Commissioners Court - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everyone. It is Tuesday, the 8th day of September, 2026 at 9 a.m. on this regularly called session of the Kendall County Commissioner's Board. It's now called to order. We'll begin by calling roll. Commissioner McCollum? Present. Commissioner Wieschen? Present. Commissioner Chapman? Here. Commissioner Carpenter? Here. And I'm present. We have a quorum consisting of all five members of the court. Before I hand it over to my colleagues for announcements of prayer and pledge, I'd just like to... Take a moment of silence. The Kendall County family lost one of our longest serving employees, Judge Freda Pressler, this past weekend after 42 years of service. It was an unexpected loss. So we wish our thoughts and prayers to her family. So if we just take a moment right now. All right. Thank you. I'm going to hand it over to Commissioner McCall and Commissioner Wieschen for announcements of our prayer and pledge.

Good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome Milt Eichler. He is the executive pastor of Curry Creek Church. He's going to open us in prayer.

Father, we love you. And Father, I pray for this family, Lord, the Prescott family, that you would comfort them. Father, be with them today. Let them know. Father, the love this county has for them or this room has for them. We just pray for your peace that only you can give. Father, we thank you for this county, for our country. We pray for the decisions made today and just for wisdom to be in this room and hear this sermon.

Father, we love you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

At this time, I'd like to recognize Annalisa Pajardo, who's a senior at Champion High School, and she's going to lead us in the pledges. Would you come up, please?

I pledge allegiance.

Thank you. Next up, declarations of conflict of interest. Anything from you ladies today? Nothing gentlemen from you? Nothing from me? Comments from the bench? Commissioner McCall?

I'm sorry to interrupt. I think in between there is... I can introduce a new employee, I believe.

Oh, yes, ma'am. I'm sorry.

That's okay. I just wanted to do that really quick. Go ahead, Jose. Several of y'all have met Jose, but this is Jose Neon Price. He is new to my office as of last week. He's still in the last position I've had for a long time. It's taken about 10 months to build that position. He comes to the county with about 30 years of banking, finance, and management experience. So he's going to be a great part of the audit team in our office. So I'm just really happy to have him in my office. I just want to introduce him to the fair and to the public.

Welcome.

Thank you. Now comments. Commissioner McCall.

Okay, good morning again. As we remember the events of 9-11, we honor those who lost their lives and all who were affected by that tragedy. It is also time to be grateful for our nation and the freedoms we enjoy, including the ability to gather here today, speak openly, and participate in our system of government. May we never take those freedoms for granted, and may we always remember the sacrifices that help preserve them also a week from today september 15th 2026 at one o'clock the hcesrpc our local 391 will meet at the glasgow county courthouse in the commissioner's courtroom and last i got a call this morning from text dot and highway 46 west will have a lane closure at matic lane in the westbound lane between 9 and 12 To do some work, they were able to get done on the books today. So between 9 and noon at Matic on Highway 46 West.

Great.

Thank you. Commissioner Weeson.

Thank you, Judge. Good morning, everyone. I just want to offer my prayers and sympathies to the family of Judge Pressler on her passing. And also a big hats off to the Kendall County Fair Association celebrating their 120th county fair. It was a great weekend. And just congratulations to those folks.

Commissioner Tamman. Thank you, Judge. I'd like to announce that I'm sure most everybody knows, but those of you that have been avoiding Adler Road, the contractors for the city have finished that project. It was actually started in its infancy in planning, I guess, back in 22. And so the county had obligated some money to that project to to repair or to actually widen and raise the two bridges that are on the Adler from where they were, just low water crossings and actual bridge. That work is now completed on the bridges and the overall project is substantially complete. I went by there and the only thing, they're rebuilding a couple of fences that they had take out on private property So that will complete the project within a few days. And if you have been avoiding that area, you don't need to anymore. It's a nice area to drive again. The other thing, I was fortunate to get invited out to the Albert and Bessie Kronkowski Park recently. And I got a tour of the park. I was absolutely blown away. The unbeknowings to me, the full extent of this park, it's almost 4,000 acres. And I think if I started tomorrow, which park is not open, Park hopes to be open by the end of this year, if not very, very early next year. But if I were to start tomorrow, I do not think I could complete walking of all the trails. It is amazing the number of trails that are out there. It's some beautiful country. They have more maple trees than the Lost Maple State Park. They've got a lot of uh, different trees and natives that are out there that, and then I expected more of a, I guess a kind of a rough, uh, just kind of come walk at your own leisure type of thing. But no, they have campsites that are as minimal as, uh, you get a campsite, uh, pitch 10 on it. And, uh, the box to put your food items in to keep the raccoons out of it, all the way then to, they've got shelters, screened-in shelters that you can rent, and they will be, also there's a few cabins that have an air conditioner and a small refrigerator, so you can pick your level of comfort and go out there. They have a suspended, several bridges that are really phenomenal going across the different canyons out there. They have a meeting room that will hold up to 35 people. They have then an area to buses from the local grammar school, high school, local students to go out there and have different show and tell type of events. it really blew me away as to what is out there, and it's five miles from us. So I would encourage you all to, when it does open, to go out there and, if nothing else, walk the trails. Some of the trails will be handicap accessible. All of the trails will allow mountain bikes as long as they're non-motorized. The e-bikes will not be at the current or not approved for the trails in the state of Texas. The trails that are handicap approved are approved for the motorized carts. For the handicap, those will be allowed, but no e-bikes will be allowed. But certainly mountain bikes, you can ride to your heart's content on almost 4,000 acres. So it's a really... great park. It's going to be a great addition for this community. It's kind of like Niagara Falls is. The Canadians say that they've got the view and the United States has most of the falls. Well, Kendall County has most of the amenities, but Bandera County got most of the trails. So it's across both the counties. It goes almost to Pipe Creek. So it is a huge track of land out there. I encourage you all, when it does open, to go out and visit it. That's all. That's all I've got. Thank you. Commissioner Carpenter?

I just want to say Judge Pressler is going to be missed.

I was introduced to her by my father-in-law as greedy, my sweetie. And I guess he spent quite a few different visits in her courtroom for speeding tickets and moving violations. And so she has been an amazing part of our community for, for years. And she always worked hard for this County. So we love her and we will miss her dearly. A hundred percent.

Two comments again on, This Friday will be the 25th anniversary of 9-11, and so the county will be, if it passes today, to be doing a moment of silence. And then I remind everyone that it's the annual Kendall County Soil Water Conservation Fall 2026 Native Tree Sale, with the proceeds going to the Sue Whitworth Memorial Scholarship Fund. So they have a bunch of trees listed. The border deadline is October 16th at 3 p.m. You can either drop it off or mail payment to 136 Old San Antonio Road, number 301 in Bernie, Texas, 78006. And tree pickup will be Saturday, October 31st, 2026. So if you can, please contribute. Next up, we're going to move to accounts payable claims. Corinna?

Morning, Judge. Morning, Commissioner. I do have two additions that I'm going to... Just pass outside, okay?

Thank you.

So we had two additional payments come in. Both were Prop A. And so there in front of you, you have both of those. One is for $5,000. That was for something the court approved back in May with the paperwork came in. And one is for a closing that is planning to take place, I believe, this week for the $200,000. So today claims are in the amount of $782,558.02.

At this time, I'm writing a motion as to accounts payable claims for purchase services of vendors.

Judge, I move to approve accounts payable claims for purchases, services, and vendors in the amount of $782,558.02. We have a motion made by Commissioner Region.

Do I have a second? Second. Second by Commissioner McCall. Any further discussion?

May I ask one question, please? Absolutely. Is this the only piece to close in that bigger section that we put in the Conservation Easement Office? Off of 474, you know, there's some properties adjacent to this one.

I am not sure. Not sure? Okay. Yes. So we wait for the paperwork to get in and then. Okay. Based on what the court has approved.

Thank you. Okay. With that, if there's no further discussion, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weeson?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter? Aye. Judge DeWald?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Judge, would you all like to go ahead and start? Yes, please.

Okay.

Next up, we got consideration of possible action regarding Proclamation P-2026-0908-1, proclaiming September 2026 as Disaster Preparedness Month in Kendall County. We have our fire coalition and Brady here today. Would you all mind coming up? So, Y'all want to introduce yourselves again? I know we have some face changes on there. Welcome, Mike.

I'm Christy Wiley. I'm the director of the InfoCountry Fire Coalition of Texas. This is Eddie Mazzurri. He's our assistant director for finance. And Mike Lloyd is our new project manager for our community wildfire defense grant that we received from the federal government. So he will be managing our fire service.

Hey, can you remind where Mike comes from? He has a great background, so everyone needs to know what he brings to the table.

Mike was just recently retired from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and I'll let him tell you what he is.

I kind of covered a large area in Texas, but I was in charge of habitat and fire management for that area. And actually, my office was in . state natural area. So anyway, I'm looking forward to being here and working and getting things going.

Right. We're glad to have you. So the proposed proclamation reads as follows. Whereas the safety and resilience of Kendall County depend upon the ability of individuals, families, neighborhoods, businesses, and local governments prepare for and respond and recover from emergencies and disasters. Whereas Kendall County residents may face a variety of natural and human cause hazards, including wildfires, floods, thunderstorms, extreme heat, drought, winter weather, power outages, and other emergencies that can occur with little or no warning. Whereas recent disasters in Texas and throughout the nation demonstrate that effective emergency preparedness begins before an emergency occurs and requires shared responsibility among residents, fire responders, emergency management agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and community partners. And whereas individual and household preparedness, including knowing local hazards, developing practice and emergency plans, maintaining emergency supplies, safeguarding important documents, understanding evacuation routes, signing up for e-alerts, and planning for children, older adults, pets, people with disabilities, and livestock can save lives and reduce the impacts of a disaster. Whereas residents can further strengthen the resilience of Kendall County by taking proactive steps to reduce risk to their homes and property, helping neighbors who may require assistance, and ensuring their families and prepared families are prepared to evacuate or shelter safely when directed by public safety officials. And whereas preparedness is most effective when it's practiced throughout the year and when residents can understand the actions taken before an emergency can reduce injuries, property loss, demands on first responders, and the time and resources necessary for community recovery. Whereas September is recognized nationally as National Disaster Preparedness Month. providing an important opportunity to encourage every Kendall County resident to evaluate their personal preparedness and take meaningful steps to become better prepared for the hazards that may affect our community. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Kendall County Commissioner's Court hereby proclaims September 2026 as Kendall County's Disaster Preparedness Month. Is there anything else you'd like to add, Christy?

The only other thing that I would like to mention is that the coalition offers free confidential property risk assessments. And we also have a grant program for people that have a financial or a physical challenge. I would very much encourage everybody to get involved in that. It's all part of this natural preparedness, prepare for the wildfire. I know that several individuals throughout the county are getting non-renewal letters on their insurance, and we're working with the Institute for Insurance and Home and Business Safety Committee to actually help those people retain their insurance. So please reach out to us. We're happy to help, and that's what we're here for. Thank you.

All right, and so with that, I move to proclaim September 2026 as disaster preparedness month in Kendall County, pursuant to Proclamation P-2026-0908-1. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge, second by Commissioner Carpenter. Any further discussion? There being none, Theresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weeson? Aye. Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter?

Aye.

Judge DeLarza? Aye.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. We'll get you a signed copy. Is it just one? It's two. One for us, one for them.

Thank you.

Next up,

Consideration of possible action regarding Proclamation P-20260908-2, recognizing September 11, 2026 as the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks and proclaiming it to be 9-11 National Day of Service and Remembrance Day in Kendall County. The proposed proclamation reads, whereas on September 11, 2001, four commercial aircraft were hijacked by 19 terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda and were used to carry out coordinated attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 2,977 innocent victims. And whereas throughout the United States of America, September 11, 2026 shall be commemorated as 9-11 National Day of Service and Remembrance in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the unprovoked and senseless acts of terrorism that resulted in a momentous loss of innocent lives. Whereas 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, eight emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and 55 members of the armed forces at the Pentagon who courageously rushed toward danger in an effort to save the lives of others. And whereas the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 demonstrated extraordinary courage by confronting the terrorists and sacrificing their own lives, to prevent an attack on another intended target. Whereas countless more firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel, construction workers, medical professionals, search and rescue teams, members of the armed forces and volunteers risked their lives aiding with the rescue, recovery and relief efforts following their attacks. Whereas nearly every American remembers where they were that tragic day when the nation came under attack and innocent lives were forever changed. Whereas thousands of survivors, first responders, recovery workers, military veterans, and families and friends of those lost continue to bear the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of the attacks. Whereas the heroic sacrifices of those we lost, though tragic, awakened an indomitable spirit among the people of the United States, fueling their resolve to protect our country and her citizens. whereas charitable and nonprofit organizations have faithfully served survivors and families of the victims of the attacks by providing financial assistance, housing, medical care, counseling, educational scholarships, and long-term support. And this selfish work reflects the highest ideals of the American people by transforming remembrance into lasting acts of service. Whereas this 25th anniversary of 9-11 provides an opportunity to remember those who perished, honor those who served, comfort those who continue to grieve, and recommit ourselves to defending the freedoms that unite us as Americans. Now, therefore, be it known on this eighth day of September 2026 that the Kendall County Commissioner's Court, duly convened, hereby proclaims September 11, 2026 is the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks and shall be known as 9-11 National Day of Service and Remembrance in Kendall County. The Kendall County Commissioner's Court urges all individuals, organizations, and agencies to to recognize the heroism of our first responders, military service members, and the many volunteers who responded to the events of 9-11 with courage, selfless compassion, determination, and skill to remember the victims and innocent lives lost as a result of the tragic events of that day by observing the six official moments of silence as follows. 7.46 a.m. Central Time. The attacks began when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. 8.03 a.m. Central Time. The second aircraft, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. 8.37 a.m. Central Time. The third aircraft, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon. 8.59 a.m. Central Time. The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. 9.03 a.m. Central Time, the fourth aircraft, Unit Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after flight personnel and passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft from hijackers. And lastly, 9.28 a.m., the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. May we never forget. So, I move to proclaim September 11, 2026, of the 25th anniversary of 9-11 terrorist attacks, and proclaiming it to be 9-11 National Day of Service and Remembrance in Kendall County. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge, seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any further discussion? There being none, Teresa, could you please call the vote?

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Wieser?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman? Aye. Commissioner Carpenter? Aye. Judge Delisle?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Next up, consideration of possible action regarding Commissioner's Court meeting with the pre-child services who reports directly to Commissioner's Court to allow a department an opportunity to communicate with their supervisors to discuss various matters, which may include job duties and responsibilities, challenges, concerns, departmental operations, and upcoming projects. Good morning, Erica. How are you? Good morning.

If I may, Judge. Oh, absolutely. I put this on the agenda. This is an opportunity to It's going to be a regular occurrence at Commissioner's Court for department heads who actually report to the court to come in and let us know how everything is going, any concerns or needs or anything they'd like to share. And today we have Erica O'Neill with Pretrial Services, and thanks for coming in. And a lot of people don't know what Pretrial Services does, so maybe you can start with that.

Yes. So we supervise individuals that have a pending criminal charge that the court may have put conditions of their release on them until the resolution of their case. So right now we have about 300 cases. We supervise about 20 individuals on GPS, about 60 people on interlock, ignition interlock. We also do the financials for indigent defense services. If they want to qualify for a court-appointed attorney, we do that. We're doing a lot with DWIs right now. We're the first pretrial department in the state of Texas to be doing an impaired driving assessment, and it's to help understand the risk and needs of an individual. So we're doing a lot with that now.

Okay. Thanks so much for that. And how many Employees do you have in your department?

There's myself, our indigent defense coordinator, and a case manager.

So three of you? Yes. Yes. And did you request anything additional in budget this time around? I didn't. No. So everything's going well in terms of personnel, staffing, equipment, supplies, all of that?

Yes. Now that we're doing more with the... DWIs have implemented the IDA assessment. We will eventually need another case manager to help manage some of the new responsibilities that we're taking on. Okay. And then tell me where you're located. You're not in the courthouse, are you?

No, we're off of the interstate in Johns Road. Okay. And that is a rental building is my understanding? Yes. Corinna, do you recall the rent per year is about what, $45,000 on that? Closer to $50,000. Closer to $50,000.

Okay.

Okay. That's all I had to ask you. I mean, please feel free to share anything you'd like.

Yes. I mean, it's been going good. Our location has been fine. It would be beneficial to be closer to the jail. We do go there every morning to interview individuals that have been arrested. We meet with them then to ask about an attorney, and we also conduct an assessment with them at that time to determine risk And then we go back and we put GPS if a GPS is needed. So, yes, being close to the jail would be beneficial.

Anyone else have any questions?

Just as a matter of history, this whole thing came about at a time when the previous court appointed a couple of commissioners to put a committee together. And because at the time we were having an extreme jail overcrowding and we were housing a lot of people out of that. And so basically what this committee did was we just sat down with the JPs, the clerks, the judges, DA's office, the sheriff, everybody sat down at a table and started discussing what the problems were. Where is there blockage in the system? And that's how pretrial Medina County was already running a successful pretrial program. We kind of stole the idea from them and established. We hired Erica. And, uh, the, what I will say, the easiest way to gauge this department is we get, uh, a jail report every day of the year. And that jail report is showing that they're managing and getting the people out of jail. But I will tell you that they don't just get people out of jail. They actually, uh, People do stupid things, and that's why they end up in jail. But pretrial gets people out of jail so that they don't lose their job, their house, their families. They try to at least treat these people well. like human beings, and get the process going so these people's lives are not totally destroyed from a stupid mistake, which in some cases is repeated, and then it's not necessarily just a stupid one-time mistake. But anyway, I would like to commend them for helping a lot of these people out. They just don't go out there and get people out of jail. They also help save lives and save families and save the livelihoods of a lot of people. So thank you for that. And your gauge is the fact that every day I see the jail report and the numbers are down. So that tells me you're doing a good job. Thank you.

Any other questions for Erica? We have the space needs study that's about to kick off, and we'll need to keep that in mind, trying to keep you closer to the sheriff's office.

Thank you. And I met with you a couple weeks ago. We were talking about job descriptions, but I do appreciate just getting to know more about what each department does. And so it's good to hear all this background and understand the what you do with our inmates and how that helps the process along. So thank you. You're welcome.

And we meet annually. And since I took office and you just, you get your job done, you don't cause any problems. And it's just always positive reports from when we visit. So thank you for everything you do.

Thank you. I believe we have this listed on executive session. And in my mind, I don't think we need her back.

I concur. Does anyone have any executive session questions for her? Otherwise, we're going to release her so she can get back to taking care of business.

Yep.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next up, the burn ban, Brady. So as of last court, we put the burn ban back on because of the The drought index was well into the, I think it was around 573, if I'm not mistaken, and now it looks like it's creeped up to 645. So I assume, in your opinion, it's only gotten worse.

Yes, sir. It's only the conditions have continued to deteriorate. We're starting to see little roadside fires up and down I-10, as well as some of the other county roads. Nothing has been unmanageable by one single resource at this time, but As the trend is going without the rain, we're going to have to change our response efforts on how we're doing some stuff. But my recommendation 100% is to keep the burn ban on.

And those changes are internal operating procedures, nothing that the public needs to be aware of at this time?

Right now, just a single fire department responds on any grass fire. One change we've made is that if we have a red flag day, meaning the wind is going to be sustained over 23 miles an hour, per the National Weather Service, then we will automatically have two fire departments going on any grass fire. As of right now, that's the model that we're going to keep. As we start to see that the grass fires with no precipitation, they're starting to spread a lot quicker than that, then it'll become every single grass fire, whether it's red flag day or not, we'll have a multi-agency response.

Are you seeing one particular county being more having a higher call volume for roadside fires, you know, things like a zone that we need to be highly more susceptible to.

So there's a line right now. Kerr County, Gillespie County is kind of where that line is sitting, where they're seeing more frequent roadside fires. Just because they're roadside does not necessarily mean that they're an arson fire. It can be from a chain dragging or a blowout of a tire or, you know, brakes on an 18-wheeler. But we are seeing in those two counties that direction, north, northwest of here, they're seeing a lot more frequent fires on a daily basis. And those fires are growing exponentially fast.

Basically, it's vigilance is required, especially in that part, but everywhere else.

That line is slowly, slowly working its way down and we're right on the cusp of it. So I reiterate that the burn ban, with it being on, zero outdoor burning. Okay.

Any objections to continuing with the current status of the burn ban remaining on? Okay. Thank you, Brady.

Thank you.

Next up, consideration posplash regarding resolution 202609081, a resolution for funding for the DA testing of forensic evidence from 2027, award 5404202, in the amount of $185,000 from the Office of the Governor's Public Safety Office.

Morning, Jim. Good morning. So this is actually a continuation grant from last year. This one we are shifting around a little bit that will allow for us. We are renegotiating and we will visit later on this morning about other issues with, not issues, but other points for Medina County. But this is an existing or a re-evaluated contract with Medina County. to do forensic testing for the DA's office. And this grant has no match. The award itself is $185,000. The contract for this first year will not be quite that much, but we are going to go back to the governor's office, ask for a budget adjustment, and see if there are other things that can apply toward it.

will cover both kendall and medina county's testing i'll entertain a motion as to the district attorney testing grant i'm sorry really quickly i'm so sorry there was one edit um judge that um the authorized official is actually nicole bishop we had erroneously had you as the authorized official and so here's the selection on that resolution i have the one that you'd like me to sign please

At this time, I'll entertain a motion as to agenda item 11.

Judge, I move to approve.

Orders 0-202-60908-1 in order of the Commissioner's Court of Kendall County, Texas, entitled... Nope, I'm sorry. I'm on the wrong one. My mistake. Number 11. Move to adopt Resolution R-202-60908-1, a resolution for funding the District Attorney testing a Forensic Evidence Grant 2027 Award 540... 4-0-0-2 in the amount of $185,000 from the Office of the Governor of Public Safety Office.

Motion made by Commissioner Wieschen. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner McCall. Any further discussion? There being none, Teresa, could you please call the vote?

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Wieschen? Aye. Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter?

Aye.

Judge Delisac?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Thank you. We'll get your signatures on that. Next up. Consideration of possible action to approve the resolution R20260908-2 to allow the county to accept the Subaru Loves Pets grant for Kendall County Animal Shelter in the amount of $4,000. Morning, Charity. Good morning. Good morning. Can you tell us a little bit? I know this is an annual thing that we get. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Yes, sir. This is a grant. I think we're on our fourth or fifth year getting this grant, and there's no match or anything, and the only requirement is that we hold an adoption event for Subaru, and we hold that at the Subaru Dominion, I think. Okay. And so we do that usually in October this year, we're doing it on Halloween. We're going to do a trunk or treat. It's going to be so fun. So y'all come out and we accept the grant every year. And then they usually send us some goodies. They send us dog toys that are usually Subaru themed, like little Subaru trucks and stuff. So it's a great grant.

Have you found it successful that you've been able to find some homes for some of the pets?

Yeah. Yeah. We've done good. Yeah.

All right. Well, I move to approve Resolution R20260908-2 to allow the county to accept the Subaru Loves Pet grant for Kendall County Animal Shelter in the amount of $4,000. Do I have a second? Second. Motion made by the judge. Second by Commissioner Chandler.

Corinna was wanting you to make an adjustment. Just to note that it's for fiscal year 27. Okay.

I amend my motion to note that it's for FY27. Okay. You would adopt my amended motion, sir? Yes. Okay, thank you. So with that, is there any further discussion? If not, Teresa, could you please call the vote?

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Thank you. We'll get you a copy of that resolution if you need it afterwards. Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. Thank you. There were several public comments submitted, but they all are for particular agenda items. So there will be no public comments at this for agenda item 13. All right. Moving on to our first public hearing of the day. It is officially 940. It's officially 940 a.m. and we're commencing agenda item 14. The court will conduct a public hearing on the FY27 proposed budget pursuant to Texas Local Government Code Chapter 111.007. This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year's budget by $847,087, or 2.47%. And of that amount, $1.39,932 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year. The fiscal year 2027 proposed budget was filed by the Kendall County Clerk on August 14th, 2026, and published on the county's website, www.kendallcountytexas.gov, and is available for public inspection. So I will hand it over to Corinna at this time to kind of, I don't know, how do you want to start this? Because I know we have... no public comments on this. So you want to start? Or do you want me to kind of go over the however y'all would like to do it?

I just want to clarify, I think you said filed by the county clerk, it was filed with the county clerk.

Yes, thank you for that clarification. Well, actually, I'm going to save our comments for the actual consideration item. So This is a public hearing.

Anyone can speak to the budget during the public hearing.

Any public hearing comments? Is there anyone online?

For clarification, for public hearing, you don't have to have a form in order to speak.

You said number 50. I'm sorry. Okay. Do you want to do a public hearing? Come on up. I'm sorry. I thought I was going to let you go during the action item. So I apologize, Nicole. Thank you. So are we back in public comments? No. Anyone can speak during this. You're good, Nicole, for three minutes.

So, Judge and Commissioners, I want to address the proposed 4% cost of living increase for Kendall County employees and specifically the possibility that someone may attempt to change it at the last minute today. I don't necessarily deal in rumors, but what I've learned is that if I don't address something and then something happens, I regret that decision. This budget has been developed over months. The 4% increase has been included throughout that process. There have been weeks of public meetings, budget discussions, and opportunities for every member of this court to raise concerns, ask questions, propose a different number, or request additional information. If there were objections to this increase, those objections should have been raised during that process. What should not happen is for a significant change affecting every county employee to be introduced on the day of final budget approval, after elected officials and department heads have spent months preparing their budgets based on the proposal that has been publicly presented.

That is not meaningful deliberation.

A last-minute change would deprive department heads and elected officials of a fair opportunity to explain how it affects their offices, their employees, recruitment, retention, morale, and their ability to provide services to the citizens of this county. It would also deprive county employees themselves of any meaningful opportunity to respond. This budget was filed on August 14th. If another budget meeting was necessary to discuss, that was the time to call another open meeting to discuss in depth and give the affected parties an opportunity to be heard. And if discussions about changing this increase have taken place privately with individual members of this court before today, that makes it even more important that no final decision be rushed through without full public discussion. The budget process is supposed to be provide transparency, predictability, and an opportunity for input. Months of public budgeting should not be replaced by a last-minute decision at the final meeting. If a member of this court believes the 4% increase is wrong, then make that argument publicly. Explain why. Please don't just say, it's come to my attention that this might not be the right decision. Allow the people who will be affected to respond. Allow the court to consider the consequences. but do not change compensation for every Kendall County employee at the 11th hour. It makes it appear that there is an attempt to hold the budget hostage and not give the affected parties the opportunity to be heard. I respectfully ask this court to honor the process that has followed for months and approve the 4% cost of living increase as proposed. And again, if this is a moot point that I'm making, I'm happy. That's great. But when I'm told that There has been discussions with members of this court about doing away with that at the last minute. I have to address it.

Thank you. Thank you. If there's no other public comments...

I believe I need to announce the changes during the public hearing that I have proposed. I've given everybody a copy. Yeah, let's go through those. So once the budget is filed, anytime the budget is filed by the county judge, I do kind of go back through the budget and I try to find things. Things do pop up. We look at revenue. Sometimes I speak with Mr. Hudson, the tax sister collector, just to kind of finalize some revenue numbers in this particular year. We have a grant that we know that has been awarded now, and so I needed to put that revenue in. So I'm going to go through the proposed changes. I did put about 20 or 25 copies in the back. If any member of the audience would like to pick up one, you're welcome to. This is all public. All public record, they are numbered. Therefore, the court can choose when you vote to adopt your budget to adopt it with the changes that I have presented or without the changes or with some of the changes or with none of the changes. But I'm going to go with them for the record line item. Number one is the current property tax. After reviewing Mr. Hudson's calculations, there's $347,824. added to the revenue line. The Texas Water Development Board Grant, that's the million-dollar grant, we needed to add that as revenue. At the prior court, the SB 224 Catalytic Converter Grant, we needed to remove those funds because the court voted not to renew that contract. Therefore, fund balance to be expended is being reduced by $571,139 from what was adopted in the proposed. That's line number four. Non five, the court, um, I'll get to the three positions that the court, uh, abolished, but, but one of them is the grant coordinator. And just for ease and clarification, I'm taking it out of that line item line item names. I will say don't matter because we have, we have in the budget, you'll see elected official is, does not say, you know, commissioner things, but, but it was brought up that that looked confusing because it was under the grant coordinator. But at the time on August 14th, the court had not decided the name of the new grant position. So it was just in there. However, the other thing, um, And that position is the knowledge that I had when the budget was adopted was that it was a grade 16, therefore up to a step four. The court at the end of August did make that an exempt position, grade 17. Under your rules, you can go up to a step six. So you can see under grant personnel line six, I've added what that maximum salary could be. Line 7, elections, those are two desktop printers that have already started, but that was not part of the budget. Line 8, radio repair, the emergency management coordinator was able to purchase those radios in FY26, so we're zeroing that out. Also in emergency management, line 9, we are adding the iPad charge that previously had been being charged under EMS. Line 10, The grants, we're adding the $925,000 that correlates to the million dollars of revenue under the Texas Water Development Board. I know that doesn't match, but $75,000 of that grant will be spent in this fiscal year, but the proceeds will not be received until after October 1st. Line 11, animal control, those are the additional cell phone grants cost. Line 12, the court system's budget. This is desktop printers for the district courtrooms for each of the respective district judges. And line 13, the allocation for the Hill Country Public Defender's Office. I received all Last Tuesday, I believe, the county contribution, which was $14,945, $54, I'm sorry, than we had during the budget process. Line 14, the district clerk, she was able to get an updated contract on the software that the court allowed to put in the budget as of August the 10th. She was able to negotiate with that company, and she got a contract. And so that is reducing that line by $119,447. Line 15, just of the Peace Precinct 1, had requested through Commissioner McCall to add additional hours to what the court had previously said would be allowed. So that is additional $2,160 for her to have temporary help during the year. Just of the Peace Precinct 2, line 16, that is a desktop printer. Just of the Peace Precinct 4, line 17, is two desktop printers. Line 18 is they are getting the two desktop printers because they no longer want the copy machine that's under release. So you can see that is being zeroed out. Line 19, purchasing that copy machine from JP4 is being moved. Oh, I'm sorry. That's not line 40. Okay. She's removing her old copy machine. Purchasing did not, under the current lease, get a copy machine. So she has been using one and just paying the maintenance on an old one, and it is no longer functioning. So we are reducing that to $0. to pay for the maintenance on that. Line 19, she is taking over the payments and the machine from Justice of the Peace Precinct 4, so those funds were moved to purchasing on line 20. Line 21 is the internet service for EMS. We're reducing that $360 based on that iPad moving to the appropriate location, which was emergency management. Line 22 is The sheriff's office grant, those were the grant proceeds, $231,642 associated with what we were calling the flock cameras. So that was zeroed out based on the court's decision at the last commissioner's court. And line 23, juvenile probation, is the desktop printer. So this equates to an overall increase to the general fund by $578,135. to the general fund budget, but a reduction in the fund balance that is needed based on the revenues that are increasing of $571,139. The new total of the general fund, if the court chooses to accept these changes, is $58,650,119.

All right. Thank you for the explanation. If there's requested changes to be made, that'll be at the next agenda item, not the public hearing. Is there any other matters we need to cover in this public hearing?

If you would like me to go over?

We'll go through all the individual items next.

Should we ask her questions now or when we get to the item?

Questions now.

What questions now? And for a member of the public to speak up, they did not have to submit a form because this is a public hearing. So anyone who's present or online that would like to ask a question may do so or make a comment. You're welcome to come up if you want.

I don't need to come up. I think y'all can hear me, but it's just a question for Corinna. Um, Approximately, don't worry about being exact, but approximately, how much more did the general fund receive in property tax revenue in this fiscal year we're still in over what was budgeted? I was thinking it was in the neighborhood of.

$100,000. It is currently, just from the last time I printed this, it's probably $400,000, probably $500,000 more in the current fiscal year that we have received than what was budgeted.

And we didn't increase the budgeted expenditures based on that additional revenue. Is that correct?

They did. We did not reduce the fund balance to be expended because there were other additional items.

We used some of it and Bank some of it.

Okay. It came in higher than budgeted and expected.

Correct. And again, that goes to the philosophy. We always try to be conservative with our estimates, and it's a windfall at the end of the year when we find out more money came in than we anticipated. So that's why we've been able to be in good circumstances the past few years.

But this year I did go ahead of the adoption proceedings, and that's one of the changes is address what, based on the calculations, that we should receive the $347,824. I know that's an exact amount, but if I can calculate it, I'll calculate it. Otherwise, I would round it. So I anticipate that property taxes next year for the general fund would be the $38,977,824 for current property tax. That is based on your proposed tax rate, because that's what was published in the proposed budget.

Yeah, so just a general question. So your data is only as good as your data is up to date, right? And today is the latest that we have, and we're totally authorized to look at new numbers coming in, more, and then more expenses that were added to the budget, like the copier and the clerk and all of that. And we're authorized to do that today before we adopt the budget. Is that correct?

Correct. The court can make changes to the proposed budget. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? Yeah, I have something to say. Okay, so day one of budget, to address some of the questions that were brought up, one of the first topics was a 4% increase on county pay. That should have been delayed until the very end of our budget process where we knew where we were, or at least in the middle of the budgeting where we knew where we were. We also had a flood in the middle of our budget proceedings, and we were trumped. Basically, we went to the Um, sheriff's office for a one hour meeting where we had to go through and slash how many millions that we slashed in a matter of an hour. 3.5 million-ish in there, ballpark? I'm just trying to address the concerns. When we start the budget process off, we have all these big dreams each one of us on the court has for our precincts that we want done for the community. Sometimes we can get those done right before the end of this fiscal year, and we don't have to go into the next year's budget. So if you wonder how we play this game, and this is how it's always been done, I believe Judge Lux always did a great job with budgeting. And this is no different than what we're doing now. I have reached out to our Congress legislators and talked about the overall situation with property taxes. And if you look at your property tax bill, it's not your county bill that's really, you're feeling it hit your pocketbook the hardest. It's the school taxes. No offense to the school district, but you start paying around $1 per $100 value, you start getting to where you can't afford, your businesses can't afford to stay open. You can't pay your house taxes. There's a whole lot more that goes into this and it needs to be brought out there. As far as employment in Kendall County, we have two weeks of paid time off every year. We have two weeks of vacation time on top of that. And we have 17 days of holiday paid on top of that. It's over 40-something, 45 days of paid days off per year. No one in this county gets that type of benefit. So if you think that this is really a bad place to work, I don't think you're looking at it through the same lens that I see in the private business. USAA gives two weeks of paid time off. You accumulate that as you work. If you're sick, you take it out of your paid time off. You don't get two more weeks of extra paid time off. So I really want to make sure people understand when we're getting into the budget process, what you're getting from your local county government. I don't know what the city of Bernie offers. I don't know what the school district offers. But that's what I hear is we lose people to other sheriff's offices. We lose people to other government entities. And that's the comparison. You see that? That's where we're comparing what we do to another county. And this is going to never stop because every county is going to try to keep up with their neighboring county where the private sector doesn't. The reality is the major business, small mom and pop businesses do not pay what we're paying. They do not have the benefits that we offer. It's not even in the same world that we're in. And so I'm not sure who's talking there, but I'm assuming they agree with me. I'm just trying to make sure that we understand when we're talking about pay and benefits. And this court has done a lot more than any previous court at the detriment of our future budgeting. One year alone, a few years ago, we did a $1.85 million increase in one decision across the board. We brought everyone's pay up to what we considered a level playing field. That was just for non-law enforcement departments. And then we also increased law enforcement pay on top of that.

And that was another 1.7-ish.

We're getting to the point, and I've had this discussion with Corinna and I talked to Mr. Hudson last week, and I know we're on the same page with everything, and that's okay. We're heading in a direction that we cannot sustain, and we have to look at that. And I'm sorry, but I was elected by my precinct to – make the decisions that reflect what my community wants. And we did try to have extra meetings. We did. We were denied that ability saying that we could not do that now that it was published, now that we had our budget published. Is that correct?

Once you file the proposed budget.

We could not have extra meetings. So I do feel like some of what we're looking at right now we made some decisions quick with timeframe related to flooding that made it more difficult on us. I'm sorry to be on a ramp, but I look at things through a different lens than a lot of people in this courthouse. And I really feel like if I could give employees that work for my wife and I in this community, the benefits that people in this community and this courthouse and county government get, we would never lose any of them. But the simple fact is we can't, we can't afford that. And we have to make sure that we're leaving when we exit our positions on this court, we're leaving this in a healthy way. So.

Okay. Any other comments before we wrap up the public hearing and move on to the next public hearing and then we'll move on to the votes. Okay. It is. It's 10.01 a.m. and that concludes our first public hearing. We will now move on to the second public hearing. The court will conduct the public hearing in order to receive public comments. and allow the public to express their views, if any, for or against the proposed tax rate for 2026. Mr. Hudson?

I have a question. The local government code says at the end of the public hearing, the court shall take action on the budget. Do they need to do those items before the public hearing on the tax rate? You do have to adopt a budget before you adopt a tax rate. But Chapter 111 of the local government code, which is the budget code. I was just following the agenda.

Yes, it can be. I think it can be done either way, so long as the order of the action items is the same as the order of the public hearings. So the court has an option to go ahead and take the action item now for the budget and discuss the tax rate separately or to have the second public hearing and then do the action items in the same order. Okay.

Would you all like to do the action item for this one right now? I'd like to do the hearing first. Okay. Is that fine with you all?

Yeah.

Jennifer? Okay. All right. So, Mr. Hudson, would you mind coming up? Yes, sir. Just make sure the mic's on. Okay.

brought everything but the kitchen sink here. Be prepared. Yeah, so. Of course, several years ago, the legislature. change the laws to limit the amount of increases to the county's tax rates for operations. M&O, general fund, those are all interchangeable. Those two terms are interchangeable when I'm discussing this. But basically the main fund of the county is used to run the county's operations on a day-to-day basis. The other aspect of the tax rate is the debt rate or INS rate. outdated term, in my opinion. But those are the two components of the tax rate. In addition to limiting the county's ability to raise property taxes, which are admittedly unpopular generally, The legislature also had a statewide database set up called Texas.gov forward slash property taxes. And, of course, that information is available and published pretty heavily on the county's website and even in the newspaper by the appraisal district and so forth. We've received one response this year on the tax rate, and it was a vote in favor of of the proposed slight reduction in the tax rate. So we had one, I need to mention to you all, we had one very latent comment last year, and it was about mid to late October. One person said they objected to their tax values going up and that's their tax bill going up. So if that came in too late, the tax bills are actually mailed on or about October 1. and so I wasn't able to relay that to you last year because it came in well after that. So one person did respond to this huge statewide database that's been set up and heavily advertised. I think the year they came out with it, they actually sent postcards out to everyone that was a property owner in the county, and that year we probably got about five or six or seven. By recollection, I'm not sure. Don't quote me on that one, but it was not a very big response. So as Commissioner Carpenter mentioned, the county's tax rate is not the major part of people's property taxes every year.

And hearing what you're hearing about the current status of the budget and how much reserve balance, you and I've had some discussions about, I was for a more aggressive tax rate, but we've had some discussions and Do you feel comfortable about the rate that we've kind of settled on as being responsible and conservative enough not to put the county in a bad position in future years?

Yes, I am comfortable with the proposal, and I did feel like our working people in the county needed, and I'm talking about the taxpayers, I'm not just talking about county employees, they're all working people, but I felt like giving them a slight tax break would be a good thing to do. For some people, the economy is very bad. Inflation has been tough. And some of the same stuff that our employees have experienced, obviously, everyone else that has to live on a budget are also experiencing it. And every little bit helps. And is this the first time in a while that we've ever done it to the no new revenue rate? I believe so. And that was actually Commissioner Carpenter's. He mentioned it a couple of years ago, got me started thinking about if we ever had the opportunity to do that, it would be a good thing to do. And it seemed like the economy and inflation are all lining up at the same time, you know, to where this would be a good year for this proposal. So it is the proposed rate of 0.373 is slightly below the no new revenue rate. Now, That doesn't mean the county's not getting any new revenue. Can you explain that? Because people think no new tax revenue rate, tax should be the same. But explain it, break it down for us, please. On the most basic level, the county property tax is calculated. I'm going to do everything as simplistically as I can just because I don't want to wear people out with this. But the value of their property times the county's rate is the amount of taxes due. The appraisal district's in charge of adopting the values every year, appraising the properties, and the county's responsible for doing the tax rate. And the combination of those two actions generates the county's property tax revenue for the budget. So values have been going up a lot over the last five years. Some of that's due to a because we are largely a residential county, a lot of residential properties, a limitation on the homestead residents can only increase in taxes by 10%. So if the values went up 10% on a homestead residence on average, then the county would have to keep the rate the same or propose a tax increase. And in fact, depending on what's going on between the debt service rate, which is for paying the county's bonds that they issue for certain projects like building the courthouse, debt service rate versus the M&O rate or general fund rate, the rates can go up or down. Most of the time we keep the rate the same. We've had to lower it. Numerous times when Judge Lux was here was my big appraisal year came up where everyone's values really jumped. due to all the real estate market activity. So it's supposed to be based on what properties, similar properties are selling for in your area. We had to drop the rate substantially back then, and then it's just had really fairly minor adjustments over time since then. This is a minor adjustment we're proposing. It's a small decrease based on the averages and so forth. And that's all properties, not just homesteads, but all properties, including business properties. We had approximately $450 million in new value, which is new buildings and homes and improvements that are taxable. Last year, this year, we've got about $370 million in new value. So we still... have a significant amount of growth in the tax base going on. And for this year, I just say as a general statement that the new value is paying for a lot of the increase to the county's revenue. So that's kind of a nice thing. I know some people think that's the way it should be, and I certainly think it's good. Okay.

Before we open up for public comments, anything from you gentlemen down there for Mr. Hudson?

One last comment. I promise not to rant. When I talk to our legislators about our property tax bills that we're being haunted with nowadays, their response is, yes, we're forcing the appraisal districts to increase values To represent what the true sale property, what value would be if you sold your building or your house. They expect us to go down on our property or our rates. They expect us to reduce our rates to make up for that gigantic increase. But that's not typically what governments do. They grow, and they grow, and they add more people, and they add more expense, and they build nicer buildings. I just think that needs to be noted that the legislatures expect school districts, cities, and counties to reduce their tax rates as appraisal values continue to go up. Thank you. Anything for you, Commissioner Chapman?

Ladies, anything from you?

Yeah, I just would expand on Commissioner Carpenter's point is that we have been asked by legislators to do our part. And I appreciate you helping us look at this tax rate. I think that you're a frugal, conservative, pretty sound, common sense man. And so I do have a great deal of trust in what you recommend. I think it's a good thing to do on a half a million dollar house. That's an $18 a year savings. And someone said that that was a ridiculous amount. But the fact of the matter is that money belongs to the taxpayer. And so anything that we can do to alleviate that financial hardship, we're doing. It's a balance. We're a services organization and we have to make sure that we can still have employees and equipment and do the things that we've contracted with the public to do. So I appreciate us being able to do a little and then looking at that budget and keeping that as frugal as we can, yet not sacrificing the services that we provide. So it's a very delicate balance and it's subjective somewhat because you could argue either way on more or less. And so I appreciate you helping this court come to the best conclusion it could do given the amount of time and the information that we had.

Yes. I was pleased this year because we got to have that rare, because the budget was delayed, you know, with lots of hashing out of the details. We were able to have a special meeting about the tax rate that we normally don't seem to be able to fit in, uh, It's perfect timing when the budget's all pretty much in place. And Corinna and I have some really solid numbers to work with from the appraisal district providing the certified values and the calculations being completed and fully checked. You know, we had this year, actually, there was extra time put in on preparing this rate and informing the court. about the suggestion. I have one more question. Yes, sir.

So after having a few people reach out to me about not making that change, I talked to you, and you said at this point it would be very detrimental.

Here's the reason. Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, go ahead. I want to understand that better, and I want them to understand that better. Right. So where we're at right now, of course, the county still offers the very popular 3-2-1 discounts for early payment of taxes. And in addition to that, everyone gets their property tax statements all in one. So I know it's painful to see it, but it's a more efficient manner to run the government that way. Because of the timelines that we have, the appraisal district has warned me that if we don't inform them of your decision by September the 18th, that they will not be able to get the tax statements out with the discounts for the county and that it could even interfere with the other, like the school district's discount, possibly if they were still trying to do a consolidated statement. The county would bear additional unnecessary costs of having to have a possible second mailing of tax statements with just the county tax on it. And we would have to pay the appraisal district for those services, you know, the cost of the postage and printing and so forth. So we're really kind of, as usual, you know, we've got a fairly tight timeframe to begin with. Normally we have this item at the last meeting in August, but we got delayed because y'all were doing extra work on the budget and on the tax rate. You know, like I said, I got to meet with y'all at the perfect time this year. So I would highly recommend that you take an action today on the tax rate. And the only thing I believe, based on the law, that you can do is either adopt a tax rate that you proposed or adopt a lower rate, which I am not recommending. We're already below what's called the no new revenue rate. So we've done all the work. There's been some stir here near the end. and we would have a significant situation, problem, and maybe even lose some public trust. We don't do this in the timely fashion that's required. So one of the things that can happen If it got delayed, of course, I had to publish a notice of this meeting to adopt the rate. It's normally a notice of hearing on public hearing on the increase in taxes. It was different this year, but it still got done timely. And there's a certain amount of time that has to last after that. It would put us too late to adopt a rate. We didn't do it today. Of course, it has to be done after the budget's adopted. An example of some of the problems that can come in with last man changes is the 321 discount can get delayed where normally the property taxes are not paid by the end of January become delinquent on February 1. There's penalties. to not pay them on time. Those dates would be changed, possibly even for the school district, if we still had a consolidated tax statement in the city of Bernie as well, potentially, which hasn't been discussed with them, but I'm aware of it, that like in our case, the taxpayers have to have at least 30 days to pay and get the 3% discount. So that date would probably get pushed to the end of November if we had this delay. And then in the delinquency day, all the dates would be pushed back at least 30 days to give the taxpayers an adequate chance to take advantage of the discounts and so forth. So I would highly recommend that we don't fail to adopt a rate today.

But those sound like ripple down effects. But in the end, it all goes back to is our initial proposal sound. And based on what we've gone through, it's a sound and it shouldn't have very little impact on future budgets, but it gives our taxpayers some relief. And that's in the end what we're trying to do.

Yes. And you can be my verifier here. The county is getting additional tax revenue from property taxes. And in total, I'm thinking it's about $1.5 million.

And that's from new buildings and other things that have come online. Largely, right, right. It offsets the small world.

Existing taxpayers, if their value didn't change, they're paying a little bit less.

But we're still getting more revenue next year because of all the new properties coming online.

Yes, yes. And also something that gets eliminated in the calculations that most people don't know about is the over 65 tax freeze properties. That comes out. The state legislature has told us how we have to do everything here. It's very exacting. That's why I carry around a heavy burden. But there's a significant increase in the over 65 tax freeze revenue because new people are moving in, buying a new house or something, and getting the over 65 tax freeze immediately. And so that kind of comes out. in the calculations and things we present by law. And then it comes back in, though, at the budget. And that did increase somewhere between $700,000 and $800,000, which is part of the increase in revenue that we talked about.

Well, I always appreciate your guidance on this and your due diligence. So thank you for all your advice. Thank you. All right. Now we'll open up to public complex. Mr. Lux. I can. If you want to move over with her just in case there's additional.

A little bit of a cold.

Don't leave it behind.

Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity, Daryl Lux, Candalia, Texas. First of all, I don't expect any changes to be made to the budget based on my comments today, but I feel they must be made. Great. I watched a special call meeting on August the 10th where Corinna informed the court that expenditures exceeded revenues by $7.58 million. It was surprising to me that the court was that close to finalizing the budget while being that far behind. The first public budget meeting was held on June 24th with discussions having previously been held behind closed doors with the chief budget officer and department heads. While this process is absolutely allowed, in my opinion, it left the four commissioners at a disadvantage by not being involved in the complete budget process. Some areas of concern that I have with this proposed budget are the exorbitant amount of grant matching funds that the county has accumulated, continuing to contribute to a new employee 457 plan in which only 88 or 340 employees... Can I stop for a minute?

This is not related to the budget tax rate. This is all related to the budget items.

Yes, I was wondering, are you speaking to the tax rate that Mr. Hudson was just speaking to, or do you need to save your comments for the next item, the action item?

Well, they interrelate. They don't, actually, because this is about what the tax rate should be set at.

Well, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I think it all relates.

I think that Mr. Lux probably has a good understanding of which topic he's speaking to you, so I'll trust his judgment.

Are you okay?

Continue. Make sure you give them some more time, whatever you ate up. She paused it.

Okay. I should be closing up at two minutes and 51 seconds. All right. I'm going to go ahead and start at number two again, continuing to contribute to a new employee 457 plan in which only 88 of 340 employees participate. Many of the remaining 252 employees do not have the disposable income to contribute to the plan. Why add a new retirement plan when only a few employees are benefiting at a cost to the taxpayers of more than $170,000? The county is already contributing to the TCDRS retirement plan equally for all employees. Number three, continuing the STEP plan, which is a structured compensation plan that increases an employee's salary by predefined increments based primarily on time of service, seniority, or milestones rather than individual performance. This plan was created without professional guidance. In the past, Kendall County provided a merit pool to department heads as well as a cost of living increase across the board when funding was available. As of this year, Kerr County is no longer using the STEP compensation plan. Number four, the 2027 budget includes an increase in revenue of more than $3 million. This budget year, salaries and benefits are increasing by more than $2 million. Two-thirds of the increase in revenue is being spent on increased compensation. Reducing the tax rate while a substantial amount of the fund balance. While it is not uncommon to reduce the tax rate, it is not a common practice to do so when the fund balance must be used to the extent to balance the budget. Reducing the tax rate to the proposed amount will save the homeowner of a median value at home valued at $522,000, $18, leaving their tax liability at $1,950 versus $1,968. What a burger. Here we come. Additionally, a comment was made during the meeting on the 10th by the county judge. I don't want to put the future court in a bad financial position. Well, that's exactly what this will happen with the adoption of this budget. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. So with that, that was the only public comment as this agenda item. Do you have a time?

1023. That is a public hearing item, so if anyone would like to speak that did not sign up, they're able to do so to talk about the tax rate.

Is there anyone else? Yeah, would you like to come on up? And you get three minutes.

My name is Jim Wolkers.

I'm with the investigator with the district attorney's office. I'll be brief. Yes, sir. It's just in response to what Mr. Lux had. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Lux. But he did point out, as conservative as he is, that 88 people were the only ones out of, what, 300?

350.

350 that could afford, that had the disposable income to take advantage of the 457 plan. That right there tells you that the county employees are not making that much money. So to withdraw money that you've already set aside budgetarily, not approval-wise, but to remove that money from them, you've already admitted that they don't make that much. And everybody deserves a retirement. I'm 63 years old. The county has never paid enough to make a real retirement for people unless they work till they're about 70. The 457 plan offers that. But if employees don't make enough money to help themselves, it's a mute point. Inflation is a real thing. Cost of living. is a real thing. Okay? To not give people a cost of living increase when costs have gone up like they have is an abomination.

I'm sorry, that's all I have to say. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Can you give me a time, one more time, please? The time is 1025. It is 1025, and that concludes our public hearing. We will now move to our consideration and action regarding the proposed FY2027 budget. A vote to adopt the budget must be a record vote. Pursuant to Texas Local Government Code Section 111.008, this budget will raise more total property taxes than last year's budget by $847,087, or 2.47%. And of that amount, $1.39 $1,390,932 is the tax revenue raised from new property added to the tax rule. The fiscal year 2027 proposed budget was filed with the Kendall County Clerk on August 14th. It's published on the county's website and is available for public inspection. So before I hand it over to Corinna, I kind of want to give a summary of where this court started when I took office and where we're at today. So the The budget that was handed off to me when I took office relied on $6.4 million and change of reserve balance to cover daily operations. And with that money that was used, the court still chose to give a tax reduction. In fact, the tax reduction to the citizens was more than what we're proposing today. It was a quarter of one cent. And that money... that was used was not all for expenditures like what we're using today. The budget at that time was $42 million. Since that time, our budget has grown to $58 million. So it increased by 37% over four years. Because we're one of the fastest growing counties. We're one of the wealthiest counties. So obviously, we bring in more money. But we use that money prudently over these years. We invested in adding 42 new employees, which is an increase by only 13%. We added personnel to IT, the jail, HR, nearly a dozen people to road and bridge, elections, the district court, district clerk, JPs, animal controls, parks, purchasing, grant management, EMS, and building facilities, all necessary additions to provide the level of service that our citizens expect. Not only that, when we used fund balance, it was for one-time purchases. We purchased and renovated 400 East Blanco, where we now house most of our IT, our engineering, emergency management staff. We purchased the Burdick building, which is going to be the future home of JP to the constable and possibly some other offices. We actually put set aside four million additional dollars for renovations for that building. So that's sitting in a fund gaining interest right now, not being expended. We set aside one million dollars for the Herff River Road interchange, one of the worst intersections in Kendall County that citizens constantly complain about. So we're investing in things. that go directly to the benefit of the citizens. We made renovations and repairs to this courthouse that have been neglected for years. Turns out this building has been settling for years and it's not been addressed. So we're gonna have to spend a couple hundred thousand to correct the foundation and then spend probably a couple hundred thousand more repairing the facade that's separating from this building. Old historic courthouse was renovated for over 100,000 because it had been neglected for years. Veterans services is a lost cause. It would take nearly 150,000 to renovate that building because of neglect. So this court is taking action to remedy some of the things that have been overlooked for years in the effort of saving money. We've made security upgrades that were overdue in this courthouse We had grades from our reports that I can't repeat that would shock you. And that was because no one wanted to invest in it. But since I took office, we've made a lot of proactive steps. Would you agree, Sheriff, to get this place moving in the right direction security-wise to make not only our citizens safe, but our employees? We upgraded the technical equipment in both the courtrooms for the new district judges. We built a fuel depot that paid for itself in two and a half years. We're saving over 60 cents a gallon for our taxpayers for all of our fleet vehicles. We put generators on multiple buildings that should have had generators in case of flood and disaster events so the county doesn't go offline. But most importantly, we've shifted away, we've shifted towards a mentality of employees first. I've heard so many rumors about the old regime, you're lucky to have a job. That's not the philosophy that I've taken on since I've been here. It's the employees first. You take care of your people because the people are what make this government run. And so, yes, we've increased salaries, but there was no pay scale that there were people doing the same job making different pay. There were people who couldn't get a career path here because there was no way to get to the max of the old pay regime. So that was one of my first initiatives. And I think the employees are satisfied with it because they now have a career path from day one to 20 or 30 years just for their salary. We focused on retirement for them to make sure that once you leave here, you and your families are taken care of. We've increased the TCRDS requirement from 160 to 200. That's in line with all the competitive counties around us because you've got to invest in your people to retain them. We have so many good people here that deserve to be taken care of. And the 457 plan that was commented on, yes, we only have 88 people shifting to it, but it started out with only 25. It's about education. People didn't know it was even available, but that is how you retain good talent. We have to be competitive with the business world if we want people to come to work for Kendall County. And that didn't happen in the past. And so I'm proud of what we've done, and I stand by what we've done. But here's the big thing about the budget deficit that this court inherited of $6.4 million and the reserve balance we're using today. Today, we're only using $2.25 million of reserve balance. Do you know what that reserve balance is going towards? Grants. If we invest in the grants, the 2.25 million, it costs the county nothing. Because if we don't get the grants, that money comes back to us. But if we do get it, we're going to get $15 million in return. That is a 7x return on our investment. I don't know. I know there's some investment folks out there. Getting 7% return on your money is a pretty solid return in this market. And so that is for the citizens right there. That takes care of roads and bridges. It takes care of our parks. It takes care of a lot of things that this county would have to use reserve balance for if we didn't go out for this grant. So that's a smart use of reserve balance. So to say that this court is not looking out for our citizens and not spending fund balance widely is someone speaking with blinders on. Long term, these are the returns and the investments that our citizens and our employees deserve.

Did I miss anything?

And by the way, and after all is said and done with this budget, even if we use 2.2 million of reserve balance, we're still going to end up with $19,759,018 in reserve balance. That puts us at 33% of our total general fund. That is exactly within the range that Corinna has recommended, 30 to 35%. My target goal was always 40%, but I was a little more aggressive. But it falls in line with what Corinna thinks is a sound financial number for this county. So to anyone that complains about this budget, I take issue with that because a lot of effort went into this. Yes, we were rushed through the one day of cuts, but a lot of those cuts were necessary and unneeded to be in the budget in the first place. So I'll hand it over to you.

So I... put together and I quickly emailed it today just so y'all could have it electronically, but I did pass it out. This is just kind of a snapshot of general fund I'd like to go over. What I call one-time expenses or capital improvements are going to be, in this case, a grant match. We have 14, the judge briefly just spoke on it. We have 14.8 million in three different grants that the court has approved over the last several years. And they go towards generators for the Candelia Waring and Berkham Volunteer Fire Departments, the floodgates and the countywide drainage plan. That is the Texas General Land Office grant. There is a federal grant. Flood management assistance through the Texas Water Development Board for flood management. That's the Cypress Creek Regional Detention Project. That's over an $11 million grant just in itself, I believe, or right at $11 million. And then the FEMA Texas Water Development Board Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant, that $14.8 million grant. does require $2,235,071 in grant match. So what I put together for the court in one-time expenses and capital improvements, it's $4.1 million that are in the FY, that you have in your proposed FY27 budget that the court prepared. And out of that $4.1 million, you do need, your general revenue is able to absorb $1,875,083. However, you do need to use $2,256,703 of your fund balance. That is based on all those proposed changes that I did speak of during the public hearing. So these numbers are based on that. Other things that are included in the FY27 budget, just for the general public's knowledge, is the increase to the county's adopted scale of 4% on the end of July meeting. the court allowed, um, it came out to a total of 38 employees to either move up to step four or step six based on non-exempt or exempt, um, um, status on the pay scale, um, if requested by the department head and all that process went through the HR department. Um, There's also a six month worth of salaries for six potential new hires that the court has set aside money for the court, maybe like in March, April to reevaluate. And that would be an additional administrative specialist three for the Blanco building under maybe the county engineer and or the emergency management director, a deputy county clerk, one additional JP clerk, two patrol deputies, and a fleet mechanic for the road and bridge. So those are, the salaries are in there for up to six months if the court does do that. The court also absorbed one cost, absorbed the cost of one employee that was previously paid by a grant in the CDA's office. The TCDR match that the judge just mentioned, TCDRS, which is the county's retirement system, uh, match, uh, up to the 200%. And then the court also, uh, did put in the 457, uh, B, uh, that's still in there. There's a 5% increase to all the volunteer fire departments that the court met with them. And then the two and a half percent increase to all the libraries. Those are just some things that are in there. The other thing, um, uh, the court, um, we did, um, Dissolve the grant coordinator position, changed, and then we are going a different route with the grant management and compliance director position. We are dissolving the medication aid and the jail nurse and going a different route, and that's going to be now outsourced. That was all part of the presentation by the jail that the court saw in the summer. So, yes, what you stated is on here. The anticipated fund balance, I call it the unassigned, meaning it's not budgeted. I anticipate that to be $19,759,000 at the end of FY27 based on your proposed budget with the changes. That would be what I think is the minimum fund balance that the court at the end of FY27 would have. So those are just some things that are in the budget and kind of a snapshot of general fund. I will say the overall budget, not just general fund, but the overall budget with the proposed changes to the general fund is $86,492,614. And the proposed budget was filed by the county judge on August the 14th. It is by law required to be filed by August the 15th. It cannot be filed any later than that. And the court is required to have a public hearing no later than the 25th day after the date the budget is filed, which is why we waited until the 14th so that we could have this hearing today because you do have to have it within 25 days. So those are not county rules. Those are state rules. It's all part of Chapter 111 of the local government code. So it's very specific, the order in which the court has to put this entire process. One of those processes is the court does have to adopt a budget before they can adopt a tax rate. Okay.

I'll open it up.

Any questions for me?

I guess we'll start. Any proposed changes from you ladies for the budget? We'll start with you, Commissioner McCall.

We're going down the line. So did we say we were on this agenda item? Did we actually move into regard? Yeah, we did. All right. So I believe that a 3% COLA strikes a balance between recognizing the rising cost of living for our employees and maintaining our responsibility as stewards of taxpayer dollars. This recommendation is not a reflection of the value, dedication, or performance of our workforce. Our employees are among the county's greatest assets. and we remain committed to attracting and retaining high-quality personnel. The question before us is how to provide a meaningful salary increase while ensuring the county remains financially responsible. In today's economic environment, we must also ask ourselves whether we can afford additional ongoing costs and what impact those costs will have on future budgets. Although the difference between a 3% and 4% COLA may seem minor, That additional one percentage point represents a significant reoccurring expense when applied across the county's entire payroll. More importantly, a COLA is not a one-time cost. Once incorporated into employee salaries, it becomes a part of the county's ongoing personnel expenses and increases related costs such as retirement and benefit contributions. For these reasons, I believe A 3% COLA provides meaningful support for employees while allowing the county to maintain financial stability, continue funding essential services, and prepare for future challenges.

Okay, thank you. Commissioner Regent?

Yeah, thank you, Judge. I want to just go back and talk about the budget in general. So basically the fund balance is our reserve, correct?

Correct.

And we need to maintain a healthy level so that the county can handle emergencies, unexpected expenses, have the cash flow. and not turn to borrowing. So the amount from the fund balance that we're taking is 2.2 this time. Is that right? And you taught me about the GASB, Governor and Accounting Standards Board. The best practices is 25%, correct? Our county likes to have 30, and I believe the judge said we're at 33%. Correct, correct.

33.69. Okay, 33.69. Every dollar counts, apparently. Correct.

Well, it does in my calculation. And so this is just not only common sense, but it does have something to do with our bond rating, correct? Correct. Right. Okay. So I see this as, again, the word is balance. It's a sensitive balance to keep enough in reserve so that we're financially strong and prepare for emergencies. But if we have too much in there, and if we don't spend it on capital projects like the $1 million for the HER 46 intersection or buying the Blanco building and refurbishing that, then that money is just sitting there without a clear reason. Correct. Without a clear purpose. And so, again, it's like it's not a flush fund. And if we're holding on to taxpayer money, this is just my opinion, if we're holding on to that money, then we ought to reduce the tax rate, either spend it or stop taxing the citizens. So I think you've done a really good job with that balance. The other thing about the $7.5 million we started, well, we just don't have that crystal ball to go, the number is this. I mean, we have to organically get there by going through the numbers and adding things that we want and taking things out once we've had time to talk about it in public, totally transparent in front of citizens. And so eventually we get there. We did lose some days. I would recommend that next year, and I always say this, let's have additional days. We can always cancel them. Because here we are up into the time of adopting the budget, we're still making the tweaks. I mean, I've been working this entire time looking at citizens' comments and listening to them, seeing what other counties do, and so we're still gathering data. And we've already established that that's allowed, right?

Correct.

So it's part of the process. One thing that I do want to look at is, and you brought it up, is this COLA. So we've already had the sliding pay scale, and every year that is compounded and goes up. On top of that is the 4% COLA. We're going to have to really look at that pay scale coming up in the next budget year because I believe that that could get out of hand, and we're not going to be able to cover that because it's compounded every year. So I did have additional time to look at the private sector COLA colas and what other government is doing. I think if we go from the 4% to the 3%, I had asked you about that, that's like $190,000. I would be comfortable with a 3% cola this year because I think that's more in line with what the rest of the country is doing, private sector and the other counties. And we can do that up in the last minute. So anything that's supposedly not transparent is totally transparent because today we're looking at the final and everybody gets to hear it. So that's really the only adjustment that I would offer. Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Chapman? So I'll address the COLA first. I think we need to keep it where it is simply because the amount that it costs us to train the employees is astronomical. We have some good employees here. I would like to keep them here. We have some... I'm not going to call them good benefits. I'm going to call them great benefits. But you can't eat off of benefits. You need a good cost of living. And a number of years ago, you only came to work here at the county just for the holidays because you weren't going to get the pay. We are now getting our pay scale competitive again. to be able to keep employees. I think we need to keep going with that to maintain the employees we have. On the one-time expenses, I don't think right now as far as the priority goes, I think the space needs study has a higher priority than the efficiency audit. I'm not saying we don't need to at least at some point in time do some type of efficiency audit. I'm just saying that for $100,000 on the space needs and or $100,000 on the, I didn't investigate the efficiency audit, what that would cost, but we can't do a space needs study for $100,000. So you might as well just take it out and not do it at all if we're going out only going to put $100,000. I don't even know if we could get a space needs assessment for just the court system for that, much less, in my opinion, you can't go out here and just analyze the court system because it's not just the court system. It's the clerk's office district and the county that's going to affect this. If you're going to do something in this building, it's going to affect the tax office. It's going to affect the auditor's office. If we're going to do the space needs assessment, we need to do it for the county. Period. And get it done so we have a good feeling of and can actually come up with a plan for the next 10 years. Now, To exercise that plan, we have already put $4 million into the Burdick Center on the property and another $4 million set aside to do the renovations. I question, but I'll leave it up to the team that is doing this, can we get that built for $8 million, renovated and occupied for $8 million? And I would question that would it not be better to do a full space needs assessment for the county. Hold off on the Burdick Center for a little bit. Hold that money because $8 to $10 million would be a heck of a start on locating another building somewhere else that could possibly do a whole lot more good than spending $8 million on two and even adding some of the district court functions down there to a half. departments putting down there at Burdick Center. So my suggestions are to adjust the space needs and the efficiency audit so that it would better give us a plan for the future and then hold off on the Burdick Center until we can actually get a space needs with qualified people that can tell us what we really need to do and where we need to Mr. Carpenter?

Some of those are good points. We may be able to do the Burdick Center for half of the $4 million on the renovations, but we don't know yet. We are working on that. And I won't get into a lot of details on that topic, but the moment you slap government on a job, it doubles in price. It triples in price. The way we have to go through the process of securing someone to do the work and go through the process, it literally becomes ridiculous. None of us would consider building a home under the circumstances that we have to go through to build something for a government use. The space needs study, I don't know numbers, but I am hearing that there is, I feel like we're back in the budget process right now. Yeah, but this is your last time to make those small adjustments. The space needs study, the numbers are coming in closer to I'm hearing closer to what we have budgeted. I don't know what the total number is, but I think we're going to be okay. For $100,000? I haven't heard a number, but they've told me that And there's a meeting this Friday to interview the top two people. I did part of the reviews on the RFP. Yeah, don't get too far into all those details. So I don't think that needs to be changed much. I think we'll be able to figure out how to absorb if it's around there. I think we're going to be okay in this upcoming budget. The fact that we finished this year and we're able to – do some of the projects that were unfinished or that we would have done next year, but we're able to pay for them now. This is all a budget game. You get down to the nitty gritty, and it's all about what can you do now to offset next year's budget, and it changes what next year's numbers look like, and it actually looks better on paper when you could go back and revisit what our current year's budget, what we actually spent, and find out how much of our fund balance we actually spent. I don't know. I mean, at this point, I don't care if we make any more changes. I see everyone's points. I see the 4% that we talked about in the beginning. I will not have that discussion next year in the beginning of our budget process. It's a bad idea to talk about how much money you're going to increase in people's pay on day one of budgeting when you haven't even considered what you have in front of you. I think that sets everyone up here to be angry with us Right? I see people's eyes going up. But we have a budget in front of us that if it weren't for the grant matches, we would be almost down to the zero match, 100%. Like $20,000 short, that's it. So we need where you stand on the COLA. I could go either way on it, to be honest with you. At this point, there's no point in causing a bigger rift in our county right now. But I think next year, I have talked to Mr. Hudson. I've talked to Corinna. I don't know that the STEP program is something we can sustain. We really need to look at it as it carries out. I really, and I'm telling you right now, for those of you guys in here that are in here specifically because you're worried about the 4% to 3%, if we have a program that's not sustainable going into the future, don't you think we need to figure that out right now and not continue going down this road? We won't be talking about not giving cola. We'll be talking about cutting jobs. Do y'all understand where we are with that? We've increased over 40 employees in the last three years. Those are not just a little bit of an increase of cost. The average employee is about $85,000 per year to our county budget. 85 per employee with benefits. The average person's pay take home is at least $50,000 with another $25,000, $30,000 or more. $55,000 average. That was two years ago, wasn't it?

It's higher now, I think.

So the average county employee is bringing home closer to $90,000 per year. Don't compare the county pay to the private sector because it's not comparable. And so shoot me if you want, but you need to look at this from a reality. I know it's the higher people making higher wages that are doing the $457,000 and not the lower, and I understand that. I would say the bigger question that we need to have, and we need to have this in open court, is can we continue the STEP program going forward? If we have a recession that hits our economy and our appraisal values plummet, the last three years will be what haunts the next 20. And that's reality.

May I speak? Yes. Is that everything, Chad? I think so. Okay. So on the issue of the appraisal values plummeting, the law allows the county to raise property tax revenue for their general operation, the M&O, the general fund, by 3.5% a year. Okay. The county's rate can change based on property values, and the county is allowed. We've not always taken advantage of it, but the county is allowed. In fact, we've got several years recently that we did not take the full 3.5% because values had gone up so much. So the county is allowed to raise the rate to wherever it needs to be within the 3.5% limiter. It used to be 8%, but the legislature lowered it to 3.5%. So that particular one, if the values do plummet, which we certainly don't want that to happen, but the county is allowed to raise its rate to raise the same amount of revenue in the general fund, which is where all the salaries are paid, plus 3.5% in a year. So that particular one, values do change over time and rates do change over time. The other thing I want to say as a department head, also as a personal opinion, professional opinion. You know, the employees have made life decisions like health insurance, life insurance, contributions to retirement plan options, and so forth. They've made decisions based on what they believed was in the budget. Those decisions are locked in. If you go to a 3% instead of a 4%, you're going to cause some people some real pain. I know Oh, you'll say, oh, it's only $600 a year for some of your lower paid employees. Yeah, those are the ones that you really hurt is you hurt people. They're at the lower end of the scale. And I really don't agree with changing it at this point as a last minute deal. It's a trap. And if you step in, it's going to hurt. But I know the court can do whatever they choose. And I just wish you wouldn't. Change it to last minute. I think next year, what Chad said, some of those things can certainly change the whole playing field. But to do it at the last minute in the budget and tax rate process, for a department head, if I have to go back to my office and tell them, oh, sorry, you just took the higher insurance plan and now the commissioner's changed it to 3% instead of 4%. Last year, we got 2%, if I recall correctly. Is that right? 2%?

I think so.

Yeah, so we got 2.3% last year. Inflation was raging then. It hasn't really settled down because of the Iraq war, Iran war, and other things. You know, they're going on the economy. You're hurting particularly your middle range and lower paid employees if you do this reduction. I am shocked, I will say, but it's up to the court. Thank you.

I know I'm going to sound like beating a dead horse, but 47% of our budget goes to servicing our employees. The employees are our business. So that should be first and foremost on everyone's thought when you come to budget, not like it was in the past that whatever's left goes to the employees at the end. That's what created the inequalities that led to the pay chart. And the pay chart is sustainable. You can't expect a 4% raise every year. It's just there are certain times there's going to be ebbs and flows with the economy. This is a year that we can afford it. And so there's a way to make the pay chart last where it doesn't leave anybody behind. I think Social Security, the administration is proposing 3.4% to 3.6% COLA. So we're going even less than what is being recommended by the federal government. I just think that when you're a service industry, when it's people as your product, you take care of the people. And that should be first and foremost when you sit down to budget. And that's what I tried to do. I can't tell you what's going to happen in the future, but at least this year, y'all were the first thing that we thought of. And what's concerning is we had multiple budget discussions, multiple. Not once was there a complaint about the 4% COLA until a former elected official started nosing around and had issues. That's when this arose, not during budget. We have been going on since March and not once has there been a complaint about what we're doing for the employees or what we're doing about the tax rate. This court was able to handle the use of reserve funds that was left to us. We were able to absorb the loss of tax revenue with the tax rate that was reduced when we took office. The next court can do the same because we're leaving them better off than when we started. So with that, the only change that I would like to see is I agree with Commissioner Chapman that we should focus on the space needs study. But if Commissioner Carpenter's right that it doesn't need more money, I'm cool. But I think based we need to fund a mechanic position for road and bridge based on my conversations with them. We have so many more vehicles in rotation that is being a strain on our current mechanics. So that is one that I'd like to fund immediately as opposed to that in the budget. No, six months in and it's contingent upon them coming back to court. So I'd like that one to be funded immediately as opposed to anything. And that's my only request to change. So can we go line by line through the proposed changes and Get concurrent so you can make your calculations so we can vote on the budget?

So I will not be able to calculate. While that money is in there, if you make that change, a whole year's salary is not in there for that position.

Only six months is in there.

So what that would do is whatever that salary is based on your pay plan chart, which would be up to a step four based on the hiring that the department head would be allowed to do. Right now we have the max salary allowed based on the pay plan chart, either four or six. I think they're all non-exempt, so it's a step four, but for half the year. So that would cause an increase. If the court chooses to do that, that would be a slump. Whatever that salary is and the benefits for six months would increase the the need in the fund balance, that that would be.

So that's the only change.

But I don't know what that is. I don't know what that is.

Or how do we make it easy, make it effective and set as contingent that in six months they can hire? That's my request to change if the court.

You can't do that today because you're really voting on the proposed budget and the proposed budget has the funds in there for the court to consider. Now, after October 1st, if the court deems to make any changes, they can deem to make those changes, but today you can make changes and you can put that in for a whole year. I just don't know what that is, and that's okay. You can make that change without that total.

I'm not going to complicate it.

If the money's there... Well, right now you have six months' worth of salary for those six positions that I... said we talked about one early on in the budget process, which was the county clerk. And on the 10th, I believe it was either July 30th or 31st or August 10th now, I can't remember which date, is when you added the other, you went back over it and you allowed the additional five at half the year. But that is contingent upon the court's decision after six months next year. Okay.

All right. So how do we do this?

Well, y'all take a record vote every time, but it is a record vote. But if you're going to approve the budget with any of these changes, then you would need to state the changes on here that you would be making. If you're going to approve the budget with any additional changes, you would state those additional changes and vote on that.

All right. I guess, Chad, you're the deciding factor on 4% versus 3%. Because that makes it cleaner because that would be the only change.

Don't look at me.

I just want you all to know this is not sustainable. I've been talking with Corinna. This is not sustainable. Are you all understanding that? Is it a no? No. I don't, here's where we are. I don't think that even if we gave a million dollar increase to everyone's pay, next year, you would be in the same position looking at me, telling me, don't mess with our pay. I think we need to leave it alone this year. It's already in the budget. Let's move forward. Let's get through this. But I think we're going to have to have some serious discussions, Corinna, Mr. Hudson, and really look at this as you forecast out in the future. I think that I do value our staff, and that's why we've increased the pay so much up to this point. So don't hang your hat on what we're doing this court because next year is a whole other situation. Thank you.

I do want to correct one thing. My understanding from Judge Cahoon is she requested a space needs for the Justice Center. I don't think we need space needs for the sheriff's office, for road and bridge or IT and engineering. And so we've got $100,000 and that's all we have to spend. And maybe Commissioner Chapman knows something that the rest of us don't know, but that's what's in the budget. And that needs to stay there because we gave Judge Cahoon our word that we would look at a future plan for the Justice Center. And then regarding the Burdick property, the $4.5 million, I think, was recommended by Commissioner Chapman for the renovation budget, and we've got to live within our means. That's all we have, and we're going to have to make that work. And so all of that needs to stay in there. We can't keep buying buildings, proposing to sell buildings, do another study, spend another $25,000 that tells us absolutely nothing. So I want to leave all that in there. And if the court, it seems the court is inclined to go with the 4%, then I'm good with that on the COLA.

So do we got to make a motion?

Someone does need to make a motion. And then if you're going to make any changes, including page one and page two, items one through 23, if anything that's going to be considered on these need to be within that motion, because you would be adopting the 2027 proposed budget with whatever changes.

I have one more thing I want to add. At the very end of our budget process, we had law enforcement and criminal district attorney's office come in here and rallied at the last minute to move their employees another step on our pay scale. This is not a 4% we're looking at. We're looking at a 4% plus multiple steps for how many people was that?

It impacted 38 people in the county overall.

If you haven't been paying close attention, you're not seeing everything else that's been going on in this budget process. Would you agree?

Correct. That was about $190,000 for that that the court that is in here right now is about $190,000 increase.

And this COLA is on top of that.

And then the 4% is just the effect to the actual scales. So for every step in the scale increased 4%, but for those that are the 38 people that are moving, maybe one additional step, maybe a half step up to several steps to get them to either step four or six up to that, just that piece was $190,000. Okay.

You don't get any increase when it moves to half-step, right? In other words, you go two years before you get to 2%.

Their current policy, yes, each step is two years.

Right. So if they didn't deviate from that, you would be able to know it was going to be 2% at the most, and that's only for the people that were moving up that year. Correct. Year two. Correct.

So it was about $2.1 million total is the impact overall of all salaries and benefits.

Four percent plus the step adjustments and everything.

I'll entertain a motion as to agenda item 16.

So I move to adopt the proposed FY2027 budget. as presented, including the changes as presented by the county auditor.

Is there a second? Second. Motion to be made by Commissioner Weeson, seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any further discussion? Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weeson?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Nay.

Commissioner Carpenter?

Aye.

Judge Polanski?

Nay. Motion carries three to two with Commissioners from 1, 2, and 4 in favor, and the judge and Commissioner 3 against.

I was going to laugh at that.

Next up, number 17, consideration and action to set the salary expenses and allowances for elected officials and precinct officers for fiscal year 2027 pursuant to section 111.008, the local government code.

I know this seems repetitive, but it does say that you set the salaries, you really just adopted the budget, but this is something that was added quite a few years ago per the local government code. The code hasn't changed, but just the step has, you're officially adopting those salaries. Those salaries were budgeted. I'm sorry, they are budgeted, but they were advertised in the newspaper as required as well. So this is just one of the things the court, the state wants us to do.

All right. I'll entertain a motion as to the official and precinct officer salaries.

Judge, I'd like to make a motion to set the salary expenses and other allowances for elected county officials and precinct officers for the fiscal 2027 year. Section 111.008 of the Texas local government code and those numbers as presented in the budget. Motion made by Commissioner Chapman.

Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Weijian. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McLeod?

Aye.

Commissioner Weijian?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter? Aye. Judge Stolarski?

Nay. Motion carries 4-1 with the judge opposed. And Precinct Commissioners 1 through 4 in favor. Next up, consideration and action to adopt the 2026 County Property Tax Rate of 0.373 per $100.00 taxable value being 0.325765 for maintenance and operation and a 0.047235 for debt service.

Yes, this is the rate we've proposed in the budget and we've discussed kind of extensively. Is it okay for me to read the suggested exact wording? Yes, sir. Okay, because I'd like to do that. It's a very painful motion every year. And I'd just like to make sure the county clerk's office knows we followed exactly on their reporting and stuff, the exact wording that we present also. So the motion that is suggested, and I'm obviously open to general counsel's input after I read this, but I believe it's exact required wording. State of Texas County of Kendall is ordered by the Commissioner's Court of Kendall County, Texas. I move to adopt a 2026 property tax rate of 0.37300. The 2026 tax rate includes debt service rate of 0.047235 and the maintenance and operations rate of 0.325765. All rates are per $100 taxable value. This tax rate will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year's tax rate. The tax rate will effectively be raised by 1.92%. This is talking about M&O. Excuse me, let me start that over. I was supposed to behave myself here. The tax rate will effectively be raised by 1.92% and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $7.79. OK. All right.

So if we read the motion identically as it's worded in 18, we're OK? Yes. OK. I move to adopt a 2026 county property tax rate of 0.373 for $100 taxable value, being 0.325765 for maintenance operations and .047235 for debt service. Do I have a second?

Second.

Motion by the judge, second by Commissioner McCall. Any further discussion?

Yes, I just wanted to say lowering the tax rate sends a clear message to our taxpayers. Government must live within its means. We have a responsibility to control spending, prioritize essential services, and return savings to the taxpayers whenever we can. Their hardened money belongs to them, and we should never take more then we need to provide responsible county government.

Okay.

Any additional comments?

I have a question, Mr. Hudson, and you checked those numbers?

Yes.

They're, you know, calculated out six digits. Everything's correct.

Yes, we have a special called TNT, Truth in Taxation, software that we use. And it's, in my opinion, actually more accurate than the state of Texas information that they try to force us to use. So you have your special black box.

Yes, it's very helpful. If there's no further discussion, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weeson? Aye.

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter? Aye. Judge DeLarge?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Next up, consideration and action job discounts for early payment of county property taxes. 3% discount if paid in October, 2% if paid in November, and 1% if paid in December. Mr. Hudson?

Yes, these are very popular with the taxpayers. It gives them a little bit more of a break on their taxes every year if they're able to pay early. A lot of times the mortgage companies will pay early and save them taxes that they never even really handled. So I would highly recommend the court continue this program. It's rare. It's getting more rare in Texas counties, but it's very popular at a fairly low cost to the county's budget also. Do you have any idea how many counties are still doing this? I don't.

I tend to kind of focus on our county pretty heavily. Do we know the percentage of our taxpayers who are taking advantage of this?

I could guess. Yeah, probably like 80 to 90 percent. That's just a guess.

So, Judge, if I may, I moved to adopt discounts for early payment of county property taxes. Three percent discount of paid in October. 2% if paid in November, and 1% if paid in December.

Motion be made by Commissioner Weijan, second by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? There being none, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weijan?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter?

Aye.

Judge Stolazic?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Next up.

And I want to thank you all. I know, again, thank you all. It's a process. I like making sausage. It's a process. Y'all have done a good job. I know there's contention, but that's part of the government political process. And I really appreciate what y'all have done today. And y'all are doing a good job. And I like this new thing where you do the recorded vote because they're required on the budget and on the tax. So it's helpful to just have that as an unmatched part of the court's actions. Yes, sir.

Mr. Hudson, maybe you could come and see us a little bit more often. We can get whatever update you have. Thank you.

Next up, consideration of possible action on approval of commissioners' court meeting dates. So each year we need to project out our meeting dates. Melissa, any significant changes in your opinion?

So with that, I'll entertain a motion as to proposed meeting dates.

Judge, I'd like to make a motion. to accept the proposed meeting dates of the commissioners' courts for 2027 as presented. Okay.

Motion be by Commissioner Chapman, second by the judge. Any further discussion? There being none. Oh, I'm sorry. Do we have a budget issue? Sorry. Yeah, absolutely.

I just want the court to consider the county judge, according to Local Government Code Chapter 111, is required to file the proposed budget no later than August 14th. The commissioner's court, per Local Government Code Chapter 111, is required to hold a public hearing no later than the 25th day of the date the budget is filed. So that triggers... A timing issue.

Okay, which date needs to be changed?

Well, I'm not sure. It's business days? It is. No, it's just days. Calendar dates. It's just days. So the latest they can file is the 15th. However, next year, the latest the county judge could file would be August 13th because that's a Thursday. That's a Friday. Okay. So the latest next year, the county judge would be able to file the budget would be August 13th. So within 25 days, they have to have a public hearing. If the county judge next year chooses to file the budget on August the 2nd, then August 24th works because it's within the 25 days. But you also have to advertise at least 10 days prior. Everything is set up for the most information out to the citizens in a timely manner. So,

So you want to move the September date up?

So I just think you, and it is supposed to be at a regularly scheduled meeting. It's not really supposed to be at a special called meeting because if you read the code, it does say at a regularly scheduled meeting.

So the 10 days.

You could if you had one. 25th day would be the 7th.

All right, let's add 1 to the 27 just to be safe. Y'all can cancel it if you need it. Because if the budget gets filed sooner... Yeah, that gives you two options, the 7th or the 14th.

Well, if the budget gets filed on the 13th, that's the 7th. If it gets filed on the 12th, it can't.

If the budget gets filed on...

I think your 7th solves it.

Well, it does if it's filed on the 13th. That is the 25 days. It cannot be filed on the 12th.

But that's how we work backwards with our calendar.

We start with that.

And so I don't think it should be an issue. Wouldn't you advise the court to advise the county judge to file it on the 13th?

Well, the county judge is technically the budget officer. So they make the schedule. They create the meetings. They do all of it. Well, the county judge would put us in a bind if the county judge doesn't follow that.

So, correct. And the way we start is we always work backwards. She creates her timeline from that hearing date. And that's how we build our schedule. So it should be okay.

If you have the 7th, then the judge could file it on the 13th.

And if we don't need the meeting date on the 14th, can we cancel that or we have to meet? If it's a regular meeting, then we have to meet. Cancel with notice. We just have three meetings that month.

Commissioner Chapman, would you amend your motion to change it to add September 7th to the proposed calendar as an additional regularly scheduled commissioner's court date?

I will amend my motion to add September the 7th of 2027. So we will actually have three meetings in September.

Okay. And I second that. All right. So with that, there's no further session. Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McConnell?

Aye.

Commissioner Wieschen.

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman.

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter.

Aye.

Judge Thornton.

Aye. Motion carries five to zero. Next up, consideration possible action on the proposed 2027 Kendall County holiday calendar. So sticking in line with past years, we produced a similar calendar to last year. I think it's one less day because one of the holidays we celebrate falls on a weekend. And you can see it broken down by federal holidays plus the additional Kendall County holidays that we recognize.

Which one falls on a weekend?

Do you remember, Melissa? July 4th?

No. Yeah, Sunday. But we get the 5th off.

Yeah, so it's sometimes we get the 4th and the 5th or we get two days, but it just works out the one this year. So I move to approve the proposed 2027 Kendall County holiday calendar. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge. Second by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Regan? Aye. Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter?

Aye.

Thanks, Joe.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Next, consideration of possible action regarding proposed changes to the Kendall County Travel and Conference Expenses and Kendall County Policy Manual. Commissioner Chapman, you're up.

Thanks, Judge. I just... have proposed some very minor changes, uh, to this. I think it will, basically what it'll do is it will actually, uh, save the County money and it will actually force the employees, elected officials, whoever going to this to actually plan ahead. Now, if, uh, If you'll notice, the changes that I suggested are in red, but I left in there are as approved by Commissioner's Court. I had one person come to me and say that by being able to stay in a San Antonio hotel, they were actually able to accomplish some work. during that time, as opposed to driving an hour down an hour back every day. And so, and I'm good with that. I'm just need to say, let's plan ahead. And if that's what you want to do, bring it to court and the court can approve that on an individual basis. I don't think they're going to be that often that we need to make the exceptions. but certainly we make exceptions to travel by airline travel, which is normally not allowed. But when it makes sense, because it's cheaper to fly than it is to drive, paying whatever we pay now, 70 cents a mile, then I think that's a good investment from the county. So, again, the changes are in red. They are very minimal changes. That's all I'm asking for.

Okay. I'll entertain a motion at this time as to agenda item 22.

Judge, I'd like to make a motion to approve the proposed changes to the Kendall County travel and conference expenses in the Kendall County policy manual as presented in the backup documents.

All right. Motion made by Commissioner Chapman, seconded by me. Open up the discussion.

Yeah, I'd like to ask Corinna about this. Corinna, you had told me, thanks for coming up, the court had previously had something similar to this. What was that exactly?

So prior to this, actually, I don't know when it changed. The last time this was updated was 2018. But yes, at some point, the court had a policy that you could not stay in the adjacent counties. However, So they would try to get a purchase order out of my office at the time I was out of my office. We would say, you can't unless you go ask the court. And so after multiple years of the court saying yes, then I did recommend that the court take that out if they were going to say yes every single time because it was just more of a cumbersome detail. If the mindset was, no, you can stay in an adjacent county, whether that's Comal because you're going to New Braunfels for a conference or or if that's going to downtown San Antonio or Kerrville, some of them were, you know, in Kerrville possibly. But so the court did change that at one of the times. I just don't know. It seems like it might've even been before 2018 possibly, but that was a change. I will say there's other changes I think need to be made. Number three, I don't have the credit cards anymore. So I think probably a lot of this needs to be updated because number three is wrong. I don't, have the credit cards. When's the last time that was updated? It says October of October 1st of 2018 was the last time the policy, the, the Kendall County policy manual was, was updated, but yes, that used to be a policy. You could not stay in an adjacent County unless you came to commissioner's court.

Right. And sometimes I think like the County engineer say that the whole country Hyatt, I say that the whole country Hyatt, because by the time you drive back and forth, if you have weather, if there's early morning events, late night events, You can run to your room to get some work done as opposed to driving. So I think that 35 miles is arbitrary. And then on the rate, it's not always possible to get the rate because sometimes these conferences just don't get enough of the room block. And sometimes, like the legislative conference, I'm not even sure there was a rate on that one.

Yeah, I didn't get to go to that one this year, so I'm not sure.

The reason I – the next conference coming up is the – For the judges and commissioners, there's one in Waco. And, of course, as they always do, the host hotel sold out just relatively quick, which I understand that. But one of the other hotels that they recommend on there is actually cheaper than the host hotels. You may have to drive five minutes or ten minutes. I don't know in Waco what the deal is, but there are options, and certainly I don't think that I've never seen in my time anywhere where I couldn't find a hotel within a reasonable distance that was within 10% of the host hotel conference rate.

And that's generally true, except Hill Country Hyatt was one. I think it would be a good idea just to put all this on hold and try to address that manual while we're looking at changes and do a little bit more comprehensive review than just a onesie-twosie.

Are you seeing additional changes that need to be made?

Actually, I just noticed that I was reading that up there to read the red lines, and I saw number three. It says the county auditor's office has credit cards available for the payment of lodging and actually in the court established purchasing. The credit cards now are in the purchasing office, not in the auditor's office.

So I wanted to offer another change that I saw, and I think we need to get to a newer version of the policy manual because I have one from 25. The last revision was 128.25. So we need to get you a newer.

Actually, because I was moved for a week while they did the carpet, this is not even mine. I asked somebody in my office, hey, do you have a copy? Because my binder that I have from Juanita is in a box somewhere still in my office. I haven't been able to unpack.

So just like Corinna said, I think there are other areas within this chapter that could use some additional review. For example, the policy doesn't... seem to address whether an elected official who is not reelected should continue attending conferences during the remainder of their term. I think that that is a situation that could be clearly defined and added to the policy manual.

We need the whole policy manual probably reviewed, but in the meantime, there's not a person up here at this desk that hasn't said at some point in time they're not a fiscal conservative. I'm addressing the immediate changes that would actually make a difference in the county, that would save the county money, that would ensure a uniform policy. If there are other changes that need to be made, I get it. They can be made. But what will happen with this is we'll put it off and put it off and it won't get brought back for another two to five years. Meantime, we keep going on making the same mistakes. If you have a change, bring it up again next time. But this, what I got from HR, this is the latest wording on what is in HR. So that's the wording that I used and changed these only slightly just to try to save the county some more money. But if y'all don't want to do that, then that's strictly against the changes.

So are you willing to make the other suggested changes by the auditor and by myself?

Well, I think that the whole, if you're going to do more than just what's there, I think you need to look at the whole travel policy aspect in itself, because there does need to be specific wording. But I can't address, like elected officials who are going out of office can only spend, once the budget's been adopted, they can only spend 25% of their budget. And I am the one who ensures that happens. And I do that for every single elected official when they are leaving office for whatever reason that is, whether they are retiring or they are not elected. So That somewhat policy already exists once you've adopted a budget, that elected official going out of office. Because if they're in office three months, they can spend 25% of their adopted budget. And I'm the one that breaks that news when they try to spend, if they were to try to spend more than that, I ensure that. I think a conference is a different issue. I wasn't referencing. Just in general, elected officials cannot spend more than the percentage of the budget in which they are in office for that before they leave.

Okay.

I think a good point's been brought up. We can look at that policy, that travel policy holistic, and we don't have to do it in five years. I think we could do it soon.

Maybe you would want to help look at that.

Sure. Look at the entire policy. That's just my two cents.

All right, Chad, do you want to table this or do you want to move forward for the vote? I'm not in favor of 35 miles from Kendall County Courthouse. I live 20 minutes past here. If I have a conference in San Antonio, I'm going to get a hotel, even if I have to pay for it myself. And I've never, hardly ever used my travel budget. I've paid for most of my own. I think I've only turned two forms in my whole time for reimbursement. suggest a change you want to go farty I use downtown as a I think we're responsible adults and we can make decisions on if we want to stay the night if you've been out with a bunch of attorney groups or whatever and you've been having a few drinks and I think it's a horrible idea to try to jump in your car and drive an hour home so I'm not going to be in favor of any changes on this right now I think this is a dig at another commissioner is what I think it is.

No, it's a dig at being fiscal conservatives. That's what it's a dig at. Did you want to call the vote?

You okay with tabling it for further changes? Call the vote. All right, I call the vote.

Commissioner McCall?

Nay.

Commissioner Regents?

Nay.

Commissioner Chapman? Aye. Commissioner Carpenter? Nay. Judge Stolarzik?

Aye. Motion fails for lack of a majority. Yes, and so we're going to take a quick bathroom break, five minutes, and then we're going to try to power through everything, if you're okay with that, because I think a lot of this stuff are pretty straightforward once we get past consent agenda, if you're okay with that as a group. We're back in session. It's 1140. We're going to actually go till noon and then break because I need to go over to the jail for an inspection. And then we'll resume at one with Commissioner Chatelain taking over until I get back. So we're going to pick up with agenda item 23, consideration and action selected through the committee members to interview applicants and select the top three candidates for the grant management and compliance director position.

And Judge, just selfishly, I would ask, because we have Jennifer here, if we could maybe go out of order and do 29 and 30 after this one, since we're going to be breaking.

Does anyone have any objection to that? All right. We'll do it. Thank you. Just remind me if I get distracted. Yeah.

So this is, well, I think Commissioner Weijian, if you wanted to take the lead on this, this is an employee that's under the commissioner's court.

Yes, and so the grant manager's position has been publicized. Indeed, ACOG, I don't know, all the private power six sites have been done, and you've done that, so thank you for doing that. And today we're simply going to look at a process for hiring this person, and I recommend that we have a committee. Is that right?

I do. Obviously, I'd like to be on the committee. I think, you know, some of the other people that might need to be included are like, for instance, Mary Ellen, because she uses a lot of the grants. Sheriff, just to, you know, or Kevin Klarner, because he's dealing with the grant so much, he knows what's needed. Donna has a good grasp of the administrative part of it. I would ask that Jennifer Forbes be put on this committee as well, just because she'll know questions that I won't know to ask because of her wealth of knowledge in it. And then I guess whoever else y'all would recommend. I didn't reach out to him, but I can certainly, I mean, if you want to put him on the committee.

He was on the interview committee for the last one, so I think he Okay.

Would you like a member of the court?

Yes. I would like to be one of two or one of one. I don't care.

I would like to serve as well on the committee.

There's two. Do you want anybody from HR on there?

HR usually has to be on there.

I think Donna has a question.

seven is a good number i have ten i have sheriff mary ellen nicole bishop donna kevin klarner jennifer forbes joe from parks chapman commissioner huijan and juanita purchasing agent you have on there they say i think oh sheriff sheriff yeah sorry So I have 10 based on Nicole's list.

But what I would say is if anybody has any input or suggestions, please, you know, let us know. Like if there's anybody that has a question about something, feel free to give me a call. And, I mean, obviously we want to be as transparent as possible with the processes.

Read the job description.

Correct. So that was approved by court several courts ago. So we've got that out.

Well, based on the list that Nicole just reviewed, I'll entertain a motion as to those 10 people serving on the committee.

I'd be happy to, Judge, but I have one more question. Sure. And then would we want the top three candidates to come to Commissioner's Court for an interview? What are your thoughts on that?

That's up to y'all. That's absolutely up to y'all.

What are our thoughts on that? Typically, that's how we treat it, like with general counsel and everybody, that the top three come to us and this is the final vote.

Okay, I'm good with that. So, therefore, Judge, I move to approve a committee to interview applicants and select the top three candidates for the grants management and compliance direct position who will be interviewed by Commissioner's Court with the committee to be made up of the following. Nicole Bishop, and this is in no particular order, Commissioner Chapman, Commissioner Wieschen, Mary Ellen Schooley, Sheriff Auger, Lieutenant Lerner, Donna Scharf, Joe Reisig, and Juanita Schemo. Did I get everyone?

Jennifer Foreman.

Jennifer Forbes.

Forbes. I don't know why I said Forbes. I'm sorry. All right. Motion paid by Commissioner Weijan. Is there a second? Seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall. Aye. Commissioner Weijan. Aye. Commissioner Chapman.

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter. Aye. Judge Stolarzik.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. So we're going to go out of order to agenda item 29 and 30.

29 and 30.

Consideration of possible action regarding the interlocal cooperation agreement with DPS for DPS to analyze evidence submitted by Kendall and Medina counties for four-year terms or for a term of four years, being October 1, 2026, for total cost for an entire four-year term not to exceed $475,651.15.

This is the contract that we have that if I had to guess, it saved us thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just in the speed of our processes, this is where we have a lab person that we pay ourselves. So we've gone down from an 18-month wait on drug analysis down to 30 to 45 days. And so we've had this for over a decade now.

All right. I move to approve. the interlocal cooperation agreement with DPS to analyze evidence submitted by Kendall and Medina counties for a term of four years, being in October 1, 2026, for a total cost for the entire four-year term not to exceed $475,651.15. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge. Second by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? There being none, Teresa, please call the vote.

Commissioner McCall, aye. Commissioner Wieschen. Aye. Commissioner Chapman.

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter. Aye. Judge Stolarzik. Aye.

Motion carries 5-0. Next up, Agenda Item 30. Is there any possible action regarding the interlocal cooperation agreement with Medina County to set forth the terms and conditions for Medina County to reimburse Kendall County for its portion of the cost for DPS to analyze evidence for a period of four years beginning October 1, 2026? So I guess this is just a formality of... Right.

This one I'm not... Council, if you could let me know, because I don't think we...

Yes, I added this item on the agenda because previously there was an interlocal with Medina County to set forth how their portion of that prior contract DPS will be paid. So we do need to renew or have a new agreement with Medina County to explain how that reimbursement will take place.

So they're kind of interconnected.

They are. They're companion items.

All right. So I move to approve the interlocal cooperation agreement with Medina County and set forth the terms and conditions. We're ready to county to reimburse Kendall County for its portion of the cost of DPS to analyze evidence for a period of four years, beginning 10-1-2026. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge. Second by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? There being none. Teresa, you're up.

Commissioner McCall.

Aye.

Commissioner Wieschen. Aye. Commissioner Chapman.

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter. Aye. Judge Stolarczyk.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Does that take care of all your items? That's everything. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next up, consideration of possible action to approve the job descriptions for development engineer, assistant development engineer, and county engineer. I'll hand it over to Commissioner McFaul.

Yes. So during this year's budget process, it was determined that the county engineer's office would be divided into two separate departments, the development department engineer and account engineer's office. Since organizational change can take effect at the beginning of the fiscal year, the fiscal year 2017, we have two new positions, development engineer and development engineer. In addition to the duties and responsibilities of current engineer position, in addition to duties and responsibilities of current county engineer position will differ from those outlined in the existing job description. As a result, three new job descriptions were developed to accurately reflect the revised organization structure and position perspective. Sure, the descriptions... Can you turn your mic on?

Thank you.

Didn't know that was on. In addition to the duties and responsibilities of the current Current county engineer position will differ from those outlined in the existing job description. As a result, three new job descriptions were developed to accurately reflect the revised organizational structure and position responsibilities. To ensure the descriptions were comprehensive and aligned with the county's needs, the general counsel, human resources director, auditor, and county engineer and I worked collaboratively to revise and create these three job descriptions presented for your consideration, and I believe the engineer... I believe Mary Ellen handed those three job descriptions out to you because they were not in the backup.

They should have been emailed out to you, Melissa, emailed out to you earlier in the week. There are copies of each of those. Yes.

So I'll hand it over to you.

Thank you. So These job descriptions are substantially similar to the draft versions that you saw when we proposed the splitting of the departments with the highlights of which department or both job descriptions the item would go in. Once that draft was put together, that team that Commissioner McCall mentioned, we really went through and tried to streamline the job descriptions and eliminate redundancy where there may be multiple essential duties that were identical or very similar sounding in the job descriptions to try to make a more streamlined, updated job description, but it captures those duties that we talked about previously in July.

You're okay.

And so this is now the final content. I've sent it to Juanita, so when there is a formal layout to make it match the layout and format of the other job descriptions, but the content would be the same.

I'll entertain a motion as to agenda item 24.

So I move to approve the job descriptions for development engineer, assistant development engineer, and county engineer.

Motion made by Commissioner Call. Seconded by? Second. Commissioner Weijan. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, you're up.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weijan? Aye. Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Constance? Aye. Judge Stolarzik? Aye.

Motion carries 5-0. Next consideration action approved the joint election agreement with various local political subdivisions will never 3rd 2026 general.

Good morning. So we have 2 entities that have requested a contract with the elections office to conduct either all of their election or portion of their election for the November election. That's Comfort ISD and Comal ISD. So they will be joining our ballot in the respective precinct races that they fall into.

Okay. And you have no problem with this? No. Okay. I move to approve the joint election agreement with various local political subdivisions for November 3rd, 2026. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge. Seconded by Commissioner Weijian. Any further discussion? There being none. Teresa?

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Weijian?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter? Aye. Judge Sklarczyk?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Knowing that we only got a few minutes left before lunch, we're going to skip 26 and 27 and move directly to consent agenda. There are two items on consent agenda. Has everyone reviewed them? Would anyone like to take any out for separate discussion and voting? If not, I'll entertain a motion at this time as to approving the consent agenda.

Judge, I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda items for November the 8th of 2026. Motion to be made by Commissioner Chapman.

Seconded by? Second. Commissioner Carpenter. Is there any further discussion? If not, Marisa.

Commissioner McCall.

Aye.

Commissioner Weasley.

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman.

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter. Aye. Commissioner Weasley.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. We're going to try to knock out a few more of these little ones here. Consideration of possible action regarding number 31. Consideration of possible action regarding interlocal cooperation agreements with DPS to use the new TXCR interface to report DPS convictions. We have a couple of judges here. Will you be the point people to kind of just give us a brief summary of what the agreement, the significance of this, please? Thank you for showing up today.

Okay, this is a pretty much a standard contract with all of the counties in order for us to put convictions together. We have to have a contract with them to use their system, and that's what this is. You all received a copy. We redacted Judge Pressler's name and put in Kristen Irvin's. I got her permission as the contact person for JP Precinct 4 office. Jen, have you had adequate time to review this?

Yes, it's been reviewed. I did wonder if one contract for all of Kendall County would be sufficient, but it looks like they do want a contract with each court. independently. So is this needed for each precinct or just?

Yes, that's correct.

So the ask today is for each Justice of the Peace to have the authority to enter into these? Yes, ma'am.

Would you all be able to prepare? Because I just, you know, if this is approved, I'll sign it. But if you can prepare similar ones and get them to Melissa, we'll get them all signed.

You should have all four of them. Okay. All right. That's within the folder. Okay. Because I work as the point person for JP's.

But we'll get those disseminated to you after court today. All right, so I move to approve an interlocal cooperation agreement with DPS to use the new TXCR interface and report DPS convictions. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by the judge. Checking by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? There being none. Teresa, you're up.

Commissioner McCall?

Aye.

Commissioner Wiesen?

Aye.

Commissioner Chapman?

Aye.

Commissioner Carpenter? Aye. Judge Stolarzik?

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Let's knock out another. Thank you. Thank you. 32, consideration of possible action on the interlocal agreement for fire protection services between the City of Bernie and Kendall County. Commissioner Regan, you're up.

I thought that one had been pulled. Didn't Corinna say that we had to allocate the budget and go into budget year before that could be approved? Maybe I'm not remembering. So it's pulled?

33 should be pulled.

Okay. No, 32. 32.

Okay.

32 has been pulled.

And General Counsel, can we bring that back, I guess, the first quarter in October or?

We were going to bring it back, I believe, on the 22nd.

The 22nd. Okay. Melissa, could you make a note that that could go? Thank you.

Next up, 33. Consideration possible action regarding FY26 First Amendment to the agreement between Kendall County and and Cadelia VFD from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, with an annual allocation the amount of $78,875 and the annual stipend of $10,000. Commissioner Chapman?

Yes, sir. Well, we're just getting around to one department at a time. So, Judge, I'd like to make a motion. Yes, sir. To approve the fiscal year 2026 First Amendment to the agreement between Kendall County and the Kindalia Volunteer Fire Department from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, with an annual allocation in the amount of $78,875 and an annual stipend of $10,000. Pushed by Commissioner Chapman, seconded by the judge.

Any further discussion? There being none, Teresa, please call the vote.