Remarks by Drew Engelke
139 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 6
- Play at 46:45
“OK, well, then I will do as such. I will state that the auditor's salary, COLA, 3%, is included in the budget.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 53:13
“SO JUST THAT ADOPTED BUDGET BASICALLY IN WHAT'S STATED HERE PRETTY MUCH? So move to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the adopted fiscal year 26-27 budget pursuant to local government code subsection 111.008. Yes.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 54:51
“Well, there was one for tonight, but it's over with, so I can't announce it anymore.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 55:32
“Just real quick. is our last budget judge definitely a memorable one i wanted to thank you especially ms klein for our 12-hour 12-hour day that we just had but thank you very much it's it's a good budget i think we did a great job I think we worked through it, and I think we did a good job. So, thank you all very much.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 32:49
“Well, of course, thank you, Dr. T. It's been an honor to work with you. You will be missed. Your impact has been very positive and always honest and forthright, and that's the way you are, and I appreciate that. Your personality fitted to a T with this responsibility that you had. One of the tougher roles in the county, being HR director for different departments. And truly appreciate you and wish you the best.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 1:53:15
“Commissioners, any other comments? We have discussed this many times. We've had a lot of budget workshops, and I think all of y'all are aware of the revenue shortfall and what we're faced with. I do want to recognize former Commissioner Seidenberger sitting in the audience, who's probably very happy he's not sitting up here right now doing this today. But I get it. You know, I've been serving this county and this city and my community for over 40 years. And I do care. That's why I'm here. And I have a passion to help people. That's just a burden or a benefit. It depends on how you look at…”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 2:24:42
“So the funding out of the commissary fund for the chaplain is still at your requested rate of, is it 2201? What is the funding request, the pay rate? I don't remember the pay rate off the top of my head.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 2:24:57
“I think it's 2201. I think that's what that is. Is that correct?”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 2:51:25
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 3:39:12
“No, and that's what we're being asked to do, right? Yeah. So in our next public hearing, we'll talk about the tax rate. But currently, we have that to go with, right? So bottom line to me, it comes down to what I've said before. 101 positions, we have to decide if we're going to fund out of reserve additional. 3% COLA, I'm still in favor of that, or even a 4%. possibly bringing back the baseline of 1,000 in addition to. But scenario, let's just say, okay, $1 million land purchase thing comes into play. Where do you go with it? Who gets what? What positions get funded? How does that work?…”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:10:24
“That's all right. I mean, I can talk about it now or then.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:10:36
“Correct. It's part of the, you know, we had an original agreement with UES. This is third-party inspections. This was something that came up with the EOC project. And it's adding $7,100 and $7,120 to their original contract.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:12:32
“If there's no further discussion, I'll move to approve a change order with us for additional construction material testing services for the Emergency Operations Center project in the amount of $7120. Second.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:13:39
“Right. It's the owner's responsibility. The owner's rep. Because they can't hire an inspection firm. It's not ethical. We have to.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:14:53
“Yeah, there's some contingency funds. We're still within budget. I think last meeting we talked about there was over $200,000 in contingency that was still available. So we're within the budget, within the fees, within everything that we've anticipated.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:19:05
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:21:27
“No, sir. I will move to approve for Task Orders 1 and 2 with Broaddus & Associates to be the owner's representative services for the Emergency Operations Center Warehouse Project and the Emergency Response Center Project.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:24:47
“Yeah, so there's conflicting. They will need to verify that. And Wolverton may know the historics of it. And now Danielle is up here. So the general idea in the beginning was, while we're doing this, let's do this now. for future.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:31:16
“No, sir. Move to approve budget amendment 26-94, transfer of funds from the Emergency Response Center fire station budget to the Emergency Operations Center warehouse for additional professional services and appliance expenses.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:39:58
“Is there a motion? Yes. Move to approve Budget Amendment 26-96 to transfer funds from elections hourly employees and election equipment for additional early voting clerks, temporary part-time and election judges, and clerks' expenses. Second.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 4:50:00
“What we do with like across the board kind of a deal.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 5:04:08
“It's been a long day, right? Lots of discussion, and this is totally meant to be funny because we need a laugh right now. When Commissioner Ott stepped out, I'm like, okay, let's get this done before she gets back. Just totally trying to be funny because we need a laugh today. So, again, going back through the discussions this morning and over the last... what seems like a decade now. I get it. We have emergent needs. We have population growth demands, law enforcement, fire and rescue, every department we have, right? 42 departments. But the emergent need has always been with us, employees. I…”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 5:06:15
“So I'm not saying that's what the million is for, but I'm just trying to throw out a number of what we have to deal with realistically. It's not just the salary, it's the benefits, the equipment in this case, everything involved. That's why I always ask about space and computers and, you know, you get MIS involved, that's a whole other budgetary process. That's a challenge we face. Hopefully, we can settle this in short order. But I'm willing to go that little bit to see where we are. But again, it's a matter of deciding who gets what, like I've always said. Whether you go $1 million or $10…”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 5:21:17
“Is that inclusive of the 30%? It's in addition to, right? Correct.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 5:21:44
“Well, we may still be here tomorrow, you know. That's true. Trying to make it fun. Okay. So I think all of you can see we're trying. Okay. So, but the challenge again is what positions, if we do positions, what positions? I'm like in the conversation of where I was, 3% plus the 1,000 base. I think that helps everyone. We had some part-time discussions a while ago with like Associate Magistrate, Commissioner Ott brought up. We had some other part-time deputies, the full-time, those kind of discussions but again what do you want to do”
Commissioners Court · Sep 1, 2026