lot of different points of view on how -- what we should 19 do and how we should do it. 20 And the oversight committee met last week, 21 and came up with what we think is a good solution. 22 It'll be going to all the Commissioners' Courts. The 23 five counties that make up the current one will continue 24 five counties. We will submit the grant again. The 25 four counties to the south that wanted to join us, they 7 1 will maintain or continue to be themselves. But as part 2 of that, we're going to move the -- or recommend moving 3 the administration of that from Kerr County to Medina 4 County, and our chief John Bull will enter a contract to 5 help that other PDO get off the ground and get started. 6 It's kind of a compromise all the way around. We think 7 it's a positive, the oversight committee does, and it'll 8 be coming to all the Commissioners' Courts with more 9 details in the future. 10 But I wanted -- the only reason I really 11 brought it up today is because its been in the news a 12 lot. And I know there's rumors going out of what's 13 going on and changes. And in a nutshell what we're 14 doing and, you know, we'll discuss it a lot more on one 15 of our future agendas. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. Sounds 17 positive. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, Precinct 4. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Other than agreeing 20 with Harley and everybody else in this room, we need 21 some rain. And hopefully everybody will continue their 22 rain dances and it looks like we've got a chance today 23 and the next few days. So we need it. We need it bad. 24 Also, I attended the Duck Derby on Friday in 25 Ingram. It was a great fundraiser for Ingram ISD. The 8 1 elementary school, I believe, was the main beneficiary 2 of that. So anyway that's all I got. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Very good. Okay. Moving on. 4 Let's go to the Consideration Agenda. 9:00 o'clock 5 we've got 1.1 consider, discuss and take appropriate 6 action to authorize the Kerr County Commissioners' Court 7 to obligate the American Rescue Plan funds for projects 8 including but not limited to the new countywide 9 communication system for the Kerr County Sheriff's 10 Office and Volunteer Fire Departments. 11 This is, I think, the fifth time this is 12 before the court. This is the time that we are asking 13 for a vote to authorize us to obligate the fund so that 14 we can continue discussing this communication system. 15 So we've got six people who have signed up 16 to speak. So the first person on here is Gail Johnson. 17 We ask that you go to the podium. 18 MS. JOHNSON: Okay. 19 JUDGE KELLY: We passed out your handouts. 20 MS. JOHNSON: Yes, I did. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We have that. 22 MS. JOHNSON: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: And so, so that the people at 24 home can see and hear you, we ask that you address us 25 from the podium. 9 1 MS. JOHNSON: Oh, sorry. This podium. 2 JUDGE KELLY: No. I think this is your 3 first time here. 4 MS. JOHNSON: This is my first time here. 5 Thank you for allowing me to speak. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we don't bite so just 7 relax. 8 MS. JOHNSON: I'm a new resident to 9 Kerrville and Kerr County as of August of last year. We 10 live -- I live at 12 -- my name is Gail Johnson. I live 11 at 1260 Victory Lane and I'm very happy to be here. 12 While my attached comments reflect brief 13 knowledge of the meeting purpose today, I make them with 14 profound respect for those who step up and assume 15 leadership positions of service. Kindly receive these 16 comments with this in mind. 17 At this point in time in our world, the 18 availability of media information provides symptoms of 19 little faith in the political differences of leadership 20 at all levels of government. As humans we fight to 21 protect what we believe, especially our creations. 22 The restoration of faith begins locally, and 23 the importance of faith in those who serve causes me to 24 believe and it inadvisable to accept funding from the 25 Federal Government at this time, and continue listening 10 1 and working for the peaceful and most effective way to 2 address all the needs of the County. 3 Should it be true that all politics are 4 local, then locally it seems the more prudent method to 5 effectively serve the needs of our County community 6 includes reassessing the County's basic needs and 7 determine local action that will result in establishing 8 steps forward that will bring the desired solutions. 9 It does not escape my understanding that 10 each of you are in the confidence of constituents to 11 elect you to serve and represent them. Each item 12 presented to the court requires an enormous amount of 13 time and expertise you must call on to further educate 14 and inform yourself on each request and proposal 15 presented. 16 My personal belief includes our ability here 17 for problem solving at the local level far exceeds 18 seeking Federal help. We know the needs of the people. 19 Our people. 20 My questions: How urgent is each need? 21 Does our County community already possess the leadership 22 and various skills and expertise to accomplish the 23 desired outcome without depending on and accepting 24 Federal help? Is every project an eminent time frame 25 for achievement and development, or would a more 11 1 prudent, less time sensitive approach achieve a better 2 outcome for the constituents of Kerr County? What are 3 various scenarios we can explore to maintain local 4 control? Will these considerations lead to further 5 understanding and ameliorate the process to a more 6 peaceful approach? 7 Honorable Judge and Commissioners, my 8 suggestion: Further patience to allow more time for 9 research and consideration of consequences which may 10 result in further acceptance of ARPA funds, and return 11 of those already accepted. 12 My belief that further understanding and 13 sharing facts, i.e., page number included in ARPA 14 documents, including any and all specific Federal 15 Government rulings that may or may not reduce our 16 freedom to self-govern Kerr County, will result in 17 successfully bringing us together in our desire to do 18 what is best for all who call Kerr County home. A 19 peaceful home requires patient listening and 20 consideration. 21 Thank you for the opportunity to hear and 22 address you. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Richard King. 24 MR. KING: Good morning. I'll try to get 25 mine in the three minutes. Hopefully I can. My name is 12 1 Richard King. My wife and I have resided here in Kerr 2 County for -- since 1991. I'm a retired United States 3 Air Force disabled veteran. When I enlisted in the 4 service, I took an oath to defend the Constitution of 5 the United States against all enemies, foreign and 6 domestic. 7 If I'm correct, you did the same taking your 8 office, and that was to include the Texas Constitution, 9 and under these Constitutions you swore to uphold 10 your -- the responsibilities you have for protecting all 11 the constituents you have from harm. I, for one, expect 12 you to uphold our Constitution. These funds are a 13 detriment to our freedoms and could, in fact, bankrupt 14 this County, putting us all in harm's way should one 15 recipient misuse these funds. 16 The compliance with applicable law is 35.9. 17 It states, All recipients of the funds must comply with 18 all Federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, and 19 provide for the compliance with the ARPA funds by other 20 parties in any agreements it enters into with other 21 parties relating to these funds. What exactly does this 22 mean? It means if you, the County Commissioners, spend 23 these funds or give these funds to other entities, you 24 have sold our sovereignty to the Federal Government. 25 This gives the feds unlimited power over the 13 1 City and County, the power to seize our properties, 2 homes, assets. And since this is all under COVID's 3 funding, they could lock us up through mandates like 4 China has done. Wear a mask and get the death jab or be 5 arrested. And this is possible. Dr. Fauci just stated 6 a couple weeks ago that this plandemic(phonetic) would 7 never end. 8 I would like to ask each of you, do you 9 really think there's no repercussions or consequences or 10 penalties assessed on all this should anyone misuse 11 these funds? And do you even know what this could do, 12 because the language is so broad and open. Let me get 13 that. 14 It's that same story. You have to pass -- 15 pass it to know what's in it. Now, do you really feel 16 you are representing all your constituents when it's 17 factually stated in these 35.9 by accepting these funds, 18 you will place us all under Federal statutes, mandates, 19 compliance laws, and just -- and -- or is it just a few 20 people asking for these funds that, you know, that the 21 money is burning a hole in their pockets? 22 Our freedom is more important then a few 23 people wanting to do that. And you told us on several 24 meetings that you were going to wait to vote on this 25 until the mid elections. You made that statement. Now, 14 1 since you're wanting to do -- if you vote on this today, 2 you have lied to us. And you should not be trusted 3 after that. What gives you the right to sell our 4 freedom to the Federal Government? And I stop with 5 that. Respectfully. Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Marcia King. 7 MS. KING: My name is Marcia King. I'm a 8 Kerr County resident. Since October 2021, we, the 9 people, have been warning you about the dangers of the 10 compliance with Executive Orders that were added by the 11 Biden regime to all contracts with Federal Government 12 that states cannot override. My husband spoke a little 13 bit -- a lot about that. Therefore, these funds may 14 very well be a setup for a domestic coup to transfer 15 power from states, cities, businesses, individuals, to 16 become subservient to Executive Orders by consent of 17 contract. Instead of a federal vaccine mandate, Biden's 18 bribing the counties and states to do it for them in the 19 form of ARPA funds, so that we enslave ourselves to 20 these nefarious executive orders to which the State of 21 Texas has no recourse. 22 On December 13th, I reminded you about FEMA 23 being created empowered by Executive Orders and how it 24 has the power to suspend laws, move, quarantine 25 populations, and arrest and detain citizens without a 15 1 warrant and hold them indefinitely without trial, seize 2 property and assets, food supplies, transportation 3 systems, and even suspend the Constitution of the United 4 States simply by being published in the registry which 5 ARPA is through. 6 By signing these new Executive Order 7 compliance contracts, you have placed every citizen and 8 resident of Kerr County under potential FEMA control. 9 Everything about this plandemic(phonetic) has been a 10 lie. Monetized with ungodly amounts and incentivized 11 bonuses, rewards to world leaders, governments, 12 politicians, doctors, hospitals, Federal state and 13 local, the CDC, NIH, FDA, NIAID, CIA, WHO, WEF, big 14 pharma, big tech, mainstream media, etc., etc., all have 15 been complicit. Complicit. Bought off. And getting 16 rich off the kickbacks from this global SCIOP crimes 17 against humanity COVID-19 lie. COVID-19 is not a viral 18 pneumonia, but oxygen starvation due to radiation 19 distress. Defy weapon is the MR and the gene therapy 20 injection that is maiming, killing and sterilizing 21 people who and 5G at its whole 60 gigahertz is the 22 weaponized activator. 23 Now, the globalist Cabal are coming for our 24 children, newborns and up, for mandatory yearly COVID 25 injections. This is absolutely unacceptable. A line 16 1 must be drawn when it comes to our -- when they come 2 after our children. If you allow this scenario to 3 happen through this ARPA trojan horse, you are just as 4 complicit in these crimes against humanity and each one 5 of you will be held personally responsible and 6 accountable by we the people. Thank you. 7 Here is the 5G rollout, COVID-19, this 8 oxygen depravation. It keeps the lungs from absorbing 9 oxygen, which is why people were falling dead in Wuhan, 10 Florence and Madrid. That's what happened when they 11 rolled out 5G. The NIH even admits that 5G can actually 12 create CORONA virus. Thank you. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Next is Bethany Puccio. 14 MS. PUCCIO: Hi, my name is Bethany Puccio, 15 I live at 418 Crest Ridge Drive, right here in 16 Kerrville. I just want to say that at this point I 17 think probably some of you are tired of seeing all of us 18 here, but we're kind of tired of being here as well. 19 Five times coming and imploring you to send money back 20 and not enslave us with it. I do want to thank 21 Commissioner Belew for continuously being in our corner 22 and listening to the people and truly serving us as an 23 elected official. 24 The last time that we were here, Judge 25 Kelly, you mentioned that you had been patient with us. 17 1 I would -- I would say that I think we've been pretty 2 patient with all of you not hearing us and having us 3 fall on deaf ears again and again and again. It did not 4 take very long. 5 The last time I was here, I thought it was 6 going to burn a hole in somebody's pocket and it didn't 7 take very long. In fact, it took a lot shorter time than 8 it was promised to take. As was already mentioned, it 9 was supposed to be sitting there safe until after 10 midterm, until after court cases. You said, oh, well, 11 you know, we've got lots of time for this, right? And 12 that is not what's happening. And I said from the 13 beginning, if I put a bag of chocolate on my dresser and 14 I tell you I'm not going to eat it, you can just go 15 ahead and tell me I'm a liar because I'm going to eat 16 the chocolate. Right? And so, when we keep $10 million 17 in a bank account, we're planning to spend it. We don't 18 keep money that we're not planning to spend. You always 19 plan to spend it. 20 I would just say broken promises equal 21 broken trust. You made some promises. A large number 22 of your constituents clearly feel strongly about this 23 and have laid out many reasons, valid reasons, to send 24 this money back. So are you going to keep your promises 25 or are you going to break your promises? Are you going 18 1 to build trust or are you going to break trust? 2 The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. 3 Thomas Jefferson. Those that can give up essential 4 liberty to gain a little temporary safety deserve 5 neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin. 6 If you think that you're going to sit there 7 and wait for Paxton to swoop in and save us if you spend 8 this money and then Biden comes after us and we don't -- 9 when they sent that -- that child tax credit out, you 10 know, you probably don't even get it because you're all 11 older so you probably don't get child tax credit. I do. 12 I had the foresight to save that money because it was 13 always a trap. There are many people that spent their 14 child tax credit and they got slammed with taxes this 15 year and did not have the money to pay it because it was 16 always a trap. The Biden regime does not care for the 17 people. The Biden regime hates the America people and 18 they hate America. And any money from them is probably 19 a trap and it would be very wise to just step back and 20 say why would they give that to you, because it's not 21 because they like you. And it's not because it's good 22 for you. And because I knew that, I saved my child tax 23 credit so I could give it back to them this year or I 24 would have been in trouble. 25 If you think Paxton is going to swoop in and 19 1 save us from some court case, right now he's in a 2 runoff. We don't even know if we're going to have 3 Paxton. So please don't count on that. Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Terri Hall. 5 MS. HALL: Good morning, my name is Terri 6 Hall. I'm with We the People - Liberty in Action, and I 7 live on Independence Lane. No, I really live there, in 8 the County. I have to ask, why are we here today? The 9 last time you brought this up, you essentially promised 10 not to spend the ARPA funds until the Court cases had 11 been worked out and the unconstitutional Executive 12 Orders hopefully overturned. You said if there was any 13 obligation to these unconstitutional Executive Orders 14 that you'd send those funds back. 15 Commissioner Harris even said that we were 16 in no hurry. We had plenty of time to ride this out to 17 see what happened. But we predicted then what you would 18 do, and the only reason to hold onto the money is to 19 spend it. And so here we are. Ten million dollars is 20 not worth suspending our agreement. 21 Naturally you found a ready recipient of the 22 fund, our Sheriff's office. We, of course, want them to 23 be fully equipped. They need -- they need to fight the 24 escalating crime in our county, largely due to the 25 border crisis and the economic downturn causing many to 20 1 become more desperate and brazen. But finding one of 2 the recipients was all but just a matter of time. It's 3 the local gamesmanship. To make those opposed to the 4 ARPA funds look bad, instead of the Commissioners 5 ignoring the people and setting the oppressive boot of 6 the Biden administration squarely on our neck in this 7 County, who overwhelmingly did not vote for him. 8 Our Sheriff's office needs should be taken 9 care of with our existing County tax revenues. You 10 haven't even started the budget workshops yet for the 11 next fiscal year. Now's the time to move the funds 12 around and make sure our needs are taken care of. Law 13 enforcement is one of them. Having this pile of Biden 14 money is an easy and frankly lazy way to pay for the 15 radio system without having to dig in and make hard 16 budgetary decisions using our existing tax dollars. But 17 that free Biden money is not free. It comes with a cost 18 and we're not willing to pay it, which is subjugation to 19 Biden's endless oppressive executive orders from health 20 mandates to gun control. Every County resident is 21 feeling the pinch of these high gas prices, skyrocketing 22 food costs -- believe me, at my house with ten kids -- 23 and the highest inflation ever recorded. Your 24 constituents have to dig into their own personal budget, 25 make deep cuts and tough decisions every single day just 21 1 to survive this administration. 2 Yes, this Court seems -- yet, this Court 3 seems wholly unwilling to do the same thing, as they 4 contemplate how to spend other people's money. We 5 elected you to be conservative. To reflect the values 6 of our very conservative County. To protect us from 7 unconstitutional government overreach like we're almost 8 seeing daily from the Biden administration. Find 9 another way to get our Sheriff's deputies what they 10 need. Because taking these funds have very specific 11 strings attached that are unacceptable encroachment and 12 that ultimately makes our Sheriff's job harder, which is 13 to enforce unconstitutional action buy an out-of-control 14 Federal Government. Don't accept a penny of these ARPA 15 funds. The cost is just not worth it. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Maria Hammerlein. So let's go 17 ahead and squeeze in another one. Rich Paces. 18 MR. PACES: Gentlemen, my name is Rich 19 Paces, I live in Center Point. And I, too, am running 20 for office. So it may be that some of you gentlemen who 21 haven't had to run for a while are a little bit out of 22 touch with what your constituents want. Because the 23 vast majority of people that I've talked to don't want 24 us to use these ARPA funds. Now, the only ones that 25 seem to be in favor of it seem to misunderstand where 22 1 these funds come from. They -- they seem to think these 2 are taxpayer dollars. Well, they're not. This 3 administration just keeps printing more money to make 4 these payments, which is why we're all seeing soaring 5 inflation and the national debt is growing out of 6 control. 7 I don't know about you, but I'm not real 8 happy paying diesel prices of $4.79 a gallon. Most 9 people aren't. This is a tax on the people that can 10 least support it. And it's because the Federal 11 Government keeps printing more money. Now, eventually 12 our children and grandchildren, and probably their 13 grandchildren, are going to have to pay this back in 14 higher taxes. We'll be slaves to this government for -- 15 All right. Next point. The Treasury 16 Department terms and conditions require all recipients 17 to comply with all other applicable Federal statutes, 18 regulations and executive orders. Now that gives me 19 great concern. Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey, has filed 20 a lawsuit against the Biden administration after it 21 threatened to call back its COVID-19 funding with 22 interest and penalties unless the State stopped sending 23 it to schools without mask mandates. Does Kerr County 24 have the legal resources to get into a lawsuit with the 25 Federal Government? Of course not. Look, there's far 23 1 too many strings attached to this money. And I, for 2 one, do not trust the current administration, or as some 3 people have heard, regime. Who knows what the next 4 Executive Order will say. 5 And I do agree with Commissioner Belew, who 6 said that we should send the money back to avoid the 7 temptation of spending it. Look, you do not have a 8 mandate from the people to spend this money. In fact, 9 the vast majority of the feedback you have received has 10 been against spending this corrupt money. If you want a 11 mandate, please put it on the November ballot. There is 12 nothing so urgent requiring you to spend this money now. 13 Sure, we need to eventually upgrade the radio system. 14 But it works. And it will work for the next year or so. 15 So look, I, once again -- and I've been here before -- I 16 urge you to at least wait until all the legal action 17 against the Federal Government and the Department of 18 Treasury has been successfully concluded. But better 19 yet, just send it back and avoid that temptation. If I 20 was sitting on that court, I would not agree to spend 21 this money. But I'm sure you already know that. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Miss Hammerlein. 23 MS. HAMMERLEIN: Hello. My name is Maria 24 Hammerlein and I am a citizen here in Kerr County. My 25 husband and I have been here -- we've owned property for 24 1 several years and we've been here living permanent now 2 for two and a half years. What I wanted to bring up, I 3 don't have any prepared speech, but I just wanted you to 4 reflect on the famous words of a former statesman that 5 people who do not look -- you know, are not cognizant 6 and do not reflect on the past are doomed to repeat it. 7 And I would have you look back to 1939. 8 There were many things that were going on in the world. 9 There was a cabal, if you will, then. There is now. 10 All the dominoes, all of these pieces, these blocks, 11 building blocks, are moving into place. And so what's 12 happened? Chamberlain went to Germany, right. The man 13 was an idiot, okay. But we have a similar situation 14 going on in Washington D.C. We have treasonist 15 individuals carrying out the destruction of our nation. 16 And I am appalled that people do not see what's going 17 on. And that all these powers -- foreign powers, China, 18 you have Mexico, who's made a deal already with these 19 powers. They're all throwing locks in. Just like they 20 did with Jesus and the cross. They're throwing the 21 locks in, because they want this piece. Someone wants 22 the road. 23 Listen, we are in an extremely dangerous 24 situation. And if we do not play it right -- well, you 25 know what happened. Europe was destroyed. And if it 25 1 hadn't been for God, we would not be here. So I 2 would -- I would just have to, you know, caution you, 3 look at history. Look at what happened to those 4 governments that collaborated. Because that's what 5 we're -- that's what we have right now. And we don't 6 want to be those people on the other side, the annals of 7 history with the -- the label under us, collaborators. 8 And that's all I have to say. Thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: 30 minutes. And by the way, 10 this policy has been in effect for a long time. Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a couple 12 comments. 13 And I share a lot of the -- the opinions 14 that I hear today, but very little is actually talking 15 about the money. We've talked about World War II, we 16 talked about inflation, we talked about government 17 spending, we talked about a lot of things. But what 18 this comes down to is the language in the grant that 19 says Executive Orders. That's what people are really -- 20 that -- that's the gist of what we're talking about, is 21 that the language gives, some feel, the administration 22 power to do basically anything because it talks about 23 executive orders. Those that know me know that I look 24 at a lot of facts and I do a lot of research. I have 25 for years. Let me read a couple of other grants that we 26 1 currently have. This court has -- 2 VOICE: It's not a grant. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It doesn't make any 4 difference. It's the same thing. It's accepting 5 Federal funds. In May of 2020, when Trump was 6 President, we received and spent the CORONA relief fund. 7 Very similar thing. Section 1.26, and I'll quote: 8 Grantee will comply with all Federal law, regulations, 9 executive orders, policies, procedures and directives. 10 That was under the Trump administration. That was 11 passed unanimously by this Court. The exact same 12 language, almost, as in the ARPA funds. 13 Then, in August of 2020, there was another 14 grant and it says the grant or funds that we accepted, 15 statewide automated victim notification service, which 16 was related to the CORONA -- or the CRF that was done 17 earlier that year. I'll quote again. Grantee agrees to 18 comply with all applicable laws, executive orders, 19 regulations, policies, including Texas Government Code 20 3 -- or 783, and the uniform grant management standards, 21 and any other applicable Federal or state mandates or 22 requirements. So that was unanimously passed by the 23 Court, the exact same language basically. 24 And the -- and October 22nd, 2018 the Court 25 unanimously approved the State water revolving fund. 27 1 That does not specifically say follow executive orders; 2 however, Exhibit C of that says, basic rules of 3 compliance, and there's a full page of laws, regulations 4 and executive orders that we're required to apply -- to 5 follow under that. And that also goes to all of our 6 contractors and subcontractors that we use under that -- 7 under that project. The Center Point Wastewater 8 Project. 9 And August 8th, Senate Bill 8 was passed by 10 the -- or signed by the Governor. That's the American 11 Rescue Plan. It's the exact same grant that we're 12 talking about or -- or funds that we're talking about 13 right now. It was approved by The State of Texas. 14 We're a branch of the state. It's already applicable to 15 everyone in the State of Texas. It was done by that and 16 people are -- seem to refer a lot to Ken Paxton. Well, 17 he's got money out of that. So it's a little bit of 18 a -- you know, it's interesting to me that that -- and 19 he has filed lawsuits and I support the lawsuits. But 20 at the same time, he's accepting funds. 21 And then the final thing is -- that I'm 22 going to mention is the, you know, as mentioned 23 previously, there's a system that if you're going to use 24 any Federal funds -- and we use Federal funds every year 25 in this Court. And if you're going to use Federal 28 1 funds, you've got to do it through the system of awards 2 management system. The SAM system. Item 6 of that 3 says, Will comply with all applicable requirements of 4 all other Federal laws, executive orders, regulations 5 and public policies governing financial assistance 6 awards. 7 Any way you look at it, this Court has 8 unanimously approved the same language numerous times, 9 and we're -- and the State of Texas has already done 10 under the ARPA fund. So I mean, I think the -- the 11 argument -- you know, I try to use logic. They don't 12 make sense to me. You know, some of what you're saying 13 I agree with it. I agree with the inflation. I agree 14 with I can't stand the current administration. But what 15 we do related to those ARPA funds is irrelevant when it 16 comes to those problems. 17 VOICE: No, it's not. 18 VOICE: No, it's not. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Please. Maintain order. 20 Please. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, you know, we're a 22 branch of the State. The State has already accepted the 23 funds and sent the funds. So anyway -- and the Court, 24 you know, I go back to the first one. And a year and a 25 half ago, almost two years ago, the Court unanimously 29 1 approved the exact same language. And it was under 2 President Trump and people weren't concerned as much at 3 that point. But that law or that -- those funds were 4 still spent. Biden didn't go into that or put an 5 executive order under that. 6 So it doesn't make sense to me. You know, I 7 agree with what you're saying, but I think this is the 8 wrong thing. How we make the change in Washington is 9 through the election, and hopefully we will. 10 VOICE: (Inaudible.) 11 JUDGE KELLY: Please don't interrupt. You 12 weren't interrupted when you spoke. Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I want to address 14 the integrity of the Court. It's been brought up 15 several times that we told the public that we would hold 16 off on this until after the mid term election. I think 17 since that was stated, that that's what we should do. 18 VOICE: I agree. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Because that reflects 20 on us. And the trust issue. I think it was a pretty 21 strong consensus here among everybody in the court that 22 we mistrust our current President and any executive 23 orders that might come out of the oval office at this 24 point. That really is exactly what Commissioner Letz 25 said. That's where this all hinges. The claw back 30 1 would not be possible with the Sheriff's Department 2 using this money. But an executive order at this time 3 or in the future could. 4 We've already seen this current 5 administration try to use the CDC for the mortgage 6 moratorium, that got pulled back. So when -- when you 7 heard it, did you think it was a little crazy? The CDC 8 was going to tell you, you don't have to pay for your 9 rent? A little crazy, isn't it? 10 And then you have OSHA and they're going to 11 implement a vax mandate. We had the President tell us, 12 everybody be gotten out of Afghanistan, that was another 13 lie. Half the time you can't understand him and when 14 you can, you recognize a lie. So we have an open border 15 right now. I don't trust him. He's apparently making 16 deals with the cartel as far as I can tell. Somebody's 17 bringing all those people here and he's making sure that 18 they get across. So the distrust of Biden is pretty 19 well-engrained in this county, as Miss Hall pointed out. 20 This County carried heavily with Donald Trump and 21 against Joe Biden. 22 Here's the other thing about this in a 23 practical manner. There's no need to hurry on this 24 because the equipment is not available. And we heard 25 both parties that put forward presentation tell us that 31 1 they can't get the equip. It's not available. There's 2 nobody that knows when it'll be available. They can't 3 make any promises about completion of the project 4 because of availability of the equipment. And the 5 current equipment works, which has been pointed out. So 6 that mitigates the sense of urgency. 7 And finally, I would say this. That we 8 never even investigated leasing this stuff or found out 9 if there's a lease program. In which case, we might be 10 able to afford it without messing with this money at 11 all. So to enter into an agreement with a lease, the 12 way we have with all of our County vehicles, and for the 13 exact same reasons. Those vehicles age out. They get 14 -- there's wear and tear on them. You don't -- you 15 don't want them anymore. Every department can enter 16 into that lease agreement. I just don't know that we 17 ever investigated that at all. 18 So I would say that we postpone any kind of 19 decision on this until we at least know if there's an 20 agreement like that available and that we keep faith 21 with the people in the County who have depended on us to 22 wait until after November. And the third leg of that 23 stool is, the equipment is not available anyway. So -- 24 MR. PACES: Motorola pointed out in that 25 presentation that they would -- 32 1 JUDGE KELLY: Excuse me. If you're going to 2 speak, Rich, go to the podium. 3 MR. PACES: All right. Yeah, I -- I like 4 your suggestion, Harley. Rich Paces. 5 Motorola did point out that they had a zero 6 interest opportunity to finance -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Right. 8 MR. PACES: -- all those hand-held mobiles, 9 which is 152 times $8,000. So yeah, I think it's worth 10 investigating whether you can lease this equipment from 11 them. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I love the 13 Sheriff's Department. I want it to be clear. I want 14 the Sheriff's department to have state of the art stuff. 15 Not because of the coolness of stuff and not because it 16 makes life easy, because I don't have to do this on my 17 radio. This is what we're talking about, doing that on 18 your radio. That's really what we're talking about. 19 So I know it goes further than that. But 20 it -- we live in a world of convenience. Everything has 21 to be really convenient. The next time we look at this, 22 it may be that it's a voice command system that says 23 switch to 19. I mean, really it's that simple. So I'm 24 thankful that we have what we have. We've been through 25 some emergencies lately. We go through emergencies 33 1 every year with flooding and fires and all kinds of 2 things. And I want them to have the very best equipment 3 they can to protect all of us. But I don't know that 4 I -- I want to enter into this at this time. And I 5 really think we ought to at least investigate if it's 6 available to have a lease program. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any other input? 8 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. I've got a lot 9 of input. And -- but not much has changed since last 10 time I spoke about this. Nothing -- the only thing 11 that's changed is inflation. It's gotten a lot worse, 12 hasn't it? I think I'm the one that brought up wait 13 until mid term. I brought it up that we need to wait 14 for some litigation. It's changed significantly. It 15 hadn't. There's no immediate deadline for this. I said 16 that. Nothing has changed. So that's -- it's still the 17 same way I feel. There's -- there's nothing that says 18 we have to make a decision right now. 19 You know, let these other counties spend it 20 and see what happens, and let them be the good/bad 21 examples or whatever. 22 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I have a little bit 23 different take on it being I just mildly disagree with 24 the timeliness. I know that that equipment, when 25 ordered gets to the top of the list as to when it does 34 1 come. And no matter what, there's going to be a stall. 2 The longer that we stall making a decision about it, I 3 think the -- here the longer we wait and a lot of our 4 equipment is now unrepairable. Whenever it does 5 malfunction, there's no way to repair it. It's that 6 aged. 7 In the big picture, I didn't agree with the 8 Biden administration in doing this. The funds are out 9 there. The State accepted them, we have grant 10 administrators that know how to follow these laws, just 11 as what Jonathan has told us about. We have 12 professionals to walk down that. We have the need for 13 radio. If we don't do it this way, we probably will 14 elevate taxes. I'm also convinced that if we send it 15 back, it goes to the Federal Government to some other 16 City like New York or San Francisco that will utilize it 17 and it does it in a matter which we don't like. So I 18 honestly have anguish about this entire issue, but I'm 19 in favor of doing something now. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I have a question, and I 21 don't know if Jackie, you can -- looking at our 22 court order. I mean, there's been a lot of statements 23 about that we said we weren't going to spend it. I 24 don't believe I said that. Other members of the Court 25 may have, but I don't believe it was part of the Court 35 1 order. So if you could pull up the Court order and see 2 if we said we weren't going to spend it? 3 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: No. I said pump the 4 brakes. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- I know. We're not 6 saying individual Commissioners didn't say that, but I'm 7 saying did the Court say it. And that's the difference. 8 Because if -- if I voted to not spend the money until 9 after that, then I won't spend it. I mean I'll follow 10 that. 11 MRS. DOWDY: Off the top of my -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I don't recall that 13 being the court order. 14 MRS. DOWDY: I remember there was a court 15 order for that if any money would be spent, the Court 16 would have to take a vote on it. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That was my intent. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and that's what we're 19 doing today. 20 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: And I -- I voted for 21 that and I agree with that. That is a good system. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just wanted to make 23 sure that there wasn't a court order that said we 24 weren't going to spend it. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We did not vote to say 36 1 that we would wait until after the midterm elections -- 2 but several of us sitting up here did say and agree to 3 that. I don't know that we have to take a vote. If we 4 just speak something from up here. If I tell anybody 5 what I believe about something, I don't need a court 6 order or a vote to go back and say what did I say that 7 day? I know damn well what I said. And I'm going to 8 stick to it. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Right. 10 MS. KING: I have a question, may I speak? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Go to the podium. 12 MS. KING: Marcia King. Yes. Mr. Letz, you 13 brought up prior contracts and stuff, but none of those 14 contracts were tied to mandated vaccinations, which the 15 Biden administration is doing with this ARPA money. And 16 plus, you have to realize that Biden, in conjunction 17 with the Khazars Mafia in Ukraine and the CPP, is in the 18 process of destroying America from within. And you guys 19 need to realize that this is happening. And I want you 20 to really take stock in what you're saying because, oh 21 well, yeah, all these other EO's before, they were never 22 tied to mandatory passports and vaccinations and -- and 23 tracking of people, and all of this. So please consider 24 this. Thank you. 25 JUDGE KELLY: I'm going to make a motion 37 1 that we authorize this Court to obligate the funds and 2 not spend them yet. If we need to, we're going to 3 continue these discussions with these vendors. They 4 need to know that we have the ability to obligate the 5 funds to be able to pay for the equipment that we order. 6 So I make a motion that we authorize the Court to 7 obligate the ARPA funds. 8 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I'll second that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: We got a motion and a second. 10 MRS. DOWDY: Can you repeat who made the 11 second? 12 JUDGE KELLY: Beck. Any other discussion? 13 I will say that your group has been very vocal and we 14 have listened. 15 VOICE: No, you haven't. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Just don't agree. Just don't 17 agree. 18 MS. KING: You're traitors. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Just because we -- 20 We will have order in this Court. Okay. 21 MR. REINHOLTZ: Sir, can I -- can I ask one 22 thing? Is it not common -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: If you want to speak, you have 24 to go to the podium, sir. 25 MR. REINHOLTZ: My name is Steven Reinholtz. 38 1 I'm a resident of Kerr County, Kerrville. I'm just 2 across downtown. The point I'm about to make is, is it 3 not common to set a precedence for things without 4 allowing there to be any kind of repercussions yet to 5 allow those precedences to continue to be accepted like 6 we did talk about the language that is also basically 7 the same. It's not exactly the same, obviously. And 8 even in here, it says that projects including but not 9 limited to, so what is the not limited to part? We 10 don't know. You're only talking about the radio 11 equipment to make any of us who disagree with this sound 12 like we don't support police officers, which is not the 13 case. 14 So again, it is very common to set a 15 precedence for something without showing the actual 16 repercussions of that. So that way people will continue 17 to accept that very thing until it is time to set those 18 repercussions like what we're doing with the Biden 19 administration. Yes, all that similar stuff had similar 20 language and all that, and no repercussions came. We 21 also had better administration. But does it not make 22 sense to start softening us and getting us used to 23 accepting these things, accepting this money that any 24 human being is going to be very tempted to accept. Why 25 wouldn't we want to accept money? 39 1 So it's going to be setting the precedence 2 for us to then, finally, when we accept one that we 3 shouldn't accept, like putting mandates that they're 4 putting on us now, like forcing us to take vaccines, 5 forcing us -- not allowing people in their schools and 6 they're going to start taking their children away? And 7 if you think that that's not going to happen, it is. 8 They're already doing it in other states with other 9 vaccines, about people not accepting their kids into 10 public schools and stuff like that. And if you can't 11 because you're not vaccinating your children? I mean, 12 they're setting the precedence right now and now they're 13 going to start implicating the actions. And that is the 14 problem here. Yes, we've accepted this before, but look 15 at what they're bringing along with it now. 16 And that is what we're all worried about. 17 And we all have done our research too, sir. Just 18 because we're not commissioners does not mean we're not 19 educated. Does not mean that we don't do our research. 20 It does not mean that we're not aware of what's going 21 on. Thank you for your time. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I take issue that you 23 represent the majority of the people in this County. I 24 know that you are a very vocal group. And I recognize 25 that. But the vast majority of the people that I've 40 1 come in contact with on this issue understand that this 2 is something that would greatly benefit the County, and 3 have asked us to authorize the obligation of these 4 funds. That's my experience. 5 So with that, is there any more discussion? 6 Those in favor of authorizing the Commissioners' Court 7 to obligate the ARPA funds raise your hand. Those 8 opposed raise your hand. Three, two. Motion carries. 9 (Commissioners Belew and Harris opposed.) 10 JUDGE KELLY: And with that we'll move on to 11 the rest of the agenda. 12 MS. KING: Y'all are crazy. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Let's take a five minute 14 break. 15 (Recess.) 16 JUDGE KELLY: Next item on the agenda is 17 item 1.2 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 18 on the request to use Flat Rock Park to host a high 19 school cross country meet. Cody Taylor. 20 MR. TAYLOR: I'm Cody Taylor -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: Go to the podium, please. 22 MR. TAYLOR: Oh, the podium. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're going to put you 24 on YouTube, so smile. 25 MR. TAYLOR: We're just requesting to use 41 1 Flat Rock Park to host a high school cross country meet 2 on -- right now our dates are, I believe, August 19 and 3 potentially September 9. Two Fridays this fall. We 4 would need the use of essentially the whole park. So 5 it's -- the event is just a little over three miles long 6 so we have to start at -- in the back by the Dog Park 7 and then run it around the front and then the back. I 8 think we would be out by probably 1:00 p.m. both dates, 9 after setup, breakdown, and everything. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can others use the park 11 while y'all are there or do you want the park closed? 12 MR. TAYLOR: We would need it closed to at 13 least traffic and -- and dogs. That way -- because 14 we're going to have runners everywhere. It's going to 15 be a lot of energy with people running around. So dogs 16 could be a potential issue. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll move for approval. 18 But asking you to coordinate with our Maintenance 19 Department on, you know, signage and things of that 20 nature. Shane. Yeah. Shane Evans, right here. 21 MR. TAYLOR: Yes, sir. We were speaking 22 earlier. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 25 second to approve the use of Flat Rock Park to host a 42 1 high school cross country meet on August the 19th and 2 September the 9th. Correct? 3 MR. TAYLOR: Yes, sir. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We -- we do have our 6 dynamic sign we can put out there, if you would 7 coordinate with Road & Bridge to get that. 8 MR. EVANS: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: You can ask them about 10 that. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably a week in 12 advance that the Dog Park will be closed part of that 13 day. 14 MR. GIPSON: Yeah, I understand. I get -- I 15 get calls frequently about the closure of the Dog Park 16 so just to give notice. 17 MR. EVANS: Yeah. The last couple of times 18 we've had the signs out, what, two weeks -- a month to 19 two weeks before, ahead of time. But, you know, a lot 20 of times people do not read the signs when we put them 21 out. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No kidding. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Shane, if you can get 24 that trailer sign from Kelly at Road & Bridge? 25 MR. EVANS: Okay. 43 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 2 your hand. Unanimous. We have Miss Bond here. Let me 3 go ahead and call 1.3 and 1.4, and take these 4 collectively. Consider, discuss and take appropriate 5 action on request to hold Summer History Camp 2022 in 6 the Union Church Building from June 6 to Friday the 7 10th. And 1.4 is to consider, discuss and take 8 appropriate action on request to place yard signs on the 9 lawn of the Kerr County Courthouse in May for Mental 10 Health Awareness month. Miss Bond. 11 MS. BOND: Thank you. Bunny Bond. And the 12 first I'm speaking as the vice chair of the Kerr County 13 Historical Commission. We did our first history camp 14 using the Union Church Building in June of 2019. And 15 then we hoped to do it in 2020 and again in '21. But 16 because of COVID, we decided it was not a wise thing. 17 So this is the first year that we really are organizing 18 to offer this history camp. So I had asked Jody to 19 reserve the dates for us for the Union Church Building 20 beginning -- that would be Friday, June the 3rd, 4th 21 through Saturday, June the 11th, so we have time to 22 setup and clean up. We're planning to be there 9:00 to 23 12:00 noon each day. 24 And it's a limit of 20 children, and 25 children that have completed the third grade and the 44 1 fourth grade. It's a planned group. Our plan is to 2 charge $50.00 a child. And we had a very successful 3 camp in 2019. And that was largely thanks to the groups 4 that assisted us. Because it's not just the members of 5 the commission who are working there. 6 This year we are planning for the Monday 7 group to be UGRA. They're coming to talk about our 8 Guadalupe River. Tuesday will be one of the members of 9 the commission, Clifton Pfeiffer, talking about fun on 10 the frontier. So he does singing, story telling and he 11 brings crafts for the children to make toys with. 12 Wednesday we're planning on Daughters of the Republic of 13 Texas, the Joshua B. Brown Chapter coming and they're -- 14 they do things like making butter. Teaching children 15 how to make butter. Making rugs. Pioneer dresses. 16 Quilting, that's something we're adding this year. 17 Thursday our plan is again one of our 18 members, Julius Neunhoffer, will be doing ranching, and 19 he brings a lot of tools and talks about what it is to 20 ranch in the County. And then Friday will be former 21 Texas Rangers coming, and that was a very popular event 22 day back in '19, simply because of the activities they 23 bring. Because they set up like a basic kind of camp 24 for the kids. One of the men brought straw bales and 25 horses heads, and I can't tell you how popular it was 45 1 with the kids to learn to rope. They really loved that. 2 So that's our plan again for this year. And 3 we very much appreciate the use of the Union Church 4 Building. Not just for our meetings, but also in order 5 to host this camp. And I do want to say thank you to 6 the Commissioners, because it is well noted by the 7 Historical Commission that we have a new floor in the 8 Union Church Building because we really had to do a lot 9 avoid all the splinters in 2019 with little kids. And 10 we also appreciate the new roof. We note the new roof 11 and we appreciate that. Thank you all for taking care 12 of that building and making it so available to people to 13 use. Are there any questions? 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and a second to 17 approve to hold the Summer History Camp 2022 at the 18 Union Church Building the first week of June. Any other 19 discussion? 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. I went in 2019 21 and watched for about 30 minutes. I'm a little older 22 than the rest of them, but -- and also, I think I got 23 one child in there in the last vacancy they had and he 24 had a marvelous time. So it's well worth it. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And concerning the 46 1 floor, I did see a lady get her high heel shoe stuck in 2 the hole one day. So it wasn't just the kids we were 3 worried about. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 5 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 6 MS. BOND: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Bunny, while you're there 8 let's go ahead and talk about Mental Health Awareness 9 month. 10 MS. BOND: Okay. Moving on to item four. I 11 want to introduce Willy Morales, who is also on the 12 Board of National Alliance on Mental Illness, Kerrville, 13 with me. And what we're requesting today is that 14 beginning on May the 1st we be able to place some signs 15 on the southwest corner of the courthouse. Some signs 16 facing Water and some facing Sidney Baker. Now, we are 17 aware that Monday, May the 30th is the Memorial Day 18 celebration. And we can take the signs up before that. 19 My question is, is there a limit to the number of signs? 20 Sometimes I see, like, 50 or -- signs or more out there. 21 I don't know. Do y'all have any preference for -- we 22 have 25 signs and we're going to place some at other 23 places in town. But we would appreciate being able to 24 bring awareness of May as Mental Health Month. Not only 25 Kerrville has been active in Kerr County since 1989. 47 1 We've been a small group, largely family members who 2 have children with mental illness. We have done 3 numerous things to publicize the needs in the County. 4 And as many of you all know when you're reading, the 5 needs of young people has simply grown exponentially. 6 So we would welcome the opportunity to be able to place 7 our signs there. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 10 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 11 JUDGE KELLY: There's been a motion and a 12 second to approve May as Mental Health Month -- Mental 13 Health Awareness Month. 14 MISS BOND: Yes. 15 JUDGE KELLY: And the motion includes to 16 also to place signs at the corner out here. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't think that it 18 matters either the number of signs. We've had as many 19 as probably 50 or a hundred signs. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I looked over at 21 Commission Letz to see for that answer but -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whatever. I mean if you 23 have 25 and some of them are going elsewhere so, you 24 know, whatever y'all feel is appropriate. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 48 1 your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 2 MISS BOND: Thank you. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Okay. Now we have 4 some timed items that I have to skip over and take first 5 because they are specifically time. Let's go the item 6 1.11, which is to consider, discuss and take appropriate 7 action on a variance request from Section 5.01.F, 8 building setbacks for Kerr County Subdivision Rules and 9 Regulations. Is Mr. Voelkel here? 10 MR. VINCENT VOELKEL: Hello. There's a 11 property in Hunt and the existing buildings are all 12 within a 50 foot setback, and we're asking for a 13 variance of 20. And if you do not grant that variance 14 they will be -- will not be in compliance. 15 And I think along that highway and 16 Highway 39, a lot of buildings in that area in Hunt are 17 also within the 50-foot setbacks. Not just this 18 property. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Judge, I can also shed some 20 light on this. I've reviewed their applications for the 21 variance. They did a really good job of going through. 22 Our requirements -- this looks like this meets all our 23 requirements and I recommend that the Court authorize 24 the variance. 25 Again, it's for a building setback. This is 49 1 -- the buildings are there at the intersection of 2 FM 1340 and State Highway 39 that's been there for, I 3 don't know, a hundred years? 25 years? 50 years? A 4 long time. They weren't in -- there was no issue with 5 them being where they were because at the time they went 6 in there were no building setback requirements. But 7 they're not going to move the buildings. They don't 8 plan to do that. But they are trying to subdivide their 9 property. Our rules require 50-foot setback and the 10 Court has the authorization to approve something 11 different. That's what they're asking for. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 14 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 15 second to approve the request for a variance on property 16 in Hunt. Any other discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: What happens when 18 the -- do we have any provisions for what happens when 19 the buildings are demolished or no longer there? 20 MR. HASTINGS: They would be subject to the 21 building setbacks that will now be on this plat. 22 COMMISSIONER BECK: So it'll go from 50 -- 23 we're granting the variance from 50 to 20. And it's 24 going to stay that way regardless? 25 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 50 1 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 2 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 3 Item 1.12 consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action on the QroMex Construction Contract 5 Amendment No. 1 for Contract Numbers 7217045, 7218045, 6 and 7218055. Mr. Hastings. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 8 agenda item is for the Kerr County CDBG project, the 9 same numbers the Judge just read, 7217045, 7218045, and 10 7218055. It's the Center Point/East Kerr County Sewer 11 Improvements. This is where we get low to moderate 12 income folks connected to the sewer project. 13 The Office of Rural Affairs issued policy 14 issuance 20-01, which are Federal provisions for Section 15 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 16 requirements, that they made effective July 2nd, 2021, 17 and it does affect these three contracts. 18 The QroMex Construction Contract Amendment 19 One, that is in your packet, is the -- has the addition 20 of Section 3 requirements in the contract. It's been 21 signed by the contractor. It's required for all Texas 22 CDBG grants from the Texas Department of Agriculture, 23 and the County Engineer requests that the Court 24 authorize the County Judge to execute that contract 25 amendment. 51 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We have a motion and second to 4 approve the contract amendment of QroMax regarding the 5 contracts identified here in court today. Any 6 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 7 five zero. 8 Item 1.13 consider, discuss and take 9 appropriate action for the Court to approve a Final Plat 10 for Love Lee Place, Precinct 4. Mr. Hastings. 11 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 12 proposal creates two residential lots on a -- and a well 13 tract along FM 479 in Mountain Home, Texas. Lot 1 will 14 be 5.02 acres and Lot 2 will be 2.00 acres. The well 15 tract will be 0.04 acres, and it will be accessed 16 through a waterline easement and an access easement. 17 The well tract is a requirement of Headwaters in order 18 for that well to serve those two lots. Both lots will 19 front FM 479; however, TxDOT requires both lots to share 20 access as shown on the plot. 21 The County Engineer requests the Court 22 approve the Final Plat for Love Lee Place. Precinct 4. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 52 1 second to approve the Final Plat for Love Lee Place in 2 Mountain Home. Any other discussion? Those in favor 3 raise your hand. Unanimous. 4 Last timed item today is item 1.14. 5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate action on a 6 preliminary plat for Hirsch Ranch. Precinct 4. 7 Mr. Hastings. 8 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you, Judge. This 9 proposal divides 2,565.31 acres into two lots. Each has 10 more then 900 acres in them, and including a road 11 right-of-way. Access will be from State Highway 41 via 12 a new private road to be known as Hirsch Road. Hirsch 13 Road is to be designed and built to the Kerr County 14 specifications for a country lane. It's going to be an 15 unpaved country lane. 16 All requirements for an unpaved country lane 17 is that it can serve no more than eight lots. There are 18 notes on the plat that state that one of those two lots 19 that's being platted can be divided into -- I'm going to 20 have to look at it. I think it's no -- no less than 400 21 acres apiece. Let's double-check that. I want to make 22 sure that this is right. 23 The bottom line is they're -- if they go 24 through the division, they'll get a total of seven lots 25 out of the lots that are being platted. So to note for 53 1 lot Number 2 -- oh, it just says that the property 2 Hirsch Ranch may not be subdivided into more than seven 3 tracts of land. Note Number 2, no tract of land 4 subdivided from the property shall been less than 300 5 acres. That's what I was looking for. And note Number 6 3, no tract of land subdivided from the property which 7 is contiguous to any part of the thousand acre tract 8 shown hereon, which is next door, and they've listed it 9 as file number 21-07101, shall be less than 400 acres. 10 That's -- that's the property that -- on Lot 1, I 11 believe. So Lot 2 can be divided into, you know, 12 several lots, and Lot 1 can be divided into two lots, 13 basically, for a total of seven. There's one more piece 14 of property that's using this road as access, and that 15 is a 672.7 acres. It's the remainder of 5500 acres from 16 Schreiner Four to the YO 4 Ranch, that's File Number 17 17-02688. And that happened on April the 7th, 2017. 18 And the concern right now is that this preliminary plat, 19 as presented, they're not ready to do a final, but they 20 are ready to do a preliminary plat, which is what you're 21 looking at. Again, unpaved country lanes can only serve 22 eight lots. This makes an eighth lot, but they don't 23 have control over that lot. Okay. So they're working 24 on an agreement, and it will go on the plat, and I'm 25 asking the Court to conditionally approve the 54 1 preliminary plat subject to -- there's got to be a note 2 on there that that final lot only -- they can only have 3 one lot to keep the whole threshold of eight lots only 4 on an unpaved country lane. And I've talked with Lee 5 Voelkel about that, and he says that his client has got 6 that worked out and that they will put that note on the 7 final plat. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So -- so basically what we're 9 doing is that eighth lot, that's the Schreiner property, 10 right? 11 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 12 JUDGE KELLY: And so we'd agree to have that 13 road access to only one lot. They can carve something 14 out. They're not going to keep the whole 5500, but 15 they're going to make one lot. 16 MR. HASTINGS: Well, I think their remainder 17 is 602. Yeah. But -- and we've got -- Kevin Myers is 18 here. Kevin, do you want to address this at all? 19 MR. MYERS: I'd be glad to. 20 MR. HASTINGS: That would be great. 21 MR. MYERS: Do you want me to come up there? 22 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. Yes, sir. Kevin's 23 been kicking this around for, what, three or four months 24 now and he's just ready to pull the trigger. 25 MR. MYERS: I appreciate the Court's time 55 1 today. My name is Kevin Myers. I did address some of 2 the concerns. So on the Schreiner property, when that 3 easement was granted to the 672 acres, in that easement 4 agreement it dictates that he only -- it only serves his 5 property in entirety and if he ever subdivided that 6 property, he would have to upgrade the road to y'all's 7 County standards. So that's already been filed at the 8 courthouse. 9 Additionally, the deed for the entire 2500 10 acre tract that this road is splitting, in that deed 11 also had a restriction of no more than seven tracts that 12 that 2500 acres could be divided into. So the deeds 13 already -- you know, are redundant to what we're 14 proposing in this current plat. 15 And also, this -- this is actually going to 16 be a paved country lane. 17 MR. HASTINGS: Oh, it is going to be paved? 18 MR. MYERS: Yes. Yeah. 19 MR. HASTINGS: Very good. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I'll start 21 something on this. I'll move for approval. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We've got a motion and 24 a second to approve the preliminary plat for Hirsch 25 Ranch. 56 1 MR. HASTINGS: There's one more item on it. 2 There's five low water crossings proposed on this and 3 their engineer is here to address that and ask the Court 4 for approval of those low water crossings. John Hewitt, 5 Hewitt Engineering. Thank you, John. 6 MR. HEWITT: I'm John Hewitt. There's five 7 crossings that Charlie mentioned that we would put 8 concrete crossings on. Four of those are very minor, 9 small drainage areas coming in. One is a studied 10 floodplain area. We've done a detailed floodplain study 11 for that. In the hundred year event, that gets to be 12 almost three feet high on that crossing right there. So 13 we're requesting that we be allowed to put low water 14 crossings, concrete pavement across those areas. 15 MR. HASTINGS: Do we know what the height 16 would be for, say, a five or a ten or a 25-year storm? 17 MR. HEWITT: Yes. Most of them are about a 18 foot or a half a foot. They're very minor. For the 19 large one, for a five-year event, that would be 1.8 feet 20 deep. So, I mean, it's -- it's a wide shallow, less 21 than two feet. But that's even for a five-year event. 22 MR. HASTINGS: And then that will all be 23 paved in concrete, the -- the -- all of the low water 24 crossings? 25 MR. HEWITT: That's correct. 57 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: With culverts? 2 MR. HEWITT: Correct. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: All? 4 MR. HEWITT: One of them does not. Four of 5 the five do. One is a very small area. But four of the 6 five do have culverts. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: They've done most of 8 their homework. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So we've got a motion 10 and a second. Any other discussion? Those in favor 11 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 12 Okay. Let's go back to where we left off on 13 the regular agenda. Item 1.5, which is to recognize 14 Ashli Badders for the honor of being invited to speak at 15 the Texas Onsite Wastewater Association Conference in 16 Galveston held last month. Ms. Doss. 17 MS. DOSS: Yes. Good morning. I would like 18 y'all to help me recognize Ashli Badders. She was asked 19 to speak at the Texas Onsite Wastewater Association 20 Conference held at Community Gardens in Galveston, Texas 21 in March. Being asked to speak at this conference was 22 an honor and benefits our County by shining a positive 23 light on Kerr County and the environmental health 24 department. 25 Miss Badders and her department's 58 1 consistency in providing excellent service to the 2 citizens of this County by maintaining a great work 3 ethic and high standards within the Department should be 4 commended. I would like to invite Ashli to share a 5 summary of her presentation. Ashli. 6 MRS. BADDERS: Thank you, Jennifer. So back 7 in February, late February, I was contacted by the 8 executive director of the Texas Onsite Wastewater 9 Association to speak at this year's TOWA conference on 10 the basics for authorized agents and investigative 11 representatives. And March 9th, I spoke -- I co-spoke 12 with another DR from the Trinity River Authority about 13 comparing our dependents and how we administer the oaths 14 of that program for our County in front of an audience 15 of about 200 plus people. And it was a very good 16 experience. And as a director of our OSSF program here 17 that oversees a county that's exploding in population, 18 it was really good to be able to connect with other DR's 19 and directors from the others in that community and I 20 feel that collaboration was very beneficial for myself 21 and our department as we are moving forward in the 22 future in a growing county. And it was an honor to be 23 able to contribute to my profession in that capacity. 24 And briefly mention one last thing. Last 25 Thursday, I was invited onto Kerrville podcast to come 59 1 speak about my role with community and how we serve our 2 program to the community, and just wanted to get a shout 3 out there to Kerrville podcast and what they're doing 4 there, and bring an awareness to the community on 5 services, whether you'd be elected official or running 6 for office or a public utility company or a private 7 business owner, they're inviting guests on to kind of 8 bring awareness of the services provided to the County. 9 So that's all I have for y'all. And thank you all for 10 listening. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you and 13 congratulations. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Always good to get good news. 15 1.6 consider, discuss and take appropriate 16 action to approve the contract with the AmeriTex 17 Elevators. Shane Evans. 18 MR. EVANS: Good morning, gentlemen. It's 19 time to get our elevator at the 550 building under 20 contract so we can start getting regular maintenance in 21 order to get inspections on it as required. And I'd 22 like y'all to approve that contract. And I think -- I 23 don't think Heather had any objection to it or anything 24 but -- 25 MRS. STEBBINS: I just had a couple of 60 1 changes. 2 MR. EVANS: Two changes, I think. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 6 second to approve the contract with AmeriTex Elevators. 7 Any discussion? 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I just want to know 9 which Precinct that's in? 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Three. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I notice Jonathan 13 jumped on that. I wanted to point out that. That the 14 elevator's in Precinct 3. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The stairs are in 1? 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The stairs are in 17 Precinct 1 over here. 18 JUDGE KELLY: A lot of people don't 19 understand our inside humor here, but this Courthouse 20 actually sits on Precinct 1 and Precinct 3. Inside this 21 building. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That walkway is the 23 divider. 24 JUDGE KELLY: So if you go walking across 25 the Precinct when you go down the hall. 61 1 Any other discussion? 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: No. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 4 hand. Unanimous. 5 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate 6 action on request to add domain name "kerrcountytx.gov" 7 for the new Kerr County website. Mr. Motheral. 8 MR. MOTHERAL: Exactly that. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Are we going to switch all of 10 our -- 11 MR. MOTHERAL: No. Not right now. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're going to have 13 more than one, right? 14 MR. MOTHERAL: We'll have more than one. 15 It's going to be redirected internally. It's just -- 16 it's going to facilitate this move. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 18 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Got a motion and second to 20 approve the new domain name "kerrcountytx.gov" for our 21 website. Any other discussion? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You wouldn't understand 23 if I asked a question. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: If you go to the old 25 website it'll redirect to this. If you use this, it'll 62 1 redirect. It's just -- it -- you can call it what you 2 want. 3 MR. MOTHERAL: Exactly that. It's seamless. 4 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: It's magic. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor raise your 6 hand. Unanimous. 7 MR. MOTHERAL: Thank you. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.8 is to consider, 9 discuss and take appropriate action to appoint a member 10 of the Commissioners' Court or a designated person to 11 perform an investigation pursuant to the Texas Health 12 and Safety Code for the purpose of determining if the 13 minimum standards for ensuring public safety and order 14 os prescribed by law will be maintained under the 15 application for permit for mass gathering by the 16 Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation from May 26th through 17 June 12th. And a hearing on the mass gathering permit 18 has been set for May the 2nd at 8:30. We did this 19 before. 20 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I recommend Harley 21 does it. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I'll second that 23 motion. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: That's the main reason 25 this seat isn't empty today. 63 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. That's a tradition we 2 have too. If you're not here you get appointed. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I went out there one 4 time and said I'm the Fire Marshal and went through 5 everything. It's amazing. They have everything taken 6 care of. I mean not that that's amazing but I -- that 7 they had as much preparation. 8 JUDGE KELLY: They're very thorough in 9 preparation and investigation before we have these 10 events. Which is good for the public to know. So with 11 that we've got a motion and second for Commissioner 12 Belew to be the official Commissioner that investigates 13 and will participate in the hearings that we have on May 14 the 2nd. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Can you make it at 16 8:30? 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: (Shaking head yes.) 18 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Maybe 8:31. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? Those 21 in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 22 Now, the next item is item 1.9, which is the 23 discussion regarding the resolution of proposed 24 expansion of the Hill Country Regional Public Defender's 25 Office that I placed on the agenda that you disclosed 64 1 earlier. And all I would do is reiterate to the public 2 that this is a very amicable resolution. The five 3 original counties that stayed together, which was of 4 paramount importance to us, we did not expand with the 5 other four counties but we're going to help them get 6 their Public Defender's Office up and running. We're 7 actually going to enter into an Interlocal Agreement 8 with the four counties down there to allow consultation. 9 Judge Schuchart and John Bull are going to 10 help them get their outfit up and running. So all 11 things -- and the other thing we did was we remove the 12 fiscal agency from the TIDC grant to Medina County. I 13 think that's more centrally located. 14 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, so HR will be 15 there? 16 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I like it. 18 JUDGE KELLY: We like it too. 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Now, the other four 20 counties, will they be getting a grant like we did or -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: They have a grant. 22 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: They have -- they did it the 24 same time we did. Ours is a little bit bigger than 25 theirs. For those of you that don't know the counties, 65 1 these are four southern counties down there. Atascosa, 2 Wilson, Karnes and Frio. And they -- they started the 3 same time we did. They haven't had the success that 4 we've had. They were managed by Texas Rural Legal Aid. 5 And so they were severing their relationship with them 6 and they wanted to have self-governance like we do with 7 ours. 8 And they wanted to come in, and that was 9 going to completely change the dynamics for us. And so 10 we decided the keep our five the way it is, with the 11 original five. And help them get theirs -- get the 12 kinks worked out. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I like that. 14 JUDGE KELLY: So that's just an 15 informational item. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And just one of the 17 comments, and I brought it up earlier, mainly because 18 there was -- to get the information out there because we 19 had a bigger audience at that point. But the other 20 thing about this is it doesn't -- it's not going to 21 impact our office. We're going to have the office to 22 equal the size of Medina County, which is basically the 23 situation. 24 But one thing it does help a little bit is 25 housing has become a little bit of a problem of getting 66 1 a lot of the people that work at our current office live 2 in San Antonio and they're commuting and it's because 3 they can't find housing here because of the cost, and 4 the same with Kendall County. So it's a little bit 5 easier with some of the staff people in Medina County 6 because the housing costs are a little bit lower and it 7 will hopefully help that a little bit. But we'll still 8 have a number commuting into this office from San 9 Antonio. But it gives us a little bit of flexibility. 10 And the other thing that is really important 11 in my decision to go the direction we did is that John 12 Bull's done a real good job on working with Saint Mary's 13 University primarily on an intern program and getting 14 recent graduates into the program. And you know, 15 without working together and kind of helping, we're 16 afraid of the situation of competing for lawyers and 17 staff. And with John teaching them how to work it out, 18 I think that same program with interns and using St. 19 Mary's for continued for both counties and he can 20 continue to work together on that, or both PDO's rather. 21 So I think it's good. It's a win-win for us. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And to flush that out, one of 23 the problems we had with the -- there's been discussions 24 about terminations in that office. And it's because the 25 PDOs have been poaching one of these lawyers. And so we 67 1 wanted to have much more control over how we're going to 2 compete with the four southern counties. So by having 3 common management of these offices, hopefully it's not 4 going to -- nothing is supposed to change here at all. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So they -- they haven't 6 hammered out all these details on how it's going to work 7 with the structure and all, did they? 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, they -- they've already 9 got a PDO. They've got an office. But they're 10 disassociating with Texas Rural Legal Aid. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, what you just 12 mentioned would mean they need a policy for that, for 13 example? 14 JUDGE KELLY: And they're going to use our 15 documents as templates and put together their own. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And John Bull will work 17 on their budget to help on staffing and what they need 18 to do. Kind of mirror it after our PDO, with the Hill 19 Country region PDO -- I shouldn't use the word "our", I 20 was criticized by using -- saying our PDO. 21 JUDGE KELLY: We call it the PDO. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The PDO. 23 JUDGE KELLY: It's pronouns. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So we're basically going 25 to help them setup their management. They're going to 68 1 have their own chief in the other PDO. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And the good news is that with 3 this Interlocal Agreement, they're actually going to pay 4 our PDO for the professional services of getting them up 5 and running. So there's going to be actually income 6 stream positives that will come in by helping those get 7 up and -- 8 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: That will take some 9 time and effort. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So anyway, I think it's 11 a good move. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So moving on to -- that's the 13 segue into 1.10. And what this is, is we all agreed to 14 use this exact language, all five counties are 15 presenting this motion this week. So this is the motion 16 that I'm making, which is consider, discuss and take 17 appropriate action, and I'm going to make a motion, to 18 amend the Hill Country Regional Public Defender Office 19 Interlocal Agreement between Bandera, Gillespie, 20 Kendall, Kerr, and Medina Counties, to make Medina 21 County the fiscal agent of the Hill Country Regional 22 Public Defender Office, effective October 1, 2022. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Any discussion? So we want it 25 to be exactly the same. That's why we worded it this 69 1 way. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I do have a question. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Uh-huh? 4 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Are there any more of 5 these that's trying to get together this way? 6 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So this is one domain. 8 JUDGE KELLY: I don't want to say that -- 9 But its become a very popular thing. And the State has 10 incentivized us. That's how we got this grant. This 11 has been an unfunded mandate for years and the State 12 really stepped up to help us on this. But they're 13 promoting the regional concept. And we kind of 14 pioneered this with what we did. And we became the 15 template for how to put these things together. And so 16 what we want to do is not have once our -- our neighbors 17 PDO's poaching our attorneys. Because that's what 18 happened. A bunch of our attorneys went to Tom Green 19 County and set it up out there. 20 Okay. Any other discussion? 21 MRS. STEBBINS: I just have a question. 22 Would you like for me to work on the amendment to that 23 Interlocal Agreement? 24 JUDGE KELLY: Sure. 25 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 70 1 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then those in favor 2 raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 3 That takes us down to 1.15 consider, discuss 4 and take appropriate action to authorize County Attorney 5 to report 381 agreements to the Texas Comptroller of 6 Public Accounts as required by law. Mrs. Stebbins. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: During this last session, 8 House Bill 2404 required the County -- requires the 9 Counties to report our 381 agreements. Also it requires 10 the City to do the same for their 380 agreements. And 11 they did not designate who should report those. So 12 Tanya, Jackie, Jody and I have all gone round and round 13 about who's going to report what, who's best to do too. 14 And I think that I probably am that person, but we only 15 have one. And last week I was reporting it, because 16 we've got to report it by May 1st, and the last little 17 button I had to click said you have the authority to 18 report these. So that's why I put this on the agenda so 19 that y'all could give me the authority to report the 381 20 agreements if we have any in the future. I did report 21 the last one so that it could be on time. So I'd like 22 you to ratify that authority. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So I'll make a motion to 24 ratify the one that you've already submitted and 25 authorize you to submit them in the future. 71 1 MRS. STEBBINS. Okay. Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 4 second to authorize the County Attorney to report the 5 381 agreements to the Texas Comptroller of Public 6 Accounts. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, will you explain 8 to everybody what that account is, what the 381 is? 9 MRS. STEBBINS: Oh. The 381 agreement, we 10 have one. Right now it's with James Avery and that is 11 not abatement, but refund their ad valorem taxes after 12 they comply with certain things like employment, 13 facilities, expansion. There was a list of the things 14 that they have to do to grow the economy. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's a portion of their 16 ad valorem taxes. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Some -- some 18 people enter the agreement and don't fulfill it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Yeah. We've 20 had -- we've had others that haven't. And then, you 21 know, we don't give any abatement or refund. But Avery 22 has, I believe, so far. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: So far they have. I think 24 that during the COVID year there was -- they didn't meet 25 one of them but they reported that. And so it -- that 72 1 was taken into consideration. 2 JUDGE KELLY: They were very forthcoming 3 with that. 4 MRS. STEBBINS: Uh-huh. They have been. 5 Thank you. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Then the last item on 7 the consideration agenda is the presentation of the 8 fiscal year 20 -- 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Did we vote? 10 JUDGE KELLY: Oh. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We didn't. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Those in favor of the 13 ratification of -- 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, wait a minute. 15 Wait a minute. Now you made the amendment. 16 Commissioner Letz seconded it. That wasn't the same as 17 the actual agenda item. That was acceptance for 18 something else. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: The -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Just to authorize the County 21 Attorney to report the 381 agreements with the 22 Comptroller. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: And ratify the previous -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: No. But you talked about one 25 that was previously done. 73 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Are we going to roll 2 that into this or -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 4 JUDGE KELLY: And that is to include any 5 prior reports. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 7 MRS. STEBBINS: Thank you. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Those in favor raise 10 your hand. Unanimous. 11 The last item on the consideration agenda is 12 my presentation of the budget. And you can see my 13 notebook here. I've given a handout to all the 14 Commissioners on this. This basically is a no new 15 revenue tax rate. Everybody's familiar with the tax 16 appraisals and how they've gone up. We have no control 17 over the appraisal district. We have no control over 18 those appraisals. But we do have control over what tax 19 rate we're going to use based on those appraisals. And 20 so what we've done the last two years, I think, isn't 21 it, Bob, that we've done the no new revenue? Two years? 22 MR. REEVES: Yes, sir. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's been called that 25 the last two years. What was it called before that, 74 1 Bob? The language? The no new revenue is what we have 2 now. 3 MR. REEVES: The -- 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: The rollback? 5 MR. REEVES: Before that it was known as the 6 effective tax rate and the Rollback Rate. And now it's 7 known as the no new revenue rate, which was equivalent 8 to the effective tax rate. And then the voter approval 9 rate. Commissioner Gipson, I do not know the 10 terminology reasons for the changes, but that is -- to 11 make it simpler is what I've been told. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I bet, yeah. After a 13 couple years. I just bet that's the -- 14 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: I just wondered, 15 they're quite a bit longer than you had told me about 16 the previous one. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, it's all designed 18 to avoid being able to develop an elevator speech with 19 it. If anybody asks. 20 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Takes about 24. 21 Thanks, Bob. 22 JUDGE KELLY: But just to clarify, for the 23 last couple years -- the last couple years, we have 24 adopted a tax rate that did not result in increased 25 income to the County. We've capped it out to be the 75 1 same for the last three years. The last two years and 2 then my proposed budget does the same here. That may 3 not be the final budget that gets adopted, but that's 4 what I've proposed. 5 And the total revenues that we have 6 projected for next year, next fiscal year, is almost 38 7 million -- $37,902,388 worth of revenues projected. The 8 expenditures, we kept essentially the same budget as 9 before. When the Department heads and officials go in 10 or get in there and take a look at it, the numbers are 11 going to be just pretty much what they were last year. 12 And we're projecting expenditures of $39,382,445. That 13 is almost a million and a half dollars deficit budget. 14 And by way of explanation, I've said this 15 before, but Kerr County has a long tradition of adopting 16 deficit budget. It also has a longstanding tradition of 17 not having a deficit budget at the end of the year. 18 Which means that we budget more than we spend. And I've 19 -- I've attributed that to the conservative nature of 20 the County, our department heads, of our elected 21 officials. They plan for every possible contingency 22 that they can think of and they put it in their budget. 23 And so we have all these, like, a contingency fund. But 24 we've got little mini funds. Everybody's over-budgeting 25 just a little bit and I really can't tell you exactly 76 1 how much we're over-budgeted. I'm not sure they can. 2 But it's there. 3 But in this budget what I've also done, and 4 this is on what we agreed to last year with Commissioner 5 Moser and his suggestion is we increased our contingency 6 fund so that if we really do get in a jam we'll have 7 some money to be able to cover those expenses. And what 8 we're seeing with inflation, it's a good thing that we 9 have that. And this bill has a contingency fund of 10 $750,000 built into this budget before the department 11 heads, before the elected officials. So that, yeah, 12 it's a million and a half deficit budget, but I'm just 13 following budget culture. Your phrase. It just wears. 14 It fits. 15 But -- so this is a -- the tax rate is a no 16 new revenue rate. I have included -- we don't call them 17 COLA's at this point. We call them wage adjustments, if 18 you'll recall. But it's built in a three percent 19 increase for salaries. That's built into this budget. 20 I've mentioned the contingency fund of three-quarters of 21 a million dollars. And I think we've got -- I don't 22 think we have any new hires in. I think they've gotten 23 a vehicle or two. And also that we're going to switch 24 to Incode 10, which is a significant expense. That's 25 included in this. 77 1 COMMISSIONER GIPSON: What is that? 2 JUDGE KELLY: Incode 10. I hadn't even 3 tried to explain it. Because I -- I don't use it. But 4 it's the accounting program that we use. And we 5 presently have a -- is it five digits? 6 MS. SHELTON: We have two digit fund 7 numbers. And we need three digits. 8 JUDGE KELLY: So in order to do that, we 9 have to upgrade to the next program. And that we're 10 just -- we're just big enough that we have to do that. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now whose budget does 12 that come out of? 13 MS. SHELTON: It's in non-departmental. We 14 all use it to do purchase orders. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Whether -- 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So general fund? 17 MS. SHELTON: General fund. 18 JUDGE KELLY: I was going to point out that, 19 if you recall our COVID year, which was fiscal year 20 2021, the return to the fund balance for funds that were 21 not spent, and remember we had lock downs. We did not 22 travel for our continuing education. We did not do a 23 lot of things that year. That year we had adopted a 24 deficit budget, but we returned $4.4 million to the 25 good. That we didn't spend. And that -- where you find 78 1 those funds if you look over there at the balance in 2 that fund balance, that's why that fund balance has 3 grown. This year, we don't anticipate anything near 4 that high. Probably more like a million of what we've 5 budgeted that we think is probably going to not be 6 spent. So that's all factored into this budget. The -- 7 and a lot of that is related to things that we did not 8 complete, such as the IT capital improvements, the money 9 we didn't spend at the Sheriff's office is money that we 10 did not spend on the jail. All those were taken into 11 consideration. So if you look over there at the fund 12 balance, we're projecting at the end of the year to have 13 a fund balance of $12,921,000 or 44.5 percent. So now 14 we're talking about a fund balance that basically will 15 allow the County to operate for half a year. So we 16 think we're being very prudent at this point to have 17 that kind of fund balance in light of the uncertainty 18 that we're looking at going forward. This is now going 19 to be posted on the website. Anyone can go to the 20 website and get the summary. And just so you can see, 21 the summary looks like this. It's got yellow on it. 22 And if you haven't -- in order to read them in the past, 23 you need to get familiar with -- and what will happen 24 now is this goes on the website and on May the 9th, I 25 believe, all the Department Heads and Elected Officials 79 1 will be able to go into Incode and see the budget, and 2 see the allocations to their specific departments and 3 offices. And then we wait and get their input back to 4 us. And then we'll start having our budget workshops in 5 June. And even into July. By the end of July, we will 6 probably finalize the budget. And I think our 7 appraisals come in what, less than two weeks, Bob? End 8 of this week, I guess? 9 MR. REEVES: They've already hit the mail, 10 Judge. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. Hit my mailbox. 12 JUDGE KELLY: So this is Step 1 for the 13 budget. And that's just a discussion item. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, let me go over 15 the deficit budget issue on -- just for public 16 information. Because we get criticized annually about 17 having a deficit budget and there's two things that you 18 have to remember in County government and budgeting. 19 One is if it's not budgeted, you can't spend 20 it. Even if you have the reserves. You're not allowed 21 to go into your reserves and spend it unless it's a 22 specific line item in the budget and project in the 23 budget. Like Road & Bridge, for example, if they have a 24 project to buy right-of-way on -- for a new bridge 25 construction. Something like that. And that bridge 80 1 gets delayed by TxDOT or moved up by TxDOT. If it's not 2 in the budget, we can't do it. You can't just move 3 money around unless it's an actual emergency. And those 4 are very, very unusual and hard to, you know, justify. 5 The other thing is, is that we have to 6 budget for every employee at their current salary. 7 Because we don't know where people are going to retire, 8 where people are going to leave, and things of that 9 nature. So our budget is always in flex. But you have 10 to budget as if everyone's there. You know, we don't 11 have an option. Because otherwise -- or you just can't 12 do it. So that's where a large part of this money often 13 comes from is based on, you know, people leaving. They 14 have someone of a certain grade leave or step leave and 15 they get -- or hire a new person comes in at a lower 16 amount, so there's a surplus there. Or you have a 17 vacancy for a month in the department so that, you know, 18 that money wasn't spent, and that's why we end up with 19 -- those two issues are really the large reasons we end 20 up with that or have a deficit budget going in but when 21 it's come out with a surplus. 22 JUDGE KELLY: And an observation I'll share 23 with you. For example, with our new Sheriff. Our old 24 Sheriff was never fully staffed. There were always open 25 spots. For those of you that haven't paid attention 81 1 round the County, there are a lot more cruisers out 2 there. There's a lot more deputies and patrol cars and 3 that's because we're about a hundred percent employed 4 right now. And so this was -- the change in that regime 5 alone has changed how the cash flow from the budget, 6 where we count on having, you know, five or six open 7 positions from the Sheriff's office on a regular basis, 8 we don't have that anymore. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And there's one other 10 thing about Commissioner Letz's line items. There have 11 been times where we realized after a few years we didn't 12 use that fund and put it in something else, eliminate 13 the line altogether. We're not trying to add excessive 14 amounts in little funds. If they're not used, we get 15 rid of them. Put the money somewhere else. 16 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, all I can say is 17 this is the first time I've seen it and it's hats off to 18 you and the auditor's office and everybody else involved 19 in getting us to this starting point. I -- you know, 20 with inflation out there it's hitting everybody. It's 21 hitting everybody sitting right here. You go to the gas 22 pump or grocery store or whatever. It's hitting all of 23 us. And to have a COLA already built in because our -- 24 our employees for the County or taxpayers as well, they 25 feel it. I would say to our department heads and 82 1 elected officials, please be conservative when you come 2 to us. Think of our taxpayers, our neighbors out there. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Well, and I want to give a 4 shout out to the Department Heads and the Elected 5 Officials and what they did last year. Last year we 6 tightened our belt. We asked everybody to cut what they 7 could. And every single department, every single 8 officeholder, reduced their budget. That's not lost on 9 us. We positioned ourselves to be able to absorb some 10 of that better this year. We feel like we have. But 11 the recommended fund balance is supposed to be 25 12 percent of your budget. Three months. We got almost 13 six. So we're hoping that we're going to be able to 14 weather the coming economic condition, whatever we're 15 going to call this and I don't know if we're going to go 16 into recession or what. But whatever it is, we've got 17 the County position to be able to handle that without 18 raising taxes. And that's our goal here. 19 And new early rates, by the way, generally 20 will result in a reduction in the actual tax rate 21 itself. That's the way it works. That's how we keep 22 the revenue the same and not -- and we actually have to 23 reduce the tax rate. And for the maximum increases, two 24 and a half percent. Isn't that right, Bob? 25 MR. REEVES: Three and a half. 83 1 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, three and a half. We 2 haven't raised tax rates at all. We've reduced tax 3 rates. So all -- for the last -- this will be the third 4 year we've gotten to bank that. So that if we get in 5 that jam, we do have the flexibility to respond by 6 raising taxes because those are all banked at this 7 point. We don't want to have to use them. So if we've 8 got them in -- so for -- what I'm trying to tell you is, 9 we're sitting in a pretty good financial position. 10 We're pointed to be able to manage the County on less -- 11 on lower tax rates and still be in a position if we have 12 an emergency and have to raise them, we have the ability 13 to do that. We don't want to do it, but we have the 14 ability. So this will be discussed and cussed, I'm 15 sure, in coming months as we work through. But it's 16 always a process that it's worthwhile at the end. 17 Let's move on to the approval agenda. Move 18 to 2.1 budget amendments. 19 MRS. SHELTON: Good morning. You should 20 have a loose budget adjustment request. So the first 21 four on your list are line item transfers. We've had an 22 increase in employees which it went -- something that's 23 based on the number of employees has gone up $33 from 24 when we were looking at it during budget time. So 25 that's just a line item transfer. 84 1 The second one on the list is for the new 2 position in the Treasurer's Office. And that's related 3 to the payroll. They're going to start payroll, I 4 believe, this week. The next one down is for our Ag 5 Extension office. And again, it's line item transfer. 6 Next page you'll see the investigator and bond 7 insurance. And we've had a peace officer insurance came 8 in for about 12 -- just shy of $1200. And again, that's 9 a line item transfer. The next one is for 10 unanticipated court reporter costs. And that is coming 11 from the contingency line. 12 And then your last one is -- the majority of 13 this is due to the constitutional election that will be 14 coming up in the month of May. And the Tax 15 Assessor/Collector, Bob Reeves, has -- believes that 16 that's going to cost about $23,000. So this will cover 17 -- the majority of this will cover that reason. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 21 second to approve the budget amendments as presented. 22 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 23 Unanimous. 24 2.2. Pay the bills. 25 MRS. SHELTON: Yes. Today's invoices for 85 1 consideration, $1,924,137.38. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 4 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 5 second to approve the payment of the bills as presented. 6 Any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 7 Unanimous. 8 2.3. Late bills. 9 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 10 JUDGE KELLY: 2.4. Auditor reports. 11 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 12 JUDGE KELLY: 2.5. Monthly reports. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For March 2022, 14 Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4 Bill Ragsdale. Animal 15 Control Services, Director Reagan Givens. I move for 16 approval. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 19 second to approve the monthly reports as presented. Any 20 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 21 five oh. 22 2.6 court orders. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have our Court orders 24 from our April 11th meeting 39259 through 39276, and 25 from our special meeting on April 18th, Court Order 86 1 39277. And they all look to be in order. Move for 2 approval. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: We've got a motion and a 6 second to approve court orders as presented. Any 7 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 8 Moving on to the Information Agenda. 3.1. 9 Status reports from department heads. 10 3.2. Status reports from elected officials. 11 And 3.3. Status reports from liaison 12 commissioners. Any reports? 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I want to thank Bunny 14 for staying with the Historical Commission and 15 congratulate you on your new position. 16 MS. BOND: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's what you get for 18 not showing up at a meeting. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We do have an Executive 20 Session item today, under 4.1. It's consultation with 21 the attorney. A is the discussion regarding contracts 22 with the City of Kerrville for the library, animal 23 services, airport, fire and EMS. And B is to discuss 24 the security management related to the proposed law 25 enforcement communication system. 87 1 But before we can go into Executive Session 2 on these items, first thing we have to do is take a 3 vote, it must be unanimous by the Court, that determines 4 that we believe that holding these discussions in an 5 open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the 6 position of the Commissioners' Court in negotiations. 7 So that's -- that's required that we have that vote or 8 can't go into the Executive Session and we also need to 9 keep the Court Reporter here for the discussions. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: That's for the item under A. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Makes sense to me. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we have a motion? 13 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I'm going to make a 14 motion that we go into Executive Session because we 15 believe that these -- holding these matters, these 16 discussions in open meeting would have a detrimental 17 effect on our position negotiating with the City and its 18 vendors. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: So those in favor raise your 21 hand. Unanimous. We have our vote. We have a written 22 -- I have a written report from the County Attorney 23 saying that she believes that -- she agrees with us 24 that. And with that, we'll take a five minute break and 25 come back in Executive Session. 88 1 (Executive Session.) 2 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. It is 11:51, and we're 3 back in open session. We have no business to transact, 4 so we are adjourned. 5 * * * * * * 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 89 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 19th day of May, A.D. 2022. 10 11 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/30/2023 13 * * * * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25