Commissioners Court - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone to our regular Commissioner's Court. Last meeting of the month this year is really going by quickly. All the notices have been posted and we're going to begin today with our invocation and our pledges. If you'd join me, stand please.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for such a beautiful day. We pray for rain and some heat relief. Lord, watch over us in court and help us do in your name what needs to be done. Watch over our first responders and all our military. Thank you for everything you've given us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Okay, does anyone have any routine correspondence today? If not, we'll move on to the consent agenda. We have just one item to discuss to accept the Commissioner's Court regular meeting minutes for August 18th of 2026. Y'all have had these, look them over, any changes or comments? Do I need a motion to approve? I'll make a motion for you. Mr. Phelps makes the motion to have a second. I'll second. Mr. Crow makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Number three, discuss, consider exit in regular meeting, and enter into a public hearing. Need a motion?

I'll make the motion.

Commissioner Moore makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Commissioner Lane makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. It's 9 o'clock. Number four, public hearing proposed budget for FY26 and 27. We have some people who'd like to speak on that. Let me get my forms out here. First, we have Ms. Vicki Hoffman. Would you like to come forward, please, ma'am? State your name and address. And you have three minutes, please. Good morning.

Good morning.

Can you hear me okay? I am hearing impaired, and I didn't have time to ask for help on that, so if you'll bear with me. Sure. My name is Vicki Hoffman. I live at 6150 FM 987 in Terrell, Texas. I understand that the court is asking to have local families shoulder the burden of a new county budget. Hundreds of taxpaying homeowners along FM 987 have recently been entirely blindsided by the announcement of a massive 500-acre Prometheus data center development that's taking over our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is primarily rural residential. We are asked to accept tax rates based on county growth, and yet we're completely in the dark about how this heavy industrial site will impact our infrastructure. Millions of gallons of local water are being rerouted through the North Texas Municipal Water District Project 0676, and the GTU UA, which is Greater Texoma Water, financial tracks to supply high-capacity cooling loops for a private facility. Our question to the court is simple. Why are local homeowners facing tax and infrastructure pressures while the county quietly facilitates massive utility expenses for private tech campuses without a single public notification to the surrounding neighborhood? We demand that this court halt any pending county utility right-of-way easements for the FM 987 project and freeze infrastructure budget allocations for it until a dedicated, transparent town hall meeting is held for our residents. I thank you for your time today.

Thank you very much. Next, we have Dennis McFadden. Good morning, Dennis.

Good morning, commissioners and judge. My name is Dennis P. McFadden. I live at 8350 County Road 272, and I also have concerns about the project that is on everyone's mind in here. Therefore, I respectfully ask the Commissioner's Court provide the residents with a clear explanation of the current taxable value of the affected property and projected value Taxable value if the proposed development is completed the expected property tax revenue to the county and other affected Taxing entities from the development any proposed tax incentives incentives and bait months agreements exceptions or other arrangements that could affect that revenue whether the county or has estimated the additional costs associated with roads, emergency services, drainage, law enforcement, and other infrastructure needed to support development. How those costs are expected to be paid and whether the existing taxpayers could bear any portion of that. What analysis, if any, has been performed regarding the potential effect of development or surrounding residential properties, how the proposed 2026 tax rate or future tax rates could interact with changes in property values in this area. The residents living along FM 987, FM 2578, and County Road 272, which is me, should not have to guess at the answers of these questions. I am not opposed to economic development or expanding the county's tax base, but a development of this magnitude could be should be elevated at its complete financial picture, not simply on the amount of taxable value it may add. All I'm asking for is transparency on this matter. Thank you.

Well, thank you very much. Okay, the people, the data center is not on the agenda, but let me go ahead and address this since you all are here because you're concerned, and we all are. They've not applied for anything yet. They've bought property for what we've been told. We will not and do not give tax abatements to data centers or any other type of thing like this. It would definitely increase the tax base for the county, which would lessen your county tax that you'll have to pay, which is a good thing for our citizens. And that's one thing we'll look for. They still have to meet all the requirements. They don't. get water from our water supply that we drink. They drill down to smack over to get water to recirculate it. It's what we've been told. And I've been to a lot of conferences where these are talked about at length, and they all do the same thing. Some of the original ones probably used the water system like your own, but not anymore. They don't do that. Most of them generate their own electricity, but they have to have a backup in case something fails. The noise abatements, they have to recirculate. Required to do what the sheriff would monitor the noise just like if you've had a big party at your house you get too loud They'll come tell you do something about it.

I had too many big parties in my house Don't do it anymore.

We've got we have some neighbors out there now, but not I so anyway We're way ahead of the game I know the concern But they have not come to the county with any requirements or requests even start a project sure when and if they do I We will have a public hearing. Okay. Fair enough. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you all. Thank you for your concern. Anyone else on the proposed budget for 26 and 27? No one else? Then we will move on to number five, which is a proposed tax rate for 26 and 27. Any questions, comments there? You've all had these. You've looked at them. For the general public, let me just share with you the tax rate stay. We're proposing a tax rate to stay the same as last year. There's not been any increase there. Some of the increases that we are facing, we didn't generate as much revenue this year as we did last year because building is down. Appraisals are down. Not everyone got a downward in their appraisals, but a lot of people did. So, for instance, things that we cannot control. Here are increases for 27 budget year. Software, $808,000 increase. Engine defense, which is a mandate, $561,000. Transfers, $532,000. Leases, finance leases, 518,000. TIF zones, which we don't do anymore, $468,000. Equipment, $456,000. Workers' comp, 250,000. Professional services, we have to hire outside attorneys, engineers, 179,000. Outside entities, other than that, 155,000. Supplies are up 113,000. Utilities are up 111,000. Insurance is up 105,000. Employee insurance is up 55,000. Operating expenses up 47,000. Continuing education, we have to have 38,000. Postage, 37,000. Maintenance, 37,000. Copier lease, 31,000. Gas and oil, 30,000. Travel expenses, $18,000. And community outreach, $10,000. So all those numbers increased from last year. You know how inflation is. Everything we go to the store, you go to the gas station, you pay more. And so the county does, too. Now, in saying that, we've had a lot of requests from different departments for new employees, new equipment, new programs. In our budget hearings, you've had when we have our audits, Our outside audit firm says we're extremely conservative, and we are. District attorney asked for more employees. We cut them by one. The sheriff asked for employees. We cut them by two. Elections went from a full-time that they needed to two part-times. That saves on retirement and employee insurance and everything. Emergency management, which we need, asked for a third employee. We did not give them that. We had some salary adjustments, which some were less and some were up a little bit. We had our treasurer wanted another part-time person. We cut that out and gave them a full-time. They already had one, but so they still lost half a person. The pet adoption center decreased salary from one vet tech to just a regular employee, which saved a lot of money. Facilities, we cut them to employees. And the clerks for the showgrounds got cut for extra help that they do there to manage all the bookends. So we've scrubbed it as hard as we can. We've done what we can to keep the budget within limits so we can have a balanced budget. And we do have one this year. And so if anyone in the public want to, this is your time to say anything. while we're in a public hearing about our tax rate for next year. If not, I need a motion to approve that then. I'll make the motion. Mr. Moore makes the motion to have a second. I'll second. Mr. Lane. I'm sorry.

I did not. You are motion to make a public hearing .. Oh.

Tommy.

OK, thank you.

And then Kelly. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. Okay, so we've exited the public hearing and back into a regular meeting. It is 9-11. Do you have a motion for that, too? I make a motion. Mr. Phillips makes the motion.

I have a second. I'll second.

Mr. Crow makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Number seven, discuss, consider setting salaries, expenses, and other allowances. for all elected county and precinct officers. This was posted in the newspaper how long ago? Two weeks ago? Two weeks ago. All the elected officials have had their opportunity to protest it, but none have. Usually somebody does, but they didn't this year. They didn't this year. So that's all been done by legal matters and posted correctly. So if no one else has any comment there, any commissioners have anything? Need a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. Mr. Lamb makes the motion to have a second. I'll second. Mr. Crow makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Number eight, discuss considering adopting a budget of record for FY26-27 and take a record vote. This time we'll individually vote, starting in precinct one. How do you vote, yes or no?

Yes.

Make a motion. No. This is record vote. You're just voting aye. Yes.

Number two. Aye.

Three. Aye. Four.

Aye.

And I vote aye. Need a motion to approve then? We all voted aye.

I'll make a motion.

Mr. Phelps makes the motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. Mr. Crowe makes a second. All in favor say aye again. Aye. Motion carries. Number nine, discuss, consider setting a debt service rate 0.057504, operations tax rate 0.277350, and a road and bridge tax rate of 0.0550. 8-0-2-5-9 for FY 26-27. Need a motion?

I'll make a motion.

Mr. Phillips makes the motion. Have a second? I'll second. Mr. Lane makes a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All carried. Motion carries. Number 10, discuss considering adopting a total tax rate for 25-26-27, 0.415113, the exact same thing it has been. Any questions? Need a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. Commissioner Delaney makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Commissioner Crowell makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Number 11, discuss, consider exit regular meeting and enter back into a public hearing to receive input regarding the adoption of the Kauffman County Clerk's Archive Funding Plan pursuant to Local Government Code 118.025G. Ms. Laura Hughes, our county clerk.

I'll make a motion to enter the public. Yeah, make a motion. I'll make a motion to enter the public.

It's 9-14. Hold on. Tommy made the motion. Mr. Skeet made the second. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carried. Yes, ma'am.

This is an annual requirement laid out by the local government code that says the county clerk shall prepare a written plan for funding the records archive fund. The Records Archive Fund is used to preserve and restore the records, the historical records. And that is, we posted it in the newspaper, having a public hearing, and we'll ask that the Commissioner of Courts approve, continue collecting the Record Archive Fund.

Bring us up to date on where we are as far as digitizing everything. How far are we along?

A lot of the records have been taken care of physically, and now what we're trying to do is migrate them to the system. and incorporate the use of AI software systems in order to make them searchable, accessible from the inside and the outside. And our biggest project coming up right now is to restore the commissioner's court that we lost. So that is going to be a huge project, but the software systems now are phenomenal in their capability. So we're really excited about that.

Can they still do a profile? If some of the commissioners hasn't been, can they still go up there? Can you set that up so they can see how they do these records? We can. If y'all are interested, talk to Laura about it. It's fascinating how they restore records. It's a neat building.

Yeah, you've been. Oh, yeah. It's a neat, it's a very good process. A lot of people don't understand that. Okay. Okay. They can take a piece of thing you can't even read, and the next thing you know it looks like it's brand new. Yeah, interesting. And it's the original document. Thank you.

So I need a motion to approve. Make a motion. Do I need to go out of the hearing and then the next one? I thought that's what we did on the last one. Well, we did it on the last one. We're going to stay into the public hearing. Okay. And we're going to come out here in just a second.

Okay.

Number 12 is on Kauffman County's archive funding plan. We've heard that. And number 13, discuss the exit and public hearing and go back to regular meeting. Need a motion for that? I'll make the motion. Commissioner Moore makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Commissioner Lane makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Now discuss, consider, and approve the adoption of the Coffman County Records Clerk Archive Funding Plan. And Ms. Laura had just told us about that. Need a motion? I'll make the motion. Commissioner Moore makes the motion. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Commissioner Phillips makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Mr. Chuck, our treasurer. Discuss concern and accept the treasurer's month report for July of 26. Morning, Chuck. Good morning, Judge and commissioners.

We sent out the report last week. I hope you received it. If you have any questions on that, I am here to take those. We did have a good month in that interest rates did go up just a little bit. They did. And so that's not necessarily the route they're going to take, but since the Fed hasn't decided yet what they're going to do for the rest of the year, they're looking at basically staying the same, but some are looking at that as an encouragement, and rates went up. So anyway, we were looking at about a 3.8% as our highest yield, and 3.7815 is our lowest yield on the different investment pools. Close enough. Yeah, it's not much difference there.

And that does help us balance the budget. Yeah, it does. Okay. Any questions for Chuck? I need a motion to accept. I'll make a motion. Mr. Lane makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Mr. Crow makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, carries. Thank you, Chuck.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right, Mr. Sheriff. Discuss, consider, and approve the memorandum of understanding between Kauffman County Sheriff's Office and the United States Marshal Service for Fugitive Task Force Mission. Yes, sir.

Good morning, gentlemen. This is the MOU we've already had to employ in place, so we're not adding anybody, but we're associating them with the U.S. Marshals who also helped us with all our fugitive. I think it's a good investment for me and for them. It gives us more resources as we need them. Legal has looked over the MOU. I just need your permission where I can sign that MOU.

Any questions for the sheriff? Need a motion to approve. I'll make a motion. Mr. Crowell makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Commissioner Phelps makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Shannon, discuss, consider, and approve the preliminary plat of Cheryl Acres located on Cheryl Lane in Precinct 1. Good morning.

Good morning. So this property is 10 acres total, and the owner is... platting five and a half acres of it, and they're creating five lots, about 1.1 acres each. There are some grading and drainage improvements required to create these lots, so it's going through the preliminary process, and the approval today will allow us to move forward with the next step in that process.

Okay. Any questions? Commissioners in your precinct? I'll make a motion. I have a motion. Commissioner Crowe, do I have a second? I'll second. Commissioner Phillips makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Ms. Shannon, once again, Discuss, consider, and approve the final plat of McKinney Ranch Estates, located on Canyon Road 349 in Precinct 3. Yes, ma'am.

So this is 35 acres, and they're splitting it into seven lots. They range from 4.2 to 5 acres each, and we just need the court's approval.

Commissioner, is this in your precinct? Yes, I'll make a motion. Have a motion. I'll second. Commissioner Lane, have a second. Commissioner Moore, any questions? If not, everyone's approved. Say aye. Aye. Motion carries.

Ms. Tandy. Thank you, Commissioner Shannon.

She's going to discuss, consider, and approve the appointment of election judges, alternate judges, early voting officers, ballot board judge, alternate ballot board judge, central counting station personnel for the 26-28. Submission term in accordance with Texas Election Code. Morning, Ms. Tandy.

Good morning, gentlemen. So, yes, this is done in accordance with Sections 32.002 and 85.009 of the Texas Election Code. Both political parties provide us with their list. We accumulate that data and provide it to you for your final approval. Any questions on those individuals?

Need a motion, Ann? I'll make the motion. Commissioner Moore makes the motion. Have a second? I'll second. Mr. Lane makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you, Tandy. Stay in here. Next page. Hold on.

It's me. I'm not going anywhere.

Once again, discuss, consider, and approve the election of a joint election contract for entities to join the county on November the 26th, 2026, ballot in accordance with Section 271 of the Texas Election Code.

Correct. Section 271 of the Election Code allows entities to join in on a general election. We do have several of those, as you can see. The benefit to that is cost savings to the county. Yes. They help with that personnel cost. I'll give you a heads up, though, because of the city of Terrell, they have some charter amendments, quite a few of them, A through V. It's going to push them to a two-page ballot. Oh, wow. So that will only affect our mail ballots. When we send those out, there will be a two-page ballot. So we'll have some extra. tracking to go along with that to make sure two pages are returned and won't affect the in-person voting.

Okay. All right. Any questions? I need a motion. I'll make a motion. Mr. Lamb makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Mr. Moore makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Dandy. Ms. Auditor, discuss line item and budget transfers.

Yes. Yes, sir. We do have routine line item transfers and budget amendments, and we ask for the court's approval.

Can you all receive these last week to look them over? I'll make a motion for you. Mr. Phelps makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Mr. Crowell makes a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Ms. Alton, once again, claims for payment.

This week we do have accounts payable invoices, and we also have juror service payments. Most of our claims for payment this week are county road expenditures, and we ask for the court's approval to pay those payments.

Y'all forgot those last week also to look them over any questions in a motion to approve I'll make a motion mr. Lane makes the motion to have a second I'll second mr. Cole makes a second before we adjourn if I Would like to take credit for this, but I didn't do this If you go online Once it's posted we have a QR code and everyone can see the entire budget and every line item is there and and it will be posted on the county website. My assistant coordinator came up with this, so there it is for you to look at. And here is the budget. It's like 125 pages long. It's very detailed. If you want to look at it, it's all online for you to look at. Oh. Yeah, we did.

I got it checked. Yeah, we didn't vote on that one. We said it was first and second, and then we say aye? Yeah. Okay. I thought we missed it. Sorry, I apologize.

Don't be sleeping down there. Now I need a motion to adjourn.

I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Ms. Phillips makes the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Mr. Moore makes a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. Thank you.