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 empl

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.

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?

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?

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 go

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 t

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,

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 N

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.

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

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?

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

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 progr

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. 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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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?

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

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.

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. 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

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.

Any public hearing comments? Is there anyone online?

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.

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

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? We'll go through all the individual items next.

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.

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?

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 o

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?

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 s

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?

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

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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 fis

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 on

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 inc

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? 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 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

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

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,

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

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 t

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.

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.

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

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 recom

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?

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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? 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.

I have a question, Mr. Hudson, and you checked those numbers? They're, you know, calculated out six digits. Everything's correct.

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

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?

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?

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.

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?

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.

So you want to move the September date up?

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 hou

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?

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.

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 confer

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?

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.

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 mista

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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?

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. We're going to knock out 34 and 35 and call it lunch break. Consideration possible action? Yes, sir.

We are 27. I'm sorry. Let me see. Let me see. I didn't mean to interrupt you, sir. No, thank you. No, I want to make sure we're all taken care of here.

So does medical director impact you? Okay. So let's knock out 27 two before we break. Okay. So let's take care of the fire department quick. Thank you for that pointing that out. Uh, Consideration of possible action regarding the Kendall County Emergency Medical Service and First Responder Affiliation Agreement for Fire Protection and Emergency Services between Kendall County and Condalia. Commissioner Chapman.

Judge, I'd like to make a motion to approve the fiscal year 26 Kendall County Emergency Medical Services and First Responder Organization Affiliation Agreement for the Fire Protection and Emergency Response Services between Kendall County and Candelia Volunteer Fire Department.

Motion made by Commissioner Chapman, seconded by the judge. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, you're up.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. And last one, before we get back to 27, consideration of possible action regarding the FY26 HIPAA Business Associate Agreement between Kendall County and Candelia VFD. Commissioner Chapman?

Judge, I'd like to make a motion. to approve the fiscal year 26 HIPAA business associate agreement between Kendall County and the Kandalia Volunteer Fire Department.

Okay, I second that. So motion by the judge, second, or motion by Commissioner Chapman, second by the judge. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, you're up.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. So we're going to circle back to agenda item 27. Consideration of possible action and selection of the recommendation to award the proposal determined to be the lowest and best evaluated offer in response to RFP 2026-11, inmate health care services, and to authorize the county judge to execute the final contract under review by general counsel.

It seems like it wasn't even close. They had a sizable point differential between the next best competitor. So is your recommendation to approve the Southern Healthcare Partners?

And you're consenting to that? Yes, sir. Okay. Well, I move to select the proposed Southern Health Partners, Inc. as the lowest and best evaluated offer in response to RFP 2026-11, Inmate Healthcare Services and And I'll authorize the county judge to execute the final contract review by general counsel. Do I have a second? Motion by the judge. Seconded by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion?

So I just have a question. So this wasn't based purely on pricing. There were other.

And did you have a committee that worked on this? Yes. You were on the committee. Yes, ma'am. Obviously. Okay. I think you would have a lot to do with that.

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

Motion carries five to zero. So we are going to be in recess. And when we resume with agenda item 26, and then pick up with agenda item 36 after that and run through them. It all depends on how long that's going to take. So with that, we're in recess for lunch until 1 o'clock. We'll work on that.

It is 1.03, and we will now call to order Missioners Court after the lunch recess. And the first item we will be taking up is item number 26, where we left off. And I will start off with public comments. Lynn, if you'd like to come up.

Do you know if there were, before you start, Lynn, do you know if there were any other public comments or can you?

Yes. I'll give you some leeway if it's not going to be too long.

Is there anybody showing on the line that might want to comment? All right. Then I'm going to start by, before I turn it over to Sharon, The item 26 is consideration and possible action regarding the evaluation results and ranking of respondents for the request for qualifications, RFQ 2026-14, EMS medical director and authorized purchasing agent to enter into a contract negotiations with the highest ranked respondent. Sharon, I'll turn it over to you now.

Does anybody have any comments, questions? I'll start with whoever wants to go first.

Okay. Thank you. And then Mark Ogden, is there a bio? Is there a resume, anything accompanying who this is? Yes, they all have to turn in to the Commissioner's Court backup because I'm asked to vote on something today and all I see is a name.

Okay. And then is Dr. Ogden with the firm? Does he, to somebody's point, So who is the backup person for Dr. Ogden? Because no one can serve 24-7.

So he will be remote on call and how many doctors does he have backing up when he can't?

And I do remember that Dr. Ogden was Dr. Siskel's backup, but no one seemed to know that until last year when we were looking at Dr. Siskel's contract. Dr. Ogden appeared and said he was Dr. Siskel's. back up and no one ever knew that. So I do remember him doing that. I don't know who Dr. Patel is. And then Archangel, I became familiar with them last year because I believe the city of Bernie contracted to use Archangel. And my understanding of that model is that they have 24-7 because they have as many as five doctors deep. If Like, for instance, Dr. Winton Lee is on call for. They did not nam

Okay. And I believe the committee should have been familiar with that. But anyway, so as I was saying. If Dr. Whittingly is not available for Bernie, I know that they have like three and four and five doctors deep. And so I don't have any problem with Dr. Odgen. I just, I have a problem with, again, here we are with the exact same thing that I wanted to try to rectify last year. We had one doctor on call. And I know that this is an RFQ. So perhaps in the negotiation, On price, is that how it works? You pick the scoring and then you negotiate the price?

If there were a medical director that covered City of Bernie, I think Archangels covers Bergheim and Sisterdale, that there would have been some sort of savings to all entities, including the county. So I'm not in favor of going with this. And I would say that even though the process is very fair, it's still subjective because you can have five people on a committee and

So I think going forward, I think this court needs to set the process of who's going to be on the committee and how we do it. Because I could not find anything in statute that said who's going to be on a committee, who picks a committee. And so I think the court needs some input into this.

I think that's up to the court's discretion. And I understand conflict of interest. And I think then a commissioner would have the opportunity and the responsibility to declare any kind of conflict of interest. So it's just going forward what I would like to do. But I'm done, Commissioner.

No, I don't have anything to add. So going forward, would we be part of the process for selecting committees? I mean, it kind of brings into question others that we've looked at, like the ones we saw earlier that we had RFQs.

So how do you select the committee? How is it different for an RFQ and an RFP when you're selecting?

I guess my question is, this has been the process all along. We did not question earlier when we did the inmate health care services how that process. So I guess I'm questioning why we're Now questioning the process.

I'll answer that one. First of all, I appreciate you doing what you've done, Sharon. And I know you're just doing what you feel is the right way to go. There's a lot more issues going on with EMS. We have our neighbors, our partners, burning fire. And due to the situation with the relationship with the volunteer fire department, the emergency medical services, That's why they broke away and got their own medical director. And we've been dealing with this for two years, trying to bring some sanity back to the table. And I really think that this should have involved commissioners. They answered

We did. And I agree. I just thought there was a commissioner on every, every one because I was on an RFQ for the architect. Was I not?

So you had some sort of knowledge that there was some sort of conflict of interest with the commissioners? I mean, why this committee?

That's not, I mean, I was just trying to protect y'all. Yes, you were trying to do your best and I really appreciate that. And you do a good job as purchasing agent. All I'm saying is that we need to, when you're going to go out for an RFQ, we need to give the commissioner's court the opportunity for one commissioner to serve. Yeah, I'm happy to discuss this. As Commissioner Carpenter said, this was a, let me just finish, was a bigger issue because of things that had been going on that possibly you didn't know.

But if we have an objective committee determining the factors, this should be a moot point because it's objective and it's been put together by people that have no dog in the fight. And that's the whole point of having a review committee to keep objective bias out of it. Because it sounds like I just walked in, but people aren't happy with the results of this and have someone in mind that they want this contract to go to. Because that's the only reason for people to be coming down and sharing about this process. Am I correct?

Well, to your point, it is not objective. You can have this process and a set of five people can come up with a different ranking.

Did anyone have an issue with the way Catherine Green's RFP went?

That was an RFP. That was an RFP and that was price.

We have to trust our purchasing agent. We hired her to do a job. She has no skin in this game to skewer results one way or another. We have to trust her. And we created a policy and we got to follow the policy.

Well, there was something subjective in your consideration of not having a commissioner. You made a decision all by yourself that you wouldn't have a commissioner because there was something that happened last year about impropriety. And so- That was a judgment that I feel like should be at the commissioner's court. So all I'm saying going forward, I just want to know ahead of time. I also asked you a few days ago if I could know who was on the committee, and you wouldn't tell me. You said it was a secret. And I don't think anybody should be. You wouldn't tell me, Sharon. You would not tell me

So, I mean, when you say commissioner, we have, you want to input, you have the ability to input. Because we have to approve an RFQ, an RFP, an RF whatever. We have to approve every one of them. Every one of them comes to court. At that point in time is your time to do the input, not after it's been done, my opinion.

I wasn't aware that the RFQ was coming down the pike. I don't think that that came to Commissioner's Court. Yes, it did.

As a matter of housekeeping and for the minutes, the judge returned at 1.20, and he has asked me to finish this particular item, and then he will take over after this item. So does anybody else have anything to say on this? If not, I'll entertain a motion for item number 26. And I will make a motion to accept the evaluation results and rankings of the respondents for request for qualifications RFQ 2026-14 EMS Medical Director and Authorized Purchasing Agent to enter into a contract negotiations with the highest ranked respondent, which is Mark Ogden, DO. I second it. Any further discussion? If

Because obviously she's directed to a particular vendor, and that's why you're rejecting the top three proposals.

No, sir. I'm not rejecting a vendor. Sir, just to clarify, I'm objecting to the procedure and process of how this came about, not having a commissioner involved, and also please don't let me.

The only reason you're objecting to the process is you don't like the result. Nope. If it was the result that you wanted, you wouldn't be objective.

This was the same model that we had prior that did not work of having one doctor who evidently now handles more than just one EMS, but several, and is an emergency room doctor. And that's what happened with Dr. Siskel. He didn't have backup.

What was the RFQ? Did it require backup? So these companies were vetted to have backups. That was part of their process. That was part of the process. So how many companies? Wait a minute. How many companies? How many companies submitted?

And he works under that umbrella of archangels, and that's why they have backup doctors. That's all I know about that.

So by the same token, under this program, we're... I don't know how many, any of these currently represent around, but we may have a company out there, Archangel. They may be a company, but how many do they represent? Anywhere in there, does it say in their application how many other departments they represent?

General Counsel, I have a question to clarify. So something maybe I misheard, but you said if we did not go with this recommendation today, we had to scrap all of it. But that's not correct, is it?

And you would exempt it from this process if you want to personally select who the business goes to, correct? Correct. And that may be it, Judge. You guys are going around policies we approve to get the result you want. Here's the deal. That is beyond.

We probably have a $6 or $8 million EMS facility sitting on the edge of Bernie right now. The city of Bernie has been contemplating doing their own EMS service for Bernie and doing away with Kendall County EMS. We have a duty as a neighbor and as a partner with the city of Bernie to make sure we get our crap together and that they're happy with what we're doing and we're happy with what they're doing. This goes both ways. This is not just about what we want. That's why they hired their own medical director to begin with.

All right. Then what I would suggest, somebody make a motion to reject all bids, and you can go out by the law in Section 15.

You can go out and just pick one and negotiate it with that individual person. Now, with that being said, while it's legal, I think it really stinks and has a bad indication, bad indicator, and will mark the county as for going out for requests for qualifications, requests for bids, requests for whatever, and then rejecting all because the one that you want was not chosen. And in fact, according to this, got the lowest score.

This is a sham process. You should have just went out and picked the person you want. And let me guess, y'all want the person that Bernie picked. Where did Bernie, where did the Bernie medical director that they picked rate on our list? Excuse me? Who's providing medical director services to burn?

I think Sharon's in. I think you're completely like neutral on this. I don't think you have a dog in this fight one way or the other. And I'm sorry that you're caught in the crosshairs. That's not fair to you.

What would have been helpful was some backups that we could have seen because you're telling me that All of these had some sort of backup mechanism, but that's not my understanding from spending about a year talking to all the RFOs, City of Bernie, understanding how this works. By the way, I haven't talked to this third doctor, whoever, on here. I talked to Mr. Moya, who hasn't been into the company well over a year ago, and I haven't had any contact with them since. But my understanding is it's a system of several doctors who are qualified that can jump in at any time. And if they're already

So with that, I move to authorize a purchasing agent to enter into contract negotiations with Archangel EMD LLC, Benjamin D. Walworth MD.

I'm sorry, we're out of order here because the judge has to ask a question. Not until you, I have a motion, you have a motion on the table.

Do I have a second? I'll second. Okay, Sharon, you may ask your question.

Thank you. What does Archangel rank as on your list?

I do have a question, though. I mean, the other part on this is we have nothing to look at. We have no documentation other than this to review and I've had countless hours of my time spent dealing with EMS, sitting down, doing interviews with paramedics, going through meeting after meeting and I'm not happy with the way this has worked out, that we didn't have a court member. Again, no offense to you, Sharon. I don't have any idea what these people are charging either, and that's kind of a big deal.

So, I mean, we need to know what they're going to charge, what we're getting for our buck.

But at the very bottom of 254.008, you have, notwithstanding sections 2155, not important, and 2261.051, contract is not subject to competitive advertising. Okay, so that legally, the way I read this, we can. But the one section that it says that notwithstanding, that section says each state agency shall assess its contractor selection procedures and use competitive selection procedures to the greatest extent possible when selecting contractors.

Okay. We have never gone against the low bid. other than I can remember one time, and that was on a, it was actually a bid, and we had to notify the low bidder that they were not selected, and it was based on a reason, and they were allowed, and I know that's not the case with professional services, but they were allowed to come in and make their pitch to court, and they did. We still stayed with the second lowest bidder. So, again, we're abandoning our process because you didn't get what you wanted, and that is wrong. Even though it may be legal, it's wrong.

I disagree. We have issues we've been dealing with, and this doesn't necessarily put to bed any of these issues we've been dealing with. This continues. All right. Y'all have made up your mind to call the vote.

Nay. Motion carries three to two with one, two, and four. One, two, and four commissioners in favor, and the judge and Commissioner Chapman opposed.

I believe so. Okay. Thank you. Keep us posted, Sharon, please. Thank you.

Okay. Picking up with 36, it's about emotions. Consideration of hostile action on renewing contracts with Texas Material Group, I, Inc., Reed, Corey, Helpe, and Squirt Emotions, Martin, Marietta, Materials, Ergon, Asphalt Emotions, and Brontex Materials under Road Material Bid 2026-02 for one additional year from 10-1-26 to 9-30-27.

another bid for road materials speaking with road and bridge we just figured that was most beneficial to the county just to extend the contracts with all these road material vendors entertain a motion at this time judge i'd like to make a motion to renew the contract with texas materials group inc ray quarry lp p square to motion plants llc martin marietta motion by chat commissioner chapman second by the judge any further discussion

Motion carries 5-3. Next consideration, post-flash, we're on the renewal of the contract with Mid-Tex Oil LP under the bulk fuel bid 2026-03 for an additional one year period from 10-1-2026 to 9-30-2027.

And we've not had any problems with them.

I move to renew the contract with mid-tech oil op under bulk fuel bid 2026 for an additional one year period. Do I get a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Carpenter.

Last year, I think I remember us talking about all of these, a lot of these vendors for these different materials and these were the best prices.

So, Teresa, if there's no discussion, Mark, please call the vote.

Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Next up, consideration action. We're doing contract with Slabcat LLC under various concrete work bid 2026-01A for an additional one-year period from 10-126 to 9-30-2027. So, again, this is for another...

I move to renew the contract with Slabcat LLC under various concrete work bid 2026-01A for an additional one year period from 10-126 to 9-30-27. Second. Motion by the judge, second by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? There being none. Teresa, you're up.

I motion carries 5 to 0. And lastly, consider a possible action to approve the Motorola solution subscription consolidation proposal for M500 in-car video systems, video manager, cloud storage, utilizing cooperative contract DIR-CPO-5433, and authorize the county judge to execute the contract pending final general counsel approval. This contract is for a three-year term and would cancel already active subscription contracts to bundle and align with the remaining term of body camera subscription contract.

All right. Well, I move to approve the Motorola solution subscription consolidation proposal for M500 in-car video systems, video manager, cloud storage utilizing cooperative contract DIR CPO5433. and authorize the county judge to execute the contract pending final general counsel approval. This contract is for a three-year term and would cancel already active body subscription contracts to bundle and align with the remaining term of the body camera subscription contract. Do I have a second? Second. Second by the judge. Second by Commissioner Chapman. Any further discussion? If not, Teresa, yo

Motion carries 5-0. And last up, we have a discussion regarding the Community Toolshed Sharing Program for Pendle County.

Yeah, but the city, I don't have a water bill. Okay. And I want to borrow a tool. I live in the county, but I don't live in the city.

Anything would work, but when I saw a water bill with the city, it's like... That'll cover you for about 20,000 people.

is your timeline for when you're looking at starting to do something like this probably november i would say november 1st so general counsel what are the next steps for if he this is something he's looking for i think that may be a too aggressive timeline with i don't know workload for you over there but if it's doable what are his next steps well we've talked about it previously and he does have some documentation already prepared

I have some questions. Go for it. Thanks for putting that together. And did you do this previously at a city? And that's probably why you said Waterville because you're used to that. So is your department going to manage this or who exactly is going to manage this? Right. And do you see needing any additional staff to do this?

And the drop-off as well, is that something you would initiate right away? Because, I mean, that's more manpower, that's fuel, that's… Yeah, I'm going to focus on getting battery-operated equipment first.

No, I was asking about the drop-off. Oh, the drop-off. Did I misunderstand? Right. You think that's in your bandwidth to be able to do that with manpower and what it would cost?

Yeah, that would be worthwhile. But just keep that in mind if you're going all the way out to Crabapple Lane or something, you know, the far reaches of the county. And then if the tools are lost or stolen, what's the plan?

And then you talked about sponsors. And then I guess we're legally, we can enter into agreements to get donations from Home Depot and some of the banks, et cetera.

And so this will come back to court. And I would just suggest that rather than come back with the final package and ask for a vote that day, give us one iteration so that we have more time to look at it before you come back with the final. Okay. Is that fair enough?

I was going to say maybe check with Sharon on maybe trailers that we have. I mean, we may have something. that we're not using and it's, it's just sitting. I, when I saw that picture, I thought of that. And then, um, I think this is a, a nice idea. And, um, have you had anybody that has, cause you had some ideas of sponsors. Have you had anybody from any of the businesses you mentioned already, uh, reach out and.

Okay, good. Any other questions? If not. Thank you.

It is 157. 157, and we're concluding our open portion, and we're going to transition directly into closed session. There's only a few items that are remaining that need to be addressed. If you just want to sit outside, we're going to be with you. So we're back on record after concluding today's executive session. For the public's awareness, we took no action on number 42. Ladies, any motions coming out of executive from you? No. Gentlemen, anything from you? And with that, it is 2.10 p.m. Item 42.

Yes, ma'am, I did. Thank you for the reminder. It's at 2.10 p.m., and that concludes today's regularly called session of the Kendall County Commissioner's Court.