Commissioners Court - Regular Meeting

So this is the regular session of Commissioner's Court for Comal County, Thursday, September 3rd. We're calling it to order at 8.30 AM. Let the record reflect that all members of the court are present this morning and that there is a quorum. We'll begin with action agenda item number one.

Judge, I move to approve the claims as presented for September 3, 2026, EFTs $1,429,345.80, regular claims of $2,386,805.10, for a total of $3,816,150.90. Second.

Here's a motion to approve claims by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Item two is a proclamation recognizing September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Month in Comal County. Whereas suicide is a serious and preventable public health concern that affects individuals, families, and communities across the nation, causing immeasurable pain, loss, and grief. And whereas over the past 12 months, Hill Country Mental Health and Development Disabilities Centers, Hill Country MHDD, Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, MCOT, has assessed approximately 942 individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts or behaviors. with approximately 404 of those individuals reporting a lifetime history of a suicide attempt. And whereas Hill Country MHDD, as a local mental health authority serving Comal County, provides critical mental health services and resources that are an essential part of the county's mental health infrastructure, including crisis response, assessment, intervention, and connection to ongoing care and support. And whereas the services provided by Hill Country MHDD and other local mental health authorities throughout Texas play a vital role in ensuring that individuals experiencing mental health challenges or a behavioral health crisis have access to timely, appropriate, and compassionate care, And whereas suicide prevention efforts involve fostering a culture of compassion, understanding, and an open communication within our community, while encouraging individuals to seek help, support, and appropriate resources when they are struggling. And whereas recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month in Comal County provides an opportunity to reduce stigma, promote mental health awareness, encourage help seeking, and demonstrate our community's commitment to preventing suicide and supporting those in need. And whereas collaboration among Hill Country MHDD, local organizations, mental health professionals, educators, health care providers, first responders, community leaders, families, and residents is essential to creating a supportive network that provides resources, guidance, connection, and a sense of belonging to individuals who may be experiencing mental health challenges or a suicidal crisis. And whereas by recognizing Suicide Prevention Month, Comel County acknowledges the importance of raising awareness, educating the community about suicide prevention and available resources, promoting connectedness, and offering hope to individuals and families affected by suicide. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Commissioner's Court of Comal County, Texas, that September 26 is hereby recognized as Suicide Prevention Month in Comal County. And be it further proclaimed that all residents of Comal County are encouraged to participate in activities and events that promote mental health education, suicide prevention, awareness, and support, and that individuals, organizations, schools, businesses, health care providers, and community partners are encouraged to work together to foster an environment of empathy, understanding, compassion, connection, and hope, and to actively engage in efforts that contribute to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of mental well-being throughout our community.

Judge, I move to approve the proclamation just read.

Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve the proclamation. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Okay, so we'd like to invite anyone up to accept the proclamation.

Good morning. My name is Arielle and I have the privilege of serving as the lead for our mobile crisis outreach team, or commonly known as MCOT. My team and I have the privilege of sitting with people during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. We meet people when they are overwhelmed, hurting, and sometimes unsure if there's a way forward. But after years of doing this work, I've learned something that I think is important to remember. Suicide prevention doesn't begin when someone is in active crisis. It begins long before that. It begins with connection. When someone is struggling, we often picture the person who is visibly hurting, the person asking for help, or clearly showing that something is wrong. But sometimes the people who need connection the most are the ones who appear to have everything together. The strong one, the person who always checks on everyone else, the co-worker who makes everyone laugh, or the parent who never lets anybody see them struggle. We don't always know what someone is carrying. That is why suicide prevention belongs to all of us. It can be as simple as checking in, not just once, but consistently, asking someone how they are really doing and being willing to listen to the answer. Noticing when someone seems a little different, reminding someone that they are not alone, and asking for help is not a weakness. This is why uniting our communities matters so much. Building relationships, creating connection, and making sure people know they belong is suicide prevention. Through my years on MCOT, I've seen how powerful it can be when someone is willing to sit beside another person in their darkest moments and say, you don't have to do this alone. Sometimes that person is a crisis responder. Sometimes it's a friend, a family member, a coworker, a neighbor, or someone who is simply willing to take the time and listen. We may not always know what to say. We may not be able to fix what someone is experiencing, but we can show up, we can ask, and we can stay connected. This Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, I encourage you to remember to check on the people who are struggling, but also those who seem strong enough to not need anyone. Connection is prevention, and creating a community where people feel seen, supported, and valued isn't just something we do during a crisis. It's something we can do every day. Thank you.

We will move back into our workshop agenda. And we will begin with citizens' comments. Public comments are for comments on any item other than what is posted with a public hearing. So comments are limited to three minutes. You want to come on forward?

Good morning. Good morning. My name's Rosa. I'm a citizen of Comal County. And what I have some questions related to federal officers being in our county. What precisely are the coordination procedures between federal officers and Comal County law enforcement? That's one question. The Supreme Court ruled known versus Vasquez Perdomo that ICE can use race and other factors such as language and employment as part of their justification for immigration stops. Are these factors being used in stops made by Comel County law enforcement? There have been claims that they have. And there was a news report that a person was stopped and the The officer that stopped them has been terminated, but there's other claims that have been occurring recently. So we'd like to know what's going on with that. How much money does Comal County get for each person they hold for the federal government, and does this include children? What amount and what tax dollars, federal, state, municipal, does the funding come from for the county's cooperation with federal officers? What is the exact dollar amount received for each part of the federal and county cooperation process? Does the amount cover the full cost for coordinating with federal officers, or is there a shortfall incurred by the county? Are additional federal duties putting a strain on Comal County resources and possibly leading to not having enough resources to handle crimes, especially violent crimes carried out by U.S. citizens? Are surveillance devices being used to gather information on the general population? What devices are being used by Comal County for surveillance? Are flock cameras or other surveillance cameras and or devices assisting in coordinated efforts with federal officers? Is AI used to analyze and aggregate data from surveillance devices and other sources? What are other data sources used? For how long is the data stored? This is just the beginning of what is the process for law enforcement to search and access the data and law enforcement agencies and non-law enforcement are allowed to search and access the information. Do they need a warrant signed by a judge? How can we find who has searched and how many searches were conducted on our license plates or other data points related to us? These are important questions, and we need to realize that right now we're treating people as the other, and they're the ones that are victims of all of this surveillance and all of this stopping people for the color of their skin or the way they speak or their job. But that's not going to be limited to them. It's going to be all of us. All of us are being surveilled, and they're going to use that against all of us. So we need to understand that it's not just them. It's us as well. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning. My name is Joe Joplin. Me and my family live on River Road between the second and third crossing. We operate two businesses. One's called the Grouchy Goose. One's called the Tan Turtle. Before that, I was a Parks and Wildlife employee for eight years on the Devil's River, and I worked a lot with Nature Conservancy, which leads me to the point I'm here for. Our properties, which we own the Grouchy Goose and our friends own the Tan Turtle, are for sale. And I've been reading about the water quality protection land program that the county got approved for from the Water Development Board. And I think that these properties may be of interest to the county in the fact that they're centrally located between Canyon Lake and New Bronzeville. There's currently no public access between that area. That's a good staging area for not only utilities, emergency services. That currently happens, currently we have a storefront there and it's got a good turnaround so they kind of utilize that. There's a lot of undeveloped land in the back. This is about 14 acres which would be available. So you have conservation land, you could have some infrastructure for county needs, and you could have some managed water access if you'd like for the public. I think basically it would fit a lot of the criteria that would come in handy, and based on my background, I think that I would like to see it, my family would like to see it in some kind of nature-based conservation use as opposed to shared development. But I think if you review that, and if the 14 acres, like I said, could be added on, there's another 30 acres that's undeveloped around it, so it has room for expansion. So it might be one of those properties to look at under that program. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here to address the court during public comment?

OK.

Seeing none, we'll go to workshop agenda item number two, which is reports by county staff and elected officials on items of community interest.

Go on.

I just wanted to introduce our new employee, Robert Cantu. He's from Elections. We've hired him. He has some experience from Bexar County. So we're really excited to have him. And I don't want to embarrass him, but I want to welcome him to the county family. Welcome. Robert?

We're in Judge and Commissioners. On Tuesday, the Morton Preserve opened back up to the public. This is a beautiful piece of property, 290 acres off of River Road that the county purchased about 20 years ago. And it's closed during Golden Creek World War habitat breeding season, but that's now over. And so we have beautiful views up there, a trail. In order to go out there, you do need to make a reservation. So on our website, We do have a reservation for the Morton Preserve, and we've had several reservations already made for the 2026 season. So just want to let people know that it's now open to the public, and people can go visit that piece of property.

Thank you, Mr. Boyd.

Good morning. Good morning. Robert's legs are a little longer than mine, so he beat me. So my dad used to say, do you want the good news or the bad news first? So I guess we'll start with the bad news. We're still seeing a lot of rabies in Comal County, along with a lot of contact with individuals. So we're wanting to just get that word out for everybody to not interact with wild animals. And we've seen it in bat, cat, fox, and raccoon. I know the city has, I believe, paused their feral cat collection because of it. And I'm working closely with Brian Ruiz and the city on that. So that's kind of the bad news. The good news is we had a very successful back-to-school clinic at Public Health. And in July, we saw 72 children. In August, we saw 154 children for a total of 226 kids getting their back-to-school vaccines. The total vaccines were 348. We also have ordered our Fluval. That'll be a trivalent flu vaccine. And it should be in within the next two weeks. So as soon as that's available, we'll let you know. Thank you. Thank you.

I heard it was someone's birthday today. Chief Jones, would you like us to sing? Happy birthday. Any other reports by county staff or elected officials? Okay. We'll go back into our action agenda item now. We will begin with item number three, which is a public hearing on the proposed 2026 tax rate. And we have a few slides to present before we open this up for public comment. So you've seen these slides, commissioners and the public. This is our proposed tax rate. Thank you. It also shows the no new revenue rate and our voter approval rate. Again, in conversations from our past couple of meetings, our proposed tax rate for 2026 tax bills to fund the fiscal year 2027 is 0.305015. Here is it broken down by the individual funds. Again, this chart that shows the history, the 10-year history of our tax rate. So again, this is the same tax rate that we had last year we're proposing. Here is a chart of comparisons. These counties are either comparable in size and population or comparable in their growth pattern. Certainly they're not always apples to apples, but this gives a good visual of some of our neighbors, neighboring counties, and what those tax rates are. And I do like to point out that I think our county for many years has been quite conservative on our tax rate. And then just a reminder, our public hearing and our date to adopt the budget would be taken on September 17 in this room at 8.30 AM. So we will now open up the public hearing on the proposed 2026 tax rate. Is there anyone here that would like to address the court? OK. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing. Go into item number four, which is discuss and consider final plat approval of Comal Elementary number 22 and replat of lot 908 Meyer Ranch, unit 16. Accept dedication of right-of-way to the public along South Cranes Mill Road. Approve the variance request. Accepting construction bond number K42221880 as surety for road construction and stormwater drainage improvements and authorize the county judge to sign. Good morning.

Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. Meyer Ranch continues to develop out there, and there's a little addition there. You can see in the vicinity map over there kind of where it's located off South Cranes Mill, and then the right exhibit shows the plat of the existing Meyer Ranch 16 that we are going to replat with some additional acreage. So this exhibit here kind of shows that we've got two players in this. The ISD had a piece of property, and in coordination with the Meyer Ranch group, I'm going to replat this, and we've been working with them since December on this, and we finally got a good plat here. You can see the plat there. The school is going to be in that lot. I know you've seen some construction out there already. They're out there just doing rough grading and getting things ready for building the school out there. You can see we do have some roads that are proposed. We do have a main road getting out to South Cranes Mill and also a little road that would feed kind of vehicular movements within the school. We do have one variance. We are showing two here, but with some clarification from Peg Dawson that we do not need the building setback. There was a little encroachment of a potential retaining wall that they thought they might need it. And in clarification of just regrading, they were able to remove that. So all we're looking for today is a variance to our right-of-way. And I want to clarify that not all the roads are being varied from. We do have, in the orange there, we do have the 60-foot right-of-way, which would meet our typical And then we have the variance there for 50 feet on the back side of the school. This plat, because it's a replat of Meyer Ranch, we would consider it grandfather to our old rules that came in in December. So it gives a little flexibility there, but they are looking to be consistent with most of the local roads there for that 50-footer. We do have the bond in place, and our recommendation is to approve this plat.

Move to approve action agenda item number four with the change indicated that there's no need for building setback variance. Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Leacock with a second by Commissioner Hogg to approve action agenda item number four, excluding the variance for building setback. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Item 5, discuss and consider acknowledging the completion of construction of earthwork, site work, water, and wastewater within Mayfair Parcel EA3, Lot 1R, 2R, and 3, Block 81, and release the associated surety construction bond number SUR4000762.

Also here, Mayfair continues to expand out there. This is a plat and had some associated utility work. There was no associated county improvements were being accepted. So we're holding a bond that the city presented to us just for utilities. We did have verification. Everything was complete. And our recommendation is to release the surety for those utilities.

Move to approve action agenda item number five.

Second. There's a motion to approve action agenda item number five by Commissioner Webb with a second by Commissioner Crownover. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Item six, discuss and consider final plat approval of the vacate and replat of lot six, Canyon Lake Island, establishing Fisherman's Knot subdivision. Lots one and two, approve variance request and authorize the county judge to sign.

We've been working with this property owner for quite a while. Here he has a lot there. You can see north of the lake. You can see the final plat there on the right. This is made up of two pieces of property. One was a platted lot and one was raw acreage, unplatted, from back in the 60s along the lake there. So we wanted to put those together. And he had acquired the raw acreage. And with that raw acreage, there was an easement to the Property Owners Association that was utilizing that. So this plaque came about for two reasons, to provide him just a contiguous piece of property as well as provide access that the HOA could own. And so I'll get to that. He also has a variance to the access lot. It's lot two. It's less than an acre. And we do have notes and equivalent protection for that that I'll show here in a second. But this lot two, highlighted in red, is strictly for the access down to the lake. And he's worked a deal with the HOA after this plat to sell that. And so on the plat, we also have those notes showing that there's no habitable structures, which would be equivalent protection for this variance to have no sewer facilities, no house could ever be put on there strictly for access. So after working with him for a long time, our recommendation is prove this plat, everything's in place.

Move to approve action agenda item number six. Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Cronover with a second by Commissioner Webb to approve action agenda item number six. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item seven, review and approve the Comal County Marking Retro Reflectivity Plan.

Morning, judges and commissioners. This system is required by FHWA to be in place by September 6. We had a similar report that came forward to commissioners' court several years ago for sign retrofuel activity. This is for pavement markings and striping. And so this plan applies to roads that have an ADT of more than 6,000 vehicles per day, and then an average of 35 miles per hour as a speed limit on those roads. That encompasses all of our major thoroughfares that we have throughout the county. And then we had our GIS group go and identify all the roads that qualify under this plan that have striping. So with the water-based paints, it has an average life of six months to three years. And so we're going to replace this striping every 24 months. Our GIS group, we're able to monitor when we do this type of work. And we're able to put that marker in there so that we can come back within two years and replace the striping on those necessary roads. I want to also talk about, we get lots of requests for striping in general on roads. Everyone wants striping on their roads for whatever reason. And so within Mutzad, in order for us to put a stripe out there, it has to have less than 20 feet of pavement, or 20 feet of pavement, and more than 4,000 ADT. And so those are the requirements we're talking about outside of this plan. I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of that. These are the standards we're looking at when we're looking to put striping on the road there. So we recommend approval of this plan and to go forward.

Move to approve action agenda item number seven. Second.

There's a motion by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve action agenda item number seven. Any discussion or questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Item 8, discuss and consider approval of a proposal from DHJB Development, LLC, that Comal County accept the public dedication of a portion of Johnson Way within Johnson Ranch, Unit 1, Johnson Way, and assume maintenance responsibilities of said roads and direct the county engineer to take appropriate action.

Judge and Commissioners, I want to provide a little bit of background. This is on Johnson Ranch over off 1863 over in the Bulverde area. Johnson Way goes from 1863 up towards 281. And there's a portion that is not county maintained of Johnson Way. The two sides outside of that are both county maintained. And I want to go through a history of how we got to this point here. This section was platted back in April of 2014. And at that time, we had an interlocal agreement. We still have an interlocal agreement with Bulverde. But at the time, Bulverde was responsible for the platting in that area, and they were required to provide a surety to the county within 10 days of the subdivision plat being approved. And in this case, our office never received a surety for that subdivision. The reason that's important is because when we went out and did our inspections of the road, we found there were deficiencies. Typically, having a surety in place, we were able to call the surety and have the developer or have the surety company pay for the improvements to bring that into compliance. In this case, we didn't have that opportunity to do so. And so since that time, since 2014, this has been essentially a private road. And so within Johnson Way, we have county maintained portions on the other side of that, but then a section in the middle that we have not touched because it's not a county maintained road. We received a request in July from DHJB to have the county take over that road under Transportation Code Chapter 253. And I want to go through what that looks like. So under 253, it's a proposal for the county to improve a road and to assess the cost to the neighbors that are adjacent to the road. And so this is the process. There would be a notice, a newspaper, general circulation twice. a public hearing, a ballot of each record owner of the property to be assessed, results of the vote, and the assessments of cost. That's all laid out within Chapter 253. So in this case, there's two property owners, DHJB and Johnson Ranch HOA, that own the four properties that are adjacent to this section of Johnson Way. We've received letters from both DHJB and from the Homeless Association that are supporting this process. I had our road department put together a cost of what it would cost to do the work on this road to bring it up to county standards, and that costs $175,000. If this moves forward, and if the court were to, the ballots were to pass, then on the day that happens, the court would assess those costs to the, in this case, the DHJB and to the Johnson Ranch Homeowners Association. And so we've received a letter from DHGB saying that within seven days of that vote happening, they would provide a payment of $175,000 to cover the costs. And then at that point, that section of Johnston Way would become county maintained, and we would maintain that whole section of Johnston Way at the same time, which we're looking at in 2027 or 2028. And that way, we're able to do the entire section of Johnston Way instead of just doing two sections and skipping over the middle part. And so we think it's a... A plan that could be executed. And what we're looking for today is to authorize my office to start that process of following the Chapter 253 to convert this to a public road.

Move to approve action agenda item number eight. Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve action agenda item number eight. Any discussion or questions for Mr. Boyd?

Robert, I appreciate all the work that you and the road department have done on this. I know it's taken some time, but I think the end results will be definitely worth it. Yes, sir.

All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item nine, discuss and consider approval of the request for additional funding for Department of State Health Services contract number HHS001311100001 under the Center for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response for the Comal County Public Health Department and authorized public health director to submit.

Good morning. So Michelle and I were on a call with our state partners last week about a possible increase to our award for this grant. And that would increase, right now our contract is $495,088, and it will expire November 30th of 2027. So our request for additional funding is reflective of the final year award, which is 2027. It runs from December 1st till November 30th. And the increase that we've asked for is $44,854. So that would bring our total to $239,942. We have requested that to extend this position, also some monies for training and supplies. And I respectfully ask for your approval.

Move to approve action agenda item number nine. Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve action agenda item number nine. Any discussion or questions for Ms. Frazier? Can you clarify for me what position this is?

This is the public health infrastructure grant.

For what position? You said there was, is funding a position?

So it is, right now, I'm trying to think of the proper title. I believe it is the Immunization Grant Coordinator.

Yes. OK. So we have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item 10, discuss and consider acceptance of grant award under the fiscal year 2027 truancy prevention grant program through the office of the governor in the amount of $30,000 to support the student and family empowerment program, counseling services, and authorized county judge to sign via electronic acceptance. Good morning.

Good morning, Judge. Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for your attention this morning. This is what you've seen before, a recommendation from our department for you and the court to accept this grant from the Office of the Governor, specifically for our Student and Family Empowerment Program, which provides contract therapy to our kids in this prevention effort. We think this has had lots of traction over the years, and we're very fortunate to have received this competitive grant again this year. With the help of our good colleagues, Michelle Valadez in the back row and our other partners at the auditor's office, we recommend for your approval.

Move to approve action agenda item number 10.

Second. We have a motion to approve action agenda item number 10 by Commissioner Leacock with a second by Commissioner Crownover. Any discussion or questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 11, discuss and consider award of bid 2026-1114 for bulk asphalt patching material and authorized purchasing agent to execute all related documents. Good morning.

Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. We had three responses to bid 2026-1114, and we are recommending award to asphalt patch enterprises.

Move to approve action, Jenna. Item number 11. Second. Second.

There's a motion to approve action agenda item number 11 by Commissioner Leacock with a second by Commissioner Hogg. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Item 12, discuss and consider approval of the Evaluation Committee to evaluate responses received for requests for qualifications for A, RFQ 2026-530, Professional Engineering Services Pre-Qualification Pool, and B, RFQ 2026-540, Professional Architectural Services Pre-Qualification Pool.

We received responses for both RFQ 2026-530 and 2026-540, and are asking for approval for the evaluation committee to include Marcus Pacheco, Jacqueline Andrada, Robert Boyd, David Wolbrek, and Margaret Scoltetti as the voting members, and Alyssa England as the non-voting member for both of those RFQs.

Move to approve action agenda item number 12, A and B. Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Leacock with a second by Commissioner Hogg to approve action agenda item number 12, A and B. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand.

Motion carries.

Item 13, discuss and consider selection for requests for qualifications 2026-570, executive recruitment services and authorized county purchasing agent to negotiate contract.

On August 27th, we had the evaluation committee approved. The evaluation committee found the score of McKinsey Eason as the highest at 99%, and we are requesting the purchasing agent to begin the negotiations.

Move to action item number 13, selecting McKinsey Eason and authorizing the purchasing agent to initiate contract negotiations.

Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Webb with a second by Commissioner Cronover to approve action agenda item number 13, approving Mackenzie Eason and authorizing the purchasing agent to proceed with contract negotiations. Any discussion or questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 14, discuss and consider approval of the purchase of two ballistic shields by Constable Precinct 2 using the Justice Court Security Fund.

Good morning, Commissioner Judge. Requesting two shields for the JP2 office and for the court. As you know, our building being a multi-use building, we have open carries that can come in and out of the building, and we have voting and everything else. It definitely gives us another tool to have to protect ourselves, even if somebody even made a run at the court. Of course, we are mandated to have at least one, and we've been trying to buy one for a year and a half now, and I just couldn't see $8,000 shields for what we need. But these are rifle resistant. In other words, they will stop a rifle round. So I think they're a good buy. They don't give me the $1,000 light on it and all that, all the, I call foo-foo, all the add-on to it. But it meets the basic needs.

Move to approve action agenda item number 14. Second.

A motion by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve action agenda item number 14. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Thank you, Constable. Item 15, discuss and consider modification to agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Comal County to hold inmates and ratify signature by Sheriff Mark Reynolds.

Good morning, Judge Commissioners. Too bad the... person that came in with their public comment could have answered some of that. I received this via email last week. I want to say it was Monday or Tuesday. Inside the email it contained a comment that it had to have been signed by the 19th So I reached out to Timothy Bray at the district attorney's office. He suggested that we go ahead and sign it because what the document does is it closes the fiscal year for 2025 to 2026. And they sent me a new one, but I wasn't going to sign the new one until after this particular year. But it closes out that particular time frame. And we are holding or have been holding ICE prisoners brought in our holding area of the jail. So I respectfully ask that we ratify this document. And that will, by the court's approval, authorize me to sign the new one for 2026-2027.

Move to approve action agenda item number 15. Second.

It's a motion by Commissioner Hogg with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve action agenda item number 15. Any discussion? Questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item 16, discuss and consider approval of a line item transfer in Sheriff Department from uniforms to continuing education and travel for new officer training. Good morning, Judge, Commissioners.

The Animal Control Department is seeking approval of this line item transfer. We have a couple new employees that need some extra training and continuing education hours. So respectfully, we're seeking your approval. Move.

Move to approve actions in item number 16. Second.

There's a motion by Commissioner Leacock with a second by Commissioner Hogg to approve action agenda item number 16. Any questions or discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand.

Motion carries.

Thank you. Item 17, discuss and consider approval of a line item transfer in jail from medical services to physician's contract services to cover the expenses of inmate medical overages for the remainder of the year. Good morning, Captain.

Good morning, Judge and Commissioners. We had been previously notified by our medical contractor that we were getting close to the contractual cap for certain services that are included in that contract. The main one in there is going to be our pharmaceutical cap. So that's what allows us to pay for the prescription medications for the inmates. The movement of these funds would allow that coverage to continue for the remainder of the year. I respectfully request you to approve all of this transfer.

Move to approve action agenda item number 17.

Second. There's a motion by Commissioner Webb with a second by Commissioner Crownover to approve action agenda item number 17. Any discussion? Questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 18, discuss and consider approval of a line item transfer in elections from office supplies to hourly personnel, FICA, and workers' compensation to provide funds for a clerk three temporary position from September 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. Good morning.

As you all well know, we're going into the midterm election, which we determined is going to be very, very busy. And I thought we have been using volunteers, paid volunteers, of course, to help us. And I thought we needed to have another person that is a county employee, at least part-time, to help us with what all we need to do that is required that it be a county employee for this big election.

Who would do approve action agenda item number 18? Second.

A motion by Commissioner Webb with a second by Commissioner Leacock to approve action agenda item number 18. Any discussion or questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Item 19, discuss and consider approval of a line item transfer and facilities maintenance from repairs, others, and air conditioner maintenance to repairs major to provide funds for the repair of roof deficiencies found during the last heavy rainfall. Good morning.

Good morning, judges, commissioners. This line item transfer is to provide the funding. During the rains that we had in July, the storms, we found some deficiencies with the annex roof. This funding is to take care of those deficiencies.

Move to approve action agenda item number 19. Second.

A motion by Commissioner Leacock with a second by Commissioner Hogg to approve action agenda item number 19. Any discussion? Questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Thank you.

OK, so we will be going into executive session today under agenda item 20C to discuss and consider two release agreements. Any action taken will be in public following the executive session. Item 20 is executive sessions. In accordance with chapter 551 of the Texas government code, subchapter D, commissioners court may convene in a closed session to discuss any of the following items. Any final action or vote taken will be in public following the executive session. C is deliberate pending contemplated litigation, settlement offers, and matters concerning privilege and unprivileged client information deemed confidential by Rule 1.05 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct in accordance with Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code. Item 1, discuss and consider a release agreement. We will need our legal counsel, and we will be entering executive session at 9.13 a.m. We are returning from executive session at 9.20 a.m. What is the pleasure of the court?

Pursuant to Agenda Item 20C, I move to approve the release agreements between Eric Perkins in Comal County and George DeWeese. in Comal County and authorize county judge to sign both. Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Crownover with a second by Commissioner Webb to approve the release agreements between Eric Perkins in Comal County and George DeWeese in Comal County and authorize the county judge to sign both. Any discussion or questions? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Okay, so this concludes our Commissioner's Court meeting today. Our next regular meeting will be on Thursday, September 10th. Unless there is no objection, we are in recess at 9.21 a.m.