Our invocation will be given by Michelle French, our Texas Officer Collector, and our pledges will be read led by Rowan Amicetto, our Assistant Director of Emergency Services. Will you please stand? Good morning, if you'll pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the mercies that are new every single day. We thank you for all the blessings that you have given us. We thank you for all of the things that you have done for us, with us, through us, and we ask that you will be with us today as the court deliberates on the varying issues that comes up before it, that you'll give our commission's court wisdom and direction and discernment, and that you'll be with us as we all go about our days with the same in your name we pray amen. Please join me as we pledge our flag. which is stands one nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all. Honored to the Texas State, congratulations to the Texas one state under God, one in the individual. Okay, well we have lots of guests with us this morning and we're going to try and get through this as quickly as possible so we don't inconvenience people any more than we have to. First thing I'd like to go to is a hold on, just a second. I'm looking for my, I don't have the retirement resolution. Usually I have that. Okay, well let's go to, okay, let's go to our public hearing which is 4B. 4B is public hearing today for the replad of Stonehead's addition phase one lot four block A and lot 10 block A. This is 5.40 acres and Commissioner precinct one. We need a motion to go into our public hearing. Second motion by Commissioner Coleman, second and by Commissioner Mitchell. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion does carry. Anyone in attendance that would like to address Commissioner's Court on this issue concerning the requested reply. I have one public comment form here from Patricia Peters. Did you wish to address Court on this issue? Please come to the microphone. Good morning. I am a resident go to the meeting. Good morning. I am a resident in the plant area. We received two different plants. We received one that initially came out with the mailing that came out to the residents. And then we received about a week ago a revised copy. That didn't really come in the same official format as the initial mailing. And so I just wanted to make sure that the one we're talking about today is the one dated September. The actual plat is dated September and not the one that's dated September. We will have him address your issue. Go ahead, please. Judge commissioner, yes, we sent out one that was the older version. Then we sent out the newer version that reflects all the changes on it that's being made. We're adjusted the utility easements. And that's what the speeders was concerned about. Okay. So the one that we're filing today is the current one the new one. State is September. Mm-hmm. Okay. It's right here. Is your question? I don't have any. I approve of anyone. Indeed. Okay. All right. Okay. Great. Well, I appreciate you being here today. Thank you very much. Anyone else in attendance would like to address commissioners court on this issue either in favor of or opposed to the proposed replat. Hearing none. Do we have a motion to close the public hearing? I'll second. Motion by the motion to close the public hearing motion by commissioner marchandnd by commissioner Coleman on favor please say aye aye pose a name motion carries we now need a motion for approval motion by commissioner Coleman second by commissioner marchandth you know for the discussion on favor please say aye aye pose a name motion does carry okay three a is a resolution recognizing ron anderson's I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I Good morning. I'm going to read your resolution here. This is a resolution honoring Ron Anderson for eight years of service to Denton County. Denton County Commissioners Court. Denton County, Texas during a regular session on the 30th day of October 2018. Consider the following resolution. Whereas Ron Anderson, Deputy Clerk 2, is retiring October 31, 2018 after eight years in the tax assessor collector office. And whereas during this time Ron faithfully discharged the duties of the office including managing high volumes of mail in Rapid Processing Center. Often working long hours ensuring mail is open and image providing diligent and consistent service in the phone bank. Training co-workers in the operation of the rapid processor and ensuring tax office vehicles were in good running order and ready to be used when needed. And whereas Ron brought thoughtful dialogue and feedback to make the operation better for our constituents and clerks alike, he was always willing to assist where needed and work any shift necessary to get the job done. And where is Ron sought to make the Denton County Tax Office a leader by providing customer service with excellence. And Ron, where is Ron plans to spend time with family, friends, traveling and taking a well-deserved rest and time for relaxation. And where is the staff and administrators of the Denton County Tax Office are grateful to Ron for his commitment to public service during his career in tenure with Denton County, and we will miss his great laugh and conversation fueled by his desire to do the best for our citizens. Now, therefore, it will be resolved the Denton County Commissioner's Court. Denton County, Texas, that's here by extender Ron Anderson, are censoring grateful appreciation for his dedicated service to Dantle County. We congratulate Ron on his well earned retirement and extend our best wishes to him for continued success, happiness, and good health in the years to come. Then an open court this 30th day of October 2018 upon a motion by myself. Seconded by Commissioner Mitchell. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye, a pose, say nay. Motion does carry. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. I think that's what you think, sir? Not really. You're welcome to understand. I think Michelle's here and she'd like to. Go ahead. Come on up to the microphone, please, Michelle. Well, I just want to publicly thank Ron for the eight years of service. He's done a great job with us. And he has been the one that has helped to open up all of that mail that comes in. And he works hard. He works very hard and I have appreciated his effort to do everything that he could to make sure that we were going well. So thank you very much. We're excited for him. He's been telling me 90 days, 60 days, we call days, three days. He's like, no. You know, when you say open on that mail, I don't think people really understand. Have you ever been to the post office and seen the big canvas roll around carts that they use? How about getting one of those full every day? Every single day, that's raw. Of money, and you gotta get it open and out in the bank, because it doesn't do anybody any good sitting there in that canvas cart, does it? It is a dance for sure. It you're right thank you very much and they're on the done thank you for your retirement thank you for being here this morning did you have your did you have your family here he didn't want to say anything but is this family here yeah Michelle introduce him he's shy Yeah. Michelle introduced some heat shy. Great. OK, Judy. Thanks for being here. All right. OK. Okay. We're going to now go to item 13A on the agenda. 13A is approval of one resolution of intent to establish a county pace Program. This is property assessed clean energy program to a request to hold the public hearing on Tuesday November 6th 2018 at 9 a.m. and We have a little PowerPoint to go through right? Yes. Okay. Are we ready for the? Yeah, we are. Okay. Hold on one second. Actually, while she's doing that, I can start talking just to introduce our speaker. Okay. So actually, earlier this year back in February, we started conversations about paste, Lori Thickling was then our economic development manager and she had started those conversations after she was approached by Lewisville Flower Mountain Denton, the all three cities that were interested in adopting a program. And the reason for that was the absence of a county program. So we did around the same time started having some conversations with Lone Star Pace, which is one of just two administrators in the state. And they're located here in Frisco. And at the same time Michelle French was doing her own due diligence because there is an impact in the event of a delinquent tax. So she was researching the program and expressed some concerns. We held several meetings. We brought a lot of people together. Michelle, Lone Star, as well as Gil Bragg from our Language Tax collector and we determine just a way to work through everything. So Lee McCormick is here today. He is the principal with Lone Star Pace. He's an expert on this topic, a registered municipal advisor. He has done over 17 billion in financing in 35 states and is here today to today to just give us an overview of the PACE program and Lone Star Pace as a possible program administrator for Denton County. Good morning. Good morning Judge Hornet, commissioners. Liam Aquamico, Lone Star Pace. I actually have some hard copies for you as well. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today, judging commissioners. Lee McCormack with Lone Star Pays. We are a program administrator of property assessed clean energy programs here in Texas. As was mentioned before, our principals have been doing program administration for local governments since 2003. And we've done over 17 billion economic development environmental and public benefit financing in 35 states through our Texas office as well as our affiliate office in California and New Hampshire. One of the unique things about loan store paces we are registered municipal advisory firm only one of two in the country that's doing property assessment clean energy so there's a unique feature to our business here in Texas. I'd like to start off by just kind of walking you through what is pace. In short, pace is a way for commercial, industrial, and multi-family property owners to upgrade their facilities with energy and water efficiency improvements that are paid back over a long period of time in the form of a property tax assessment. And the reason this assessment feature is important is it allows the lenders to get comfortable loaning out for the longer periods of times. Typically these upgrades will be financed for seven to ten years, which means that property owners are going to come out of pocket for a significant amount of cash over that first period of time. By stretching out those payments to 10 to 20 years, you're able to more closely align the utility bill savings on these improvements with the cost of the program Typically making it cash low positive from day one We have a chart later on that'll show you kind of the difference between a conventional and a pace financing Yeah, it's well, that's why I'm following in here. Yeah, yes Well, that's why I'm following in here. Yeah. Yes. So what types of projects will typically qualify for pace? Typically, any existing commercial, industrial and multi-family facility can be upgraded with energy and water efficiency improvements underneath the pace program. It is not available for new construction, and it's not available for Greenfield projects. The typical projects we've seen in the past have been strip malls and mall upgrades, hotel renovations, paces been used a lot around the country for redevelopment of downtown areas because it takes the place of a lot of the high cost short term as an financing with low cost long term pace financing. So a lot of times this helps those projects that are on the cusp of whether penciling out financially or not actually make the grade. The types of improvements that you'll typically see for pace are not anything sexy. When it comes to renovation it's not the exterior, it's not new tiles, it's not the things that make a building pretty, it's kind of the guts. It's the HVAC system, it's LED lighting, it's low flow, bathroom fixtures, the types of things that an nonprofit, for example, would have a hard time doing a camp with capital campaign for, but they can finance with pace and it gets some of these projects done. So what are the benefits of pace for the commercial property owner? One of the big advantages is they typically can get 100% financing versus only 80% with a conventional loan. As I mentioned before, the longer term financing of pace helps them match up the utility bill savings with the cost of the program, making a cash low positive from day one. It helps them create buildings that are much more livable with better lighting, better HVAC, heating and cooling systems to make people comfortable later in there. And it also increases their property values in a significant way. Here I'm not gonna go in too much detail. Well, this is a comparison of a conventional loan with a pace financing. In both cases, it's a million dollar loan and the utility bill savings will be roughly $100,000 per year. So there's $100,000 per year in benefit by doing these upgrades. With a conventional loan, you typically see something like a seven-year financing at around five percent. The top graph shows how this looks from a cash flow perspective for the property owner and just focus on that solid line because that's your cumulative cash flows. You'll note that because it's a short-term loan of seven years, that property owner's coming out of pocket roughly $700,000 on a million dollar loan before it turns cash flow positive And then it takes them till year 15 before they break even on their investment in the last five years They make a hundred thousand dollars a year or half a million dollars, but it's all on the back end If you compare that to a pace financing add a 20 year 6.5% interest rate It's cash flow positive from day one. They're saving roughly 10,000 a year So over 20 years are saving 200,000. That was not as much as the 500,000, but they never go cash flow negative on the project. So it's a much more attractive financing program for a property owner looking to do energy and water efficiency upgrades. So what are the benefits to the local governments? So why would Denton County want to have a pace program? First and foremost, it is essentially a free economic development tool for the county. It's a way for you guys to support these local business owners without any taxpayer dollar, any taxpayer commitment. In addition, it's a great economic development tool for the local contractors who get to do the work on these projects. You're increasing the attractiveness of the local building stock, increasing the property values for the tax rolls and overall it's a win-win-win for the county, the property owners. With regards to next steps, they're under the statutes to say a kind of a two-step process. So the first step is the resolution intent, which is on the agenda for today. Then between now and a future meeting where a final resolution is held, the program report would be posted to the county's website and at a future meeting a public hearing would be held as well. So with that I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Yes, thank you. Mr. Marshal. I have of course been in conversation with several people about this program and as I understand it basically was brought to the attention of Denton County through a request from someone down in my precinct, a specific school, Prince of Peace, Christian Academy. Would you, without divulging exactly what they're going to do with the money, but you run through the scenario, how it helps, Prince of Peace, Christian Academy, do the upgrades that they want to do and be able to finance it, where this is advantageous to them. That's a really good question. So that's a great example, by the way. So for a nonprofit like Prince of Peace, they can do capital campaigns for a new cafeteria, for a new gym. It's really hard to go do a capital campaign with parents and say, hey, we want money for HVAC or a new roof. So they're looking at pace to basically finance new roofs, finance HVAC upgrades for systems that have been in place since the mid 80s, as well as replace their lighting both on the parking lots and in the buildings with LED lighting. So it's kind of the typical pace financing upgrades that you would see. And the nice thing about pace is when they take a look at the cost and benefit, this is cash flow neutral from day one. They'll see the savings over the 20 year period. So they're not coming out of pocket for any cash. They don't have to do any capital campaigns for these improvements because those utility bill savings will pay for the cost of the improvements over time. I understand. Thank you. Mr. Mitchell. And what does Dint County have to be? So Dint County really just establishes a program and then the Dint County basically engages a program administrator like Loans to our pace to operate the program on the county's behalf. like loans to our pace to operate the program on the county's behalf. At no cost to the county. At no cost to the county. The program is self-funding. Thought I'd make that point. Yes, very good point. Thank you. Other questions are coming. Let me just say I've known about this and I don't disagree with what it does. I think it's a good idea. Where I had very big concerns was, should something disastrous happen in the count goal delinquent? That's where we got into conversation with our delinquent tax attorney and certainly with our tax successor. And I wanted to make sure that while it didn't cost the county dollars to implement this, that it had, I didn't want it to have an impact on our tax office. I didn't want them to be responsible for administering all this and should, you know, push come to shove and disaster strikes and something goes to Lincoln. There was a question as to what lean took precedence. The county tax lean for the Lincoln taxes or the lean for the funds that were lent. And it's my understanding that Scott and the worked out, Michelle, if you'd like to come up and address that issue. I appreciate all the time that you and Guil have put in to resolving all that. You know, a long process to send leaves. That is correct. What in discussion with our delinquent tax attorney farm with Gilbrac, basically you can resolve the lean issue by contract. So, within the contract, essentially if you say, the taxing entity leans are going to take precedence and that's what ends up happening. So when we get to that point that's going to be imperative that we make that point, got it? We're looking at our civil division here and make sure that is in our contract. So it has to be in that contract to be in the contract. We are protected. Our taxing entities are protected. And I do want to also go a little bit further and make sure it is abundantly clear that through our discussions and through all of the iterations of how this would work and how it would work best for everybody didn't county taxing entities property owners the tax office. It has been discussed and and I am not going to stay on the way of this but it's been discussed that our office the tax assessor's office cannot be in the middle of this thing. We do not have a way to be able to manage the delinquencies that may occur on this it would have to be able to manage the delinquencies that may occur on this. It would have to be a completely offline off the shelf program which I am not going to do. We're not going to do anything manual in our tax office. It's just not sound. It's not the school. It's not safe, in my opinion. And so as I understand, the only thing that we would necessarily be involved in is we would have to receive notification that someone is actually participating in the post program. So as I understand, the only thing that we would necessarily be involved in is we would have to receive notification that someone is actually participating in the post program. The question that you all have to decide is how that notification is going to occur and when the assessment is then made, I'm assuming it will be on an annual basis, who's going to send out that assessment. My recommendation would be that the judge's office sends that assessment out. The tax office needs to essentially be kept out of this. We're gonna have to be notified, statutorily, we're gonna have to be notified if something goes delinquent, but at that point, then the delinquent tax attorneys will take over that and working with the third party administrator, those collections for those delinquencies would be handled in that manner and not go through the tax office. Okay, well, it's my understanding, like you say, all this can be handled contractually. Yes. And that's something that will be addressed in the later date. But the good news is here that rather than trying to address these questions legislatively and having to explain to all of our legislators what's going on, how to do it, why we're doing it, benefits, drawbacks, this sort of stuff, it can all be handled contractually, which actually gives us the opportunity to, you might say, set the best practice for other counties to follow suit with what we're doing. I don't know of other counties that have already entered into such an agreement. They may be already have, but I think there's a few. But I'm thinking that future ones are probably going to be following our example with the contract that you all have come up with questions. And with you, it was not a question. Sir, and I apologize if you forgot your name. Please leave. Yeah, leave. I have been approached by a couple of mayors within my precinct. And so that statement that you just made, you know, about they're looking at us and how we're doing it before they make a decision to get involved. And so I would be, you need to be very, very aware of that, that the success that hopefully this program works in our county will be an example that municipalities as well as other counties will follow. Because they've already been approached by you guys and are waiting on us to make the decision. I really understand that. And the good thing about it when the county adopts a program, there really shouldn't be any reason for the cities to adopt a program as well because it would be covered by the county's program so you would have that consistency county wide, which is one of the advantages of the county taking the lead. What are the counties that are involved? Right now there are 14 counties around the state involved today, so it's, it's, it's, it's, I knew there are a few, but I didn't, any local counties? You had, well, you have the city of Dallas is local in Tarrant County. Tarrant County. And it's a county wide. I will, I will, first of all, I want to make a couple of statements. I want to thank everyone involved in this process to make sure that we, I think there's a lot of questions involved. And I think we worked through all those questions in a diligent manner. And as Judge Horne said, we were able to really craft a document and agreement that really can be a best practice. Mr. Bragg, who has accounts all over the state of Texas said I'm eager for didn't count you to go ahead and execute this because he can take this to his his other clients as well and show them it's a best practice. So with that I just want to express an appreciation thank everyone for coming to the table and has you now and developing a best practice model and so well that being said I'll go ahead and make a motion. I've got three public comment forms soon. Can I just make one? Sure. Because you mentioned the civil. This thing is on. There you go. Okay, it is on. Sorry. That the contracts did come through the civil division and the Civil Division had some issues with several of the elements of the program. So we didn't place the thing on because we had, we don't work a men. We're not to that point. I just wanted you to understand that. Not to that point, you know. Okay. We're just listening. We're not, well, we're not approving the contract at this point, but I just wanted to point out that when we get to that point, we want to ensure that, like Michelle said, that the should an account go to Lincoln. It's up to the administrator to handle that and that our lean for the link and account takes precedence over the pacing. Don't in see. Did I say that right? Yes, that's exactly right. That is that is essentially what allowed me to be able to say, okay, well, if that's what we're going to be looking at. And we can resolve these issues and these concerns contractually. And our taxing entities, leans are preserved. And our tax office is not involved in having to collect something that is not a public, not a public fund. That was another question that, in a concern, that I've yet to really have answered is, I'm bonded to collect public mundies. And I don't know, even if it is in a governmental situation such as the local government code 399, chapter of the local government code, still, if these are the linkancies for non-public monies, for private monies, does my ball uncover that? We've, I've had a lot of debate back and forth through a lot of different varieties. And that's the correct answer. It's a non-issue. Exactly. That was one of the reasons why I felt like it could not go through our office. OK, thank you. I have three public comment forms here. The first one is some David. I'm sorry, the last name is Schleffer. Thank you for waiting. This is on this issue. I'm David Schlepper at 1-5-5-0 Autumn Breeze, Lane and Louisville, Texas. Thank you. Morning, Judge Hauran and commissioners. I'm here today in support of the Dunn County Pace Program. Pace is attractive financing for property owners who wish to update their equipment with energy sufficient equipment improvements. These improvements create jobs for HVAC companies, solar installers and other energy installers. And often these are small local businesses. So I'm very hopeful that the commissioners who are a little approved of this pace program. Thank you for your time. Thank you. I have a second public comment form. Looks like Michael is that car. Thank you for waiting. Thank you for being here. My name is Michael Carms. I live at one two zero winding Creek Drive. That's in Lucas, Texas. I drove a very far distance to be here today. Speak on behalf of the PACE program, but I also represent one of the eighth largest publicly traded reeds. We have about a million square feet in Denton County. And programs like this allow when you have an older building to be able to efficiently and effectively update the building. And specifically what I'm talking about is I'm from the data center world. So when we buy older buildings, it's important to update these buildings so they can be more efficient as they're pulling off the resources of the system. So I just, I drove here just to support it and thank you guys for your time. Thank you for making the long drive. We appreciate it. Okay, the last public kind of form I have on this issue is that Ashton looks like Aiman. Good morning. Hello. Good morning. Hi. My name is Ashton Amman's Judge Warren commissioners. I have a short short inversion but I want to say that I'm strongly in promotion for the PACE program. I live at 814, Foxwood, Place, Lewisville, Texas, and I'm a resident of Denton County since 2013. And I am, as I mentioned, strong support because it encourages economic development and it's no additional cost to taxpayers. Thank you for your time. Thank you. I overlooked a couple more here. Thomas Gilmore. Good afternoon. Good judge and commissioners. First I'd like to thank, by the way, TJ Gilmore, 724 Juniper Lane, Lewisville, Texas, Lewisville City Council. First off, I'd like to thank Ms. French and the county for taking the time to research pace. A lot of effort on this one, so I really appreciate that. The city of Lewisville is in support of a pace program adoption by Denton County. We believe that the program would offer immediate and long-term benefits to our community and that pace strongly aligns with the sustainability goals in the Lewisville 2025 plan. Commercial properties tend to be the largest energy and water consumers in the city. The program provides a mechanism to reduce consumption while increasing profits, something that benefits everyone in our community. The PACE program is also designed to be scalable. I think this is critical. We focus on these big companies and a million square feet and thank you for investing in Denton County. But our small businesses, it's a burden to refit a new facility. And so we end up with, I don't know, if any of y'all seen the Feedmill in Louisville? That was $2.5 million in renovation. $2.5 million. And a huge chunk of that was utilities being able to redo the air conditioning, which it didn't have. So being able to maintain, reuse those structures as opposed to building green, brand new, it just reduces and it saves some of our history as well. So I think those are really important pieces to consider when we're looking at this, along with the larger companies. So we consider this to be an effective incentive in our toolkit for enhancing our office, our warehousing and commercial facilities across Lewisville. It gives them those business owners access to capital and it saves on their energy bills and maintenance costs. We really, really are grateful for you all to take the time to look at this and put it on the agenda and hopefully move it forward. Thank you. Thank you. And Chad,ler. Thank you for waiting. Thank you. My name is Chad Kettler. I'm at 3220 Scotch Creek Road in Dallas, Texas. I came to speak in support of the paste program as well. I'm a local church pastor in Coppell, Texas and we're currently looking to do upgrades to our buildings and facilities that we're built in the 70s and 80s. And it's a huge financial burden for us, so to be able to have a program like this in Dinton County where churches and other organizations can upgrade their facilities at cash positive in a cash positive way with very little burden is extremely beneficial and valuable. And I also want to speak in support of the Loan Star Paste specifically. I know there is another administrator that is available, so I would speak in support of Lo Lone Star Pace specifically. I know there is another administrator that is available, so I would speak in support of Lone Star. Thank you. Okay, thank you. I just want to make it clear, my discussion about Pace actually started many months ago in with our tax assessor. We can certainly see the benefits of the program, but we had a real big problem with the way it was being sold to us at the time because our interpretation was that should push come to shove and disaster strike and something go to Lincolnt that the pace the Lincolnt's E lean would take precedent over the county lean. And until we got past that point and came to a resolution on that issue, I was unwilling to put it on the court agenda because, you know, y'all could have, but I wasn't willing to because that was our primary function is to handle county business and felt strongly that our lean needed to take precedence. So once that point got worked out contractually with all the discussions with Lone Star and certainly our tax attorney go brag in Michelle. So I'm totally okay with it. Is there any other discussion that needs to be had? Questions, comments from anybody? Are we ready to go forward? I'm going to move for approval, seconded by Commissioner Eads, hearing no further discussion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye, post and in. Motion does carried. All right. Thank you all so much for being here today. Appreciate it. And we'll be holding the public hearing on Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 9 a.m. to go forward with the next step. Thank you so much. Okay. We have is Peggy here? is Peggy here? Yes. Kim, okay. Peggy's here. Okay. We're going to item 3C on the agenda. 3C is a presentation by University of North Texas. Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in history, 4261 history, 5100 African Americans in North Texas, the public history research seminar, who has researched and constructed an online museum during the spring 2018 semester under the supervision of professors Andrew J. Torgad and Todd Moley and teaching assistant Kylie Woodlock. And we had Peggy. We have a PowerPoint. This also, I hope our PowerPoint, our PowerPoint up here isn't working, so we're gonna have to watch it on the screen. Okay, great. Well, I wanna welcome Andrew. I did not know if you and Todd were gonna come up yet after. Well, let me tell you, I've been working with them for over a year and I'm so impressed by the research skills of these young people, how they have contributed so much to the history of Ditten County and finding where the people who are buried at St. John's cemetery, who came and settled the St. John community, a Freedman's community, near Pollock Point, where they came from, what they did for a living, where they went on to live after their community was sort of absorbed by Pollock Point. And it's just a fascinating trip down the lives of people who help build our county. I want to introduce Emily Bowles, Michael, Jessica Floyd and Hannah Stewart. They're going to present some of their findings for you. Good morning. Thank you for being here. Good morning. Thank you for being here. Good morning. Thank you for having us. Like Peggy said, we are a research group from the University of North Texas. My name is Emily Bowles. I'm a graduate student in the history department at UNT as is Micah Crittenden. Jessica Floyd is an undergraduate student in the history department and is graduating this December. Hannah Stewart is a graduate student in the education department with a focus in history. We would like to give a special thanks to Peggy and her team for giving us access to the cemetery and putting us in touch with Willie Hedsbyth. Mr. Hedsbyth has been instrumental in raising awareness of the St. John's community and its historical importance to Benton County. We've also been in touch with the Mr. John White, a descendant of the community who helped us tremendously by supplying us with his own family's history. Our website, Uncovering St. John's, is the product of four months of research under the direction of Professor Todd Moy and Andrew Torget. The four of us were part of a subgroup in the class of 27 that took on the task of researching the St. John's community, where other groups focused on the broader history of pilot point in Ditton County in general, our group primarily focused on the people themselves. The four of us have continued our research this semester. In the wake of emancipation and reconstruction, a group of newly freed African Americans from Chambers County, Alabama packed up and moved to Ditton County. Near pilot point point they established a Friedman's community centered around the St. John's Church, school and cemetery. Generally speaking they inhabited the area of pilot point west of Highway 377, continuing about halfway to I-35, bordered in the north by the county line and in the south by Sherman Drive. Many of these community members were poor and unable to read or write, a holdover from the human rights abuse of slavery and a system of economic slavery, our American apartheid, which prevailed following emancipation. This community was a group of hundreds of freedmen and women, their children, networks of family who lived, worked, worshipped, and learned in Dentinton County from the mid-1870s until around 1930. After the Great Depression, the church and school were abandoned and the cemetery was forgotten. There were very few records left behind, so we began our study with 32 broken, worn, and scattered monuments in a fenced-in acre off farm road 455 in pilot point. We initially began this project because we had the unique opportunity to be hands on a local history. With the guidance of professors Toria and Moe, we began looking into the lives of the people buried in the St. John's. We started with virtually no information about these individuals, many of the headstones weathered by age We're not even legible those we could discern often only had initials and names So it was difficult to grasp who exactly was buried in the cemetery Several times we get extremely lucky as some of the headstones We were in excellent condition So we were able to really start understanding the individuals that made it the community really start understanding the individuals that made it the community. From these tidbits of information, we branched out and were able to find records and other records connected to St. John's. We did this by finding all the records we could. We found birth records, census records, and tax rules that documented the lives of the people of St. John's. And from there, we were able to start telling their stories. We would love to share all 40 or so biographies with you, but we camped, so we've chosen a couple of individuals to give you an idea of the lies previously forgotten in pilot point. The first individual we would like to highlight is Washington, Whitlow. Wash was born a slave in Chambers County, Alabama in 1851. On January 5th, 1878, Washington married Caroline Callaway, the mother of his one-year-old son named Washtunier, and adopted a 14-year-old stepdaughter named Emma Callaway. By 1878, the family's new permanent home was in Dayton County. On November 1st, Washington bought 300 acres of land with his relative Louis Whitlow, who was a founding member of County line Baptist Church in Pilot Point. Before Saint John's disbanded, the two were sister churches. Both Louis and Washington worked as farmers on the land until Washington passed away in 1891. He was buried at Saint John's cemetery and his headstone is one of the first headstones upon entering the cemetery. Caroline never remarried after her husband died. She lived on A.G. acres of land and worked as a housekeeper until her death on April 27, 1918. She's buried in pilot point memorial cemetery, along with Lewis. The next individual we would like to highlight is Harriet Davis. Harriet was born into slavery in Calaway County, Missouri in 1854. At the age of two, Harriet and her mother, Amanda, were brought to singer Texas by slave holder, Frances Reno Davis, his wife and his children. Within a year of the birth of her son, Gilbert, Amanda Davis died. This left four-year-old Harriet and one-year-old Gilbert on the Davis farm without any parents or family members. In 1859, the Davis family relocated just north of Aubrey off Friendship Road where they lived for many decades thereafter. Harriet and Gilbert lived with Frances Reno and Mary Davis until they reached adulthood. In 1881, Harriet gave birth to a son Logan, and shortly thereafter, married Rysome Cheryl, an ex-slave from Chambers County, Alabama. Their last name vacillated for several years between Cheryl, Sheerer, and Sheerers. Rysome and Harriet had four children with recorded histories, Logan, Charity, Henry, and Lucy. All four children had the opportunity to attend school, likely at St. John's. As the Shears family financed a plot of land near the church through a sharecropping contract in 1898. Between 1900 and 1913, all record of the year's family ceased. Logan moved to Muscogee, Oklahoma, married and disappeared. Charity did the same in 1913. Lucy died between 1906 and 1910 and is likely buried near her mother at St. John's cemetery. Henry died of typhoid fever on September 6, 1911, and was buried at St. John's as well. In a dense growth of tall grass and tulips toward the southern end of the cemetery, lies the body and monument of Harriet Davis Shears. Wife of Rysom. She died on November 23, 1908, and thereafter, all historical records of RISOM disappear. This leads us to believe that the entirety of the Shiers family died between 1900 and 1913, leaving one heir in an oak-moggy jail in 1920 who dies without children in the 1960s. Without the cemetery and its permanent markers to the lives of Harriet, Riceham, and Henry Shears, no record or memory would exist of this family of freed men who lived in our county, tilled our land, and built a community of hope at the turn of the century in Pilot Point. Our primary focus last semester was on the people of St. John's. We focused on the individuals, the family connections, and their lives in pilot point. This semester, our aim was to continue researching the families and individuals that made up this community. We wanted to expand on our prior knowledge and get a better understanding of the people that lived there. This meant we would be tracing individuals and families as far as we could in order to discern their lives and better tell their stories. But as we began researching, we noticed a trend. St. John's was disappearing. Several of the families were leaving the area around the same time. The church disappeared from records and the cemetery was forgotten, leaving little evidence of the community. Naturally, we were curious and wanted to know what happened to the people we had researched for so long. We came up with a couple of theories which we believed could lead to a large exodus of the African American population in Pilot Point. Disease the economy and violence were the three topics we planned to research further. We knew from last semester, in our classmates' research, that these factors could drive people from the community. When we started looking at these topics, we found a newspaper article that changed the entire focus of our semester. This article published by the Denton Record Chronicle on December 14, 1922, detailed a lynching that occurred in the area around St. John's. For a long time, we believed that pilot point was relatively calm and that there was little evidence of vigilantes and mob violence in the area. This article was really shocking, but we needed to know more before we could make any sense of what we had in front of us. So we dug in. We researched the area deeper, looked into death records of rest records in any newspaper we could get our hands on. What we found surprised us. We found evidence of mob violence, lynchings, and flogging's and pilot point. We also found records with uncertain causes of death as well as newspaper articles that reported strange occurrences in deaths in the area. We compiled a list of 113 arrests and acts of violence between 1909 and 1925, which we planned to add to the online museum in December. We will also be looking at the other factors that we believe could have had an impact on the community. We will look further into the economy and how that may have influenced St. John's. We will also be looking at diseases such as typoid and tuberculosis as well as how they affected the area. We will also continue the search for the people that made up this community, not only those that are buried in this cemetery associated with St. John's, but their descendants. We plan to trace them to see which family stayed in the area and which families moved away and started new lives elsewhere and we want to understand why. Denton County is diverse. Our history is equally so. We are simultaneously the northernmost point in a massive metropolitan and the southernmost border of the vast American frontier. We are both wild and academic, rural and urban, paved and unpaved, written and passed down, black and white. As each of us know, Denton County and many other counties like ours have struggled with fires that damaged and destroyed many of our earliest records. Pilot Point stored its records from the early 20th century in a room beneath a water tower where they were similarly destroyed. The Pilot Point Posts signal has lost all of the copies of its publication prior to the 1970s as has the City of Pilot Point's Library. As a result of these losses in conjunction with the lack of records all communities of color face, telling the story of Denton County's freedmen communities is becoming more difficult with time. One month ago we went to the cemetery with the goal of raking some of the leaves from the grounds to search for additional grave markers hidden underneath. The leaves were so dense that they had formed a mulch beneath several layers of more recent foliage. The heavy compost fought against our shovels and we found that the only way passed the four inches of thick rotting material was to use our hands. While sitting on the soggy ground and pulling back the scattered leaves we found an 18 inch blank stone. Carefully we used our fingers to dig around the edges of the stone until it came loose. We lifted it from the ground and laid it back in place with the bottom face up. There inscribed in clear hand carved letters and preserved beautifully by the soil was a monument to little safe Smith, the infant daughter of Henry and Lissy who only lived three months. On this forgotten and buried monument are the carvings of a grieving mother, who lovingly decorated the top two corners of a plain rock and hand carved in large black letters, the only remaining memorials are her baby. After she completed the words of the stone, she meticulously underlined each word. Lizzie did everything possible to ensure that the memory of her three-month-old daughter would survive the elements, the record losses, and the changes of a century. Thanks to the discovery and restoration work in St. John's Cemetery, a mother's love has been communicated in stone from a grieving young freed woman in 1889 to this commissioner's court in 2018. Many of the people of St. John's are like little safe Smith. The only remaining records of their lives are on overturned broken and worn rocks in St. John's cemetery. With so much of our early history as a county lost, burned, drowned, and forgotten, cemeteries like St. John's are a rare opportunity to preserve the last remaining records of a people who helped to build this beautiful county. As historians, we have a moral obligation to preserve these records to the best of our abilities, as they are fields of monuments to human lives we almost forgot. As a research team, we have combed through thousands of primary source records, one by one, to find the hidden gems of biography inside mundane government documents. From census to tax records, we have pulled location and population. From Denton County's own Vanguard system we have traced land ownership and share cropping contracts. From marriage and death records we have established a timeline. From newspaper records of the Denton Record Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Start Telegram, Dallas Express and a few years of the pilot point mirror and post signal, we have pieced together details without names due to the time period's pervasive racism which muted the identity of the people of St. John's by omitting their names and replacing that identity with the anonymous phrase, a Negro from Pilot Point. Most recently we have called 4,500 such articles, 6,000 death certificates, and sifted through hundreds of pages of probate records, which detailed the dehumanization and sale of human beings' property in Chambers County, Alabama, prior to emancipation. We have done so much, and yet so much remains. St. John Cemetery needs more than myself, Willie, Emily, Hannah, Jessica, and our daughters as its champions. It needs a professional to clean the grounds of the compost which hides the monuments of many more undiscovered members of this community. It needs professional archaeologists to care for and transcribe the beautiful rocks that mark each final resting place. It needs to be mapped. It's history discovered and its stories told that each generation of Denton County that follows our own. And it needs a sign that doesn't say old slave because the people of St. John's were not old slaves. They were free. With the continued support of this court, we can preserve the memory and history of the St. John's community. We can work together toward a permanent historical marker which honors the lives and community of this group of freedmen, which could have otherwise been lost in time. Together we can clean up and maintain the cemetery, which contains the last remaining records of a group which helped define Denton County in the late 19th and early 20th century. And when we do, you can count me in. I'll bring my gloves and my rakes. Emily, I'll bring the shovels. Jessica and Hannah, I'll be there too with bags the hollow way the layers of leaves because we believe that together this commissioners court and a bit of work, we can restore the beauty and the memory of the St. John's community for generations to come. Thank you to everyone who's been here to hear this story and thank you to the Commissioner's Court for giving us the opportunity to share. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Emily, do you have a presentation of that so we can. Yes, and there's also a link to the virtual museum that I'd like for you to see. And we have a little something we'd like to give you. It's one of our books on the County history full of historic press cards. Thank you so much for your presentation. I want to let you know the court authorize the maintenance for the cemetery and Fred Barrell has had crews out there making sure new trees aren't getting in the way. But we have begun mapping the cemetery with some students from TWU, but I don't think we got any from you and T this past year. So we do have a system in place, any of you who would like to help us finish. We got about halfway done, but we have an acre and a half to do. But it is a historic Texas cemetery, and we are working towards a historical marker, not just for the cemetery but for the whole site john's community with your research that y'all have helped compile we think this will be something that we'll have in the next year and that's exactly what I was thinking that this is a I want to think of all your efforts and really bringing it to life and the narrative I thought it was a great Start and that research is a great basis for his sort of mark application and I'm sure the court would When at the times appropriate when they get that completed to we would sponsor that and and support that fully you know, I think this is the first Freedman's community that has been so well documented in our whole county so hopefully it will set the the method For future Friedman's communities will let me There's another Cemetery that's in pilot point that is called Skinner The Skinner Cemetery are Are you familiar with that? And I would suggest to you to find any archives about that if any Friedman are buried in that cemetery as well. I like to say in my court that the church I'm affiliated with, the Church of the Nazarene was founded in Pilate, in Texas. And Rescottage was the asset that they obtained when they became the Church of the Nazarene, and that was the home for Unwave Mothers. And the Skinner Cemetery has a lot of little babies that are buried in that cemetery and I'm only saying that to tell you that the Church of Nazarene is not like the Mormon Church that has all their records. They have tremendous amount of archives from those days in private point that may be a research source for you about a pilot point in those times as well. Could you tell me where the St. John's Church was and does it exist anymore? No, but we did located on a 19, is it 17, 1918, a soil conservation map and it's located at St. John's and McKinney Bridge Road. It was there but there's no existence of the building. You know of the church that was, it was originally, again, my history, originally that came with the church in Nazareth when they bought about 100 acres there, and then they donated it to an African-American church. And it just recently was torn down. In fact a lot of a lumber from that church is sitting on the property of the church and that is reigned right now. Oh from that church and you know what church that was? I don't think that would be the African, the AME church. The AME? Yeah, and they just tore it down. They tore it down within the last two years. And it used to be a church. And the church, the Nazarene donated it to the AME congregation. And they just turned it down. But we have stacks and stacks of lumber that we got from that church. And it's in pilot point? In pilot point, right off point. And I just discovered something a couple of weeks ago that the records from the Robinson family that established the rest home are now with the University of Texas at Arlington. So that'll be another archive that we can check out to let me know if I can give you the name of the the gentleman that's in charge of the archives from that area on behalf of our congregation. I mean our denomination, okay? That's wonderful. Hey, also, you know, there's a share of road in the north part of the county that might be a first what I'm sorry share a road. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's probably talking about connected. They found you know, there's another similar cemetery office shame prairie hero point that was restored by the boys. Yeah, and the boys' sc counts have been great in helping us. So many people in the community, Willie Hutsbeth, his volunteers have been out. You know, there's a lot of work to do and we can always use more people to help us go out and we've had county employees help us. So. Hey, have we done it? Have we done it a detailed survey, not a meets and bounds survey, but a survey of the cemetery to identify. It sounds like they found just found another tombstone. It's that been done. We got halfway through. Halfway through. We've got maybe less than half an acre done. We're doing it in, I believe, 30 foot sections and recording everything, all the natural and any rocks that we find. So we have all that and we just need to finish it and that is the recommended methodology by the Texas Historical Commission. We've also gotten an estimate on doing ground penetrating radar to see if we can locate any people that might not have a headstone or because the air, because the cemetery was not fenced at one time, cattle were allowed to roam. And there was also a lot of mud that came through in might of dislodge some of the headstones, so we're not sure if they're in exactly the right places, but I found out yesterday that our facilities, public facilities director has an instrument that we might be able to use ourselves. And then eventually we'd like to see about an archaeologist coming and helping us from the state. So we've been registered. Go ahead. Bill and public. It's on private property. It's still private property. Bill, do you mind calling on him? Bill and public it's on private property. It's still private property. You might have called on him. Yes, the cemetery is on private property. Well, the cemetery actually would have belonged to the church that was abandoned. But you have the documents that the title company provided you that it, it adjoins private property. We do have to get permission from the property and the adjoining property owners but for access right for access but they were not we've not been able to get a title of ownership because it was abandoned by the church which was affiliated with the Baptist church. as a cemetery cemetery been registered on findagrave.com it is and some of these are still on there it's a great resource people adding and beggie I beg no means do I want to take away from your presentation it was fantastic but but I do know that that the Skinner's cemetery is on private property has been adopted by different people over the years and recently the church that's there now but they basically the people that own it told them no more and so I know that somebody's going to be approaching. They, the actually the city manager for PowerPoint has approached us and we're not ready to bring it to the court yet because get a group of volunteers to help with it because it will lose its integrity if we don't do something soon. Yes. Hey, this has been fantastic. We appreciate it. Also, good news for you all is our core proceedings are videotaped. So if you ever want somebody to watch the presentation you just gave They can go to the county website and click on today's commissioners court and be able to see it again Thank you. Thank you very much for being here today. We appreciate all your hard work. It was great Okay Okay. We have one more person that's been waiting on this public hearing here. I meant to do earlier. It's for a. This is a public hearing for today for the vacating of plain hills of state space one. This is a commissioner precinct for need a motion for our public hearing. So, man. Motion by Commissioner Marchion. Thank you. Say it by Commissioner Coleman. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Posting. A name. Motion is carried. Anyone in attendance who would like to address the commissioner's court on the issue of vacating the plain hills of state space. One Commissioner Pricing for anyone in chance would like to address this on this issue. Here none we can close our public hearing. Also move motion by commissioner Coleman seconded by commissioner Eads on favor please say aye aye post in a motion does carry now we need a motion for approval motion by commissioner Eads seconded by by Commissioner Mitchell. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Post-sending motion does carry. All right. It was told we had one person waiting on that issue and I didn't want to make them wait any longer. We have one more person that's been waiting a long time and that's Mr. Willough Hudson. We're on agenda item one for public input for items not only agenda. I know it's a little late but once we remind everyone it turns off cell phones, pages, electronic devices. Willie before you start, a couple things I'd like to say one is I'm glad that you could be outside here when we did the work looking for the lines, water lines. Hopefully you appreciate the fact that Commissioner Edson and I said we need to have Willie out there and you know for transparency and honesty and all those good reasons Willie needs to be invited to when that takes place. And I fully expect you the first thing to say today is, connect it. I want to drink out of the fountain. And I wouldn't blame you for saying that. But I want you to consider two things. One, as old as those lines are, you know those are lead pipes. Can't be doing that. The second thing is, taking to consideration, ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, those mountains are not wheelchair accessible. So you tell us how to get around those two points and we have more to talk about. Okay, go ahead. William, I'm with the Living 623 Newton. Two things. One, I wanted to speak, I signed up to speak after the presentation and I wasn't recognized. So how do I do that? The presentation? Three, whatever it is? Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. Willie, I'm sorry. I didn't see that. So go right ahead. One. I think what I am right now is it's a combination of being happy and joyful that some of my history of my people that I know that I'm related to was revealed in some of the detail of that presentation. Then I'm angry at the same time that very little has been done to help with trying to further that cause. Some of the things that were added was all these other cemeteries that need work. Well, they are out there. I don't know what to do with that. So I'm just happy and sad at the same time. You don't want me there. You really don't want me there. I know what God's telling me right now is that you need to let that go. But I'm not letting it go right now. I'm just just flat going to have to just leave here, give me a cup of coffee, give me about two donuts, and I've just got to sell to him because I'm so angry. Let me just tell you something that really troubles me. Here's one thing I'm going to do. You said you were going to spend $20,000 and that's recorded somewhere. You don't spend $20,000 or a commit, $20,000 on this cemetery. The specifics of what I asked for was a fence so that we can have it marked and know where it is, walkways put in there somehow and thus to identify the new stones. You hadn't done any of that. You weeded it all this time. It's all you've done. I remember correctly, I think we said we would not exceed $20,000 on it. You haven't even spent a thousand. Will you do you remember a non-voice count name white with the last name white who called you repeatedly? I sent a volunteer to do a legal project to help you assist on that project and from my understanding he said he never called it back. Why? Yes. Why? I. Why? I mean, conversation with, there's the same one I'm thinking about. Oh, right. What's the first thing? Owen? So he's looking for an evil project. Oh, the evil project. Yeah. I did call him a couple of times. We're talking about trying to get volunteers and stuff like that. Yeah. Owen, why? I was directing people to to you to get them to assist you. OK, and you're telling me that for what reason? Because I think you're saying that we aren't trying to help you take care of the cemetery. And I've been, I know about this. And when people say they want to assist, I've been directing them to you. OK, then I stand corrected. Thank you for all of the work that you've done out there. And I'm sarcastic because that's where I'm intended to be. Thank you for all of the work that you've done out there. I'm sarcastic because that's where I'm intended to be. Thank you for all the work that you've done. Now here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask for anyone who looks at this and who's made aware of what's been said today to come and help me? I'm tired of what you are doing to me in this whole historical situation. I'm going out there. It's my people. I'm the ones hurting me right now because I lost. I don't know where I came from. I don't know much of anything because of slavery and all that it did to me and is doing to me now. It's partly all that has done to me, so I'm tired of talking to you about it. I'm going to go out there myself and I know I will take one little plot of that property and work it until I can't work it anymore. And this is what I'm going to do. Tired of talking to you. Secondly, turn the water on. Turn the drain water on. What in the world is the problem with you turning the water on? If you need a plumbing, now you've given me two examples of what is the problem with turning the water on. The day of us finding that the water was there, the pipes were there. Two people came up and said, what's the problem? I'm a plumber. They said, I can get pipes up through that thing. If they're pipes there in the air, I can get pipes in there later to get that done. What was the other excuse that you gave? Americans with disabilities act and the fact that they're led pipes. Well, we can take out the pipes, we can just replace them. The disabilities, the act says you cannot have water for someone who's disability disabled and they don't have access unless you provide other places where they can get water. So you just put another fountain out there, and you get around that, and I've checked it out, so don't tell me that's not what you just say that to yourself. You think that's what it says. I did research that when this issue came up several years ago, put another fountain somewhere else so that those who are disabled can come and get a drink. I think that's good. Heck, that's the first to do. I just think the symbolism of saying, once we did this, we separated these fountains from a certain race. Now we are not doing that anymore. That's all drink. I think it's a good step in the right, I can go get water anywhere. It's not that matter that I need free water. It's the symbolism behind it. And I guess that you all don't see that, oh, you don't care. So don't know if I'll be back. I know you'll be happy about that. I don't care about that either. I'm going to go to St. John Cemetery and I'm going to start working on that because you all are somewhere else. You're not anywhere near where I am with trying to get this done. So I'm through, I'm done. Okay, Judge, are we still doing three, are we doing a three C? Yeah, we're on three C here. We can engage. We're not cutting them off. I know. Mr. Hudson, but yes, I appreciate your sentiments, especially about the cemetery. And I think we need to, we have approved up to $20,000. And your conversation with me the day you act like we had not done anything. So I'd like for you to maybe stay late and visit with Danny and let him go over what we've done What we agreed to do. I think that was done out of Danny's facilities budget We have had people go up out there and do a cleanup and Fred Borrell on if you've met Fred Borrell who works for the county does our landscape maintenance supervisor He's going out there monitoring that so The county does want to help maintain that. And we've demonstrated that in the past. And we want to, we have an ongoing service agreement. Am I correct? Am I correct, Peggy? We've an ongoing maintenance agreement to maintain that. So we do want to do that. And we've demonstrated we want to do that. I think one of the big steps is we do a basic cleanup. And then we come back in and do a detailed assessment. I think it's important that we have skilled professionals go out there and do the survey of where the tombstones are things so that we don't just have heavy equipment in there or untrained people, they're just tearing stuff up and destroying the artifacts that we have and numerous people. And I've expressed this to you about two years ago on the phone when we talked about this. I'm concerned about drawing too much attention to that cemetery, if it's unprotected, and we haven't had a chance to go in there and document it, because cemeteries across America are prone to vandalism. And it would break my heart, and I know yours if we had people go out there. This was widely publicized, this abandoned cemetery, people go out there and destroy the tombstones. That happened at my family's cemetery down in Lake Dallas, the swisher cemetery years ago. I remember some kids went out there and took sled chambers and destroyed that cemetery, parts of that cemetery. I don't want that to happen at the St. John Cemetery, especially before it could be accurately recorded. So I think there's a chain of events and sequences that we need to go through. One is to a basic cleanup which I think we've done and the county's funded that because it was important to us. Then we come back in with teams of volunteers and professionals to do that survey to find out who all is here. Record those. They can mark them photograph them in a variety of things. Echines is something that you can't tell because of Mals and decay, you can do rubbings and echines. So we get all that stuff done and then we work out it like we already have right now an ongoing maintenance agreement. If we want to do fin scene and signage and walkways, I think that's a later project. I'd rather preserve our tombstones first before we start putting inside walks and inviting the public there. I think that's a logical sequence of events and I think we can work together on that. So. We're going to have the historical and then the county can fund a historic marker. And not only a Texas historic commission marker, but also a county marker that's special to just to Ditton County, not just the state of Texas. It is worthy and we'll qualify for a THC marker, but I also think we can get one for a Ditton County Mark. So I think we're together. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do first May that will help me Adjust to what's going on Secondly, I need to know that young man's name again It will ask whoever and I need to take care of that Mr. Hatsbeth it was similar the one on shea ham prairie which is a similar type similar Tristan Allen his father's professor, you and he he did that at the repair and clean up of that cemetery as part of the legal project Similarly, I've referred other scouts to you regarding same-downs. If you could get me in contact with them, I will get over it. There's always legal projects and people, I've got one legal, ever turned an ego last year and I got another son, but they people call Peggy all the time and call me looking for Eagle Scout projects. I mean I think probably the other members of the court as well. And so if we knew a defined project scope which BSA is really restrictive on what qualifies for an eagle project. If we knew what those were, whether it's a part each piece of the cemetery to to enter a church or clean it up they're not going to do archaeological work or anything right it needs to be no the boundaries need to clean enough pieces and so forth right but the boundaries need to be identified we don't know which part cemetery which part isn't but we sounds like it sounds like that's where Peggy's headed with it, as well as this project that was just presented. All right. All this stuff we're going to act deliberately. We're not going to be rash. It's a matter of extreme public concern. I mean, I'm open to putting water on the monument on the square if it's feasible. I can't tell you right now whether it's feasible. I think anybody who says that they know immediately one way or the other is not particularly well informed. You need to get the facts. We'll act deliberately. That's what I think we need to do. That we're just days after that. I'm going to go get me some donuts and try to. Good idea. Thank you for waiting, Will. Okay, members, item two is the consent agenda. Are there items on the consent agenda? You need to have some discussion on. Do we have a motion? We have a motion for approval by Commissioner Mitchell. Seconded by Commissioner Coleman. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposing, in motion is carried. Consent agenda today consists of two a, which is approval order making appointments Aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed One promotion in the county jail, five new hires in the county jail. One new hire emergency services and new hire road and bridge east and a new hire in juvenile probation services. 2B is approval into a departmental transfers, 2C is approval payroll, 2D is approval of building Newsookus and Jean DeArment with Texas strong Republican women to use the Southwest Courthouse Community Room on November 14th and December 12th, 2018 from 630 to 830 for our meeting. And now we will go to item 5A, which is approval of the bill report, payments from CSCD, Community Corrections, DIP, Sheriff's Training, Sheriff's Forfeiture, VIP Interest, and DA4 forfeiture funds are all presented for recording purposes only. Good morning, James Wells. Good morning, Judge and commissioners. Ask approval to bill report with the one addition, which is the, on the capital replacement fund, it's the payment to title resources for the May heel Road Land purchase that was approved out of executive session. Last week, I believe. That's only correction I have. Thank you. I'll second. We have a motion for approval by Commissioner Marchant, seconded by Commissioner Coleman. On the favor of the police say aye. Aye. Aye, post, a name. Motion carries. I skipped over 3B. 3B is approval of proclaiming November as Home health care and hospice month in Denham County and I don't have that resolution. I gave you a copy I think. Is that the one you gave me? I gave you two the retirement one and the other one. See that's why you need a few. You can tell that Katie need your notebook. You can't tear out your paper. It's sick last week so it didn't get put in my folder. I've got all these letters from about pace. And I got it. I got it. OK. Proclamation, 2018 Home Care and Hospice Month, whereas while many checksans suffer from illness or injuries received quality care from dedicated health care professionals in hospitals or other facilities, some Texans need or prefer a more comfortable, intimate setting. And where's home care and hospice organizations meet this need by providing individualized and professional medical care and assistance to the elderly disabled and chronically ill. And whereas the simple yet powerful comfort of a home setting is a key feature of these services that offer excellent care to help patients achieve a better quality of life. And whereas during the month of November and awareness campaign is conducted to highlight home care in hospice as alternative to hospitalization and other forms of institutional health care. And where is home care in hospice professionals help their patients live every day to its fullest and it is important for their commitment and skill to be recognized and commanded. And whereas Governor Abbott encourages all Texans to learn more about home care and hospice options and the invaluable contributions of all Texas health care professionals. Now therefore, it resolved that the Denver County Commissioner's Court does hereby proclaim November 2018 as home care and hospice month and encourage the support and participation of all citizens and learning more about the home care and hospice philosophy of care for the elderly disabled and chronically ill and an open court. This 30th day of October 2018 upon a motion by myself. Seconded by Commissioner Marchand all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, C name? Motion does carried. Okay. Jumping around here a little bit. Today, 7a is approval. Budget of man request 100110 to roll over remaining unspent grant funding from 2018 to 2019 for drug court expenses from the 211th District Court in the amount of $933. Motion by Commissioner Mitchell. Seconded by Commissioner Eid. So in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Posting a motion carries. We need to pull 12A. There'll be no action on 12A today. 13B is approval change order number one for the Dayton County Court House on the Square Sidewalk Repair in the amount of $24,734 in 30 cents with the time extension of eight days. We have a motion. Motion by Commissioner Eads, seconded by Commissioner Marchand. Hearing no questions on the favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye, pose any? Motion carries. 13C is approval and direction from Commissioner's Court. Regarding new construction of an emergency services building, including preliminary cost estimates, is provided a construction management and funding sources to be termed by Commissioner's Court. Members, I'm the one that places on the agenda. I'm- I'd like to table it for a future date. I was supposed to meet with the committee last week. Ancill. Can you get that meeting done in the next week, hopefully? I hope so. I hope so too. My concern members is I certainly understand all the discussion about the CIP projects that's understood and we got into discussing back on next week. Okay? Yeah, I think we'll discuss it next week but we also need to remember we have all these contexts. I'm sorry, I say again. We just need to remember we have a lot of projects going on. Sure we do. Sure we do. But not that we're going to do a do a building is just how we're going to do the timing sure well we we had the spreadsheet here from budget that identifies the 29 million on our estimated impact and and certainly want to hold it to that in an effort to do that. That's why I'm trying to push this discussion so we can approve the schematic design and construction documents and keep this thing rolling. That was my total intent and placing it on the agenda. So. We appreciate that and we want to make sure. We will table this till next week. And hopefully we can get that discussion going. All right. Moving on to item 14A, which is approval of amendment number one to the interlocal cooperation agreement to terminate the interlocal cooperation agreement between Denton County, Texas and the Town of Copper Canyon, Texas executed for erosion repair to Chinchafel Road at Point Dexter Bridge, Branch Bridge, located in Commissioner Pristin IV and II, an interlocal cooperation agreement between Denton County, Texas and Town of Copper Canyon, Texas, providing the reconstruction of a portion of Chinchafel Road and expanding the scope of the project to include erosion repair work at Chinch Road and point dexter branch bridge entirely within the municipal limits of the town and Commissioner precinct four with Denton County agreeing to reallocate funds in the amount of $80,000 from the Chin Chapel erosion project to Chin Chapel Road phase two project raising the county's contribution from 3,153,200 to 3,233,200. So it's funding to come from Chin Chapel Road, Tribal 8,2014 P.I. Bonn funds the auditor number is listed. Are there questions or comments on this issue? I'm ready for approval. We have a motion by Commissioner Eid, seconded by Commissioner Mitchell. Here you know discussion on favor, please say aye. Aye, posting a motion carries. 14b is approval of second renewal to building services agreement, outsource building service, addendum and business associate agreement between pedagru health care, profitability, solutions, previously known as world source practice solutions, they'll see a known, originally known as Practice Automations, they'll see End Dent County. I'm going for approval. We have a motion by Commissioner Cohen. Seconded by Commissioner Marchant. Here in no discussion, the favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye, Opposed, aye. Motion carries. 14C is approval of the 2018-2019 Social Services Agreement between Denton County, Texas and one, Casa of Denton County, Incorporated to Children's Advocacy Center. And three, Denton County Friends of the Family, four, Health Services of North Texas, five, Denton County, MHMR Center,, six, PD plays, seven, span, incorporated, and eight, youth, and family counseling. Motion by Commissioner Marchant, seconded by Commissioner Coleman, questions or comments. Hearing none on favor, please say aye. Aye. Posts in aim. Motion does carry. Okay. Make sure I didn't miss anything. Did I get them on? OK. All right. We're adjourned. Everybody have a great day.