All right. Good morning, everybody. Today is October the 15th, 2024. The time is 1001 AM. I'll call this regular session of commissioners courts order. Our pledges to the flags in a moment of silent prayer. I play. To the flag. I'm not actually dead. It's not there. It's just a remote. I feel like there's just stand. One plan is to find a route. And you can visit over with the liberty to get your test roll call. I'm going to take this slide. I'll play a check with the DC test. On state. I think I want to visit. Thank you. Well, it's great to see everybody this morning. I hope you're all doing well. I do apologize. We are having some technical difficulties with our displays, which is why the screens are dark. It will affect a few of our presentations today. Anybody does need any additional information, would like to see anything. We do have printed out forms. We don't have copies for everybody, but happy to get you a copy if you would like to see something. On the agenda, we do have a presentation about our upcoming website, upgrade and update that will probably move to an additional commissioners court. Because as as you can imagine that'll be a totally visual presentation. But again if there's any questions you want to understand something more because you're unable to see it please raise your hand come up to the podium stop we can have additional conversation. I'm going to move to item three on our agenda which are citizens to be heard. The first that we have on the sign up sheet is Mr. Eugene Rhodes. Mr. Rhodes, good morning. Good morning, Judge. Good morning, Seniors. I was just going to try following up a little bit on, I guess, two weeks ago, or last commissioners court, and in relation to the discussion I brought forth. And apologies for those that weren't here a few weeks ago, so some of this may not make sense. Another thing I want to lead with is the discussion I had last commissioners court. And even today, I'm not trying to call anybody out. So I hope that isn't anybody's thoughts on this. This is more of something I've just thought about more even to a national scale. But obviously things are small and how a small local government is run is, you know, some there are many similarities between that and the national level. So the few things I was curious about was even, even with like in 2020, we had, we had some stuff going on as I think everybody knows. I mean, at the time I was in the military. So, things were a little different. But what I realized at the end of the day is there's a lot of people that didn't want to do something based on whether it was a moral conviction or we'll just leave it at a moral conviction because that's a lot of it came down to. But regardless, they ended up doing it because they felt they had no other choice. And there is other choices, but the question is at the end of the day, who are you affecting with the choice you make? Is it just yourself? Is that something you carry? You pushing that off onto others that are around you, especially when it gets into government side of things. So it's one of them things I've been trying to figure out is how do we rectify a situation where we're not incentivizing people to basically participate in that and hard topic to come about. But as I was mentioning in the last commissioners court, where we have benefits and different things that tied to a job that definitely give people a reason to continue doing the status quo, whether or not that's good for them or the operation or the company that they're associated with. So it's a no idea of the solution at the moment. I have ideas, but it's a hard thing to wonder. But my point in bringing this up is I just want people to understand that there is a choice. It may not be your favorite choice. It may not be the most popular choice. But there is a choice to be had. So as I see, we have a lot more people to come up and speak. I'm going to leave it at that and thank you all for your time. Thank you. Next on the sign up sheet is John Reagan. Good morning commissioners. I'm John Reagan. I'm one of the councilmen for Santa Clara. And I've had many discussions with Mr. Germain. But really it comes down to all of you. We are a small city. We have 750 residents. And I know you know our layout is kind of strange. We are a small city. We have 750 residents and I know you know our layout is kind of strange as far as the city is concerned. We have a lot of county residents that reside inside of our city layouts and we need help with our roads and you're the next in the chain for us to get that help. Like I said, we've had a lot of discussions with him. Whether it be interlocal agreements or just grants, but we do need that help from you guys. And I don't know the path because our roads are in and dire need. I know everybody is this in the county. So any help that we can get, I would appreciate. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Next is Paul Bean Martin. Thank you all good morning, Judge. And all I apologize. apologize I'm gonna run out real quick after this I got some other commitments But it's always good to see government and local government and progress, but I just got to go. I'm and will be Paul Martin of 605 Am Street scheme today and next Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Columbus Hall at 2 p.m. I've already said that and a debate concerning truth and ecological values and then the Sunday after that beginning about 2 p.m. at the Riverside cemetery I hope I have this on straight I'll be dressed like this and be Alexander Madison Erskine. A contemporary Mark Twain, Clemens famously said, whiskey's for drinking and water's for fighting and keeping with the battle for truth and ecological literacy and degrowth to protect the natural resource base. Let me read you a poem from up Alexander Erskins, Elkopodi Ranch Cabin Home, is now up at Texas Tech. I've slightly modified some words to fit the singing area. This is Mining the Motherload by Andy Wilkinson. And I've had him come in. He did a fundraiser for me one time singing for Teotero at Texas Theater. Great, great guy. You need to look up his songs and poems. We are the tribe of the mother-low aquifer, the mother-low aquifer. 1200 centuries, no mads have traveled here, making their camps in the spring and fall. Here in the land of the mother-low aquifer, reigns unpredictable, even in good seasons, never enough, but for grasses and grazers, never enough, but for seasonal wonders, never enough even for the dwellings of permanence, never enough for the dwellings of permanence, needed for farming and ranching and industry, never enough for the chambers of commerce. Rain can't be entrusted to God in the elements, not by the tribe of the mother-load aquifer, deep in the earth through the rock that encumbers it down to the water elements, not by the tribe of the Mother-Load aquifer. Deep in the earth through the rock that encumbers it down to the water sand, down to the water pay, dig down with drilling rigs, lay in well casing, thrust in the sucker rod, pull it out, let it come drawing the water up, drive it with wind power, drive it with gasoline, drive it electrically pumping and pumping and pumping. Let's recognize lost causes when they are lost causes. Let's give the savannah back to the ruminants, back to the grasses. Let's give us a home where the wild byota roam. Where the skies are not cloudy all day, after day, after day, after day, where the passenger pigeon is not heard. For there's no one to hear the discouraging word when the commons belong to the buffalo and other wildbioida. Crazy, say, chambers of commerce and maybe commissioner's courts. But who's crazy now as we drink up our mother-load aquifer? As we poison our mother-load aquifer as we poison our mother-load aquifer? Now as we sell off our mother-load aquifer, do Niagara, etc. What will we do with this gift of the mother-load? Pray that the poets and dreamers, the real, positively ethical, applied community ecologists, pray that the poets and dreamers remember it. Pray that its guardians hold it in stewardship. Pray that we honor it. Pray that we husbanded it. Pray for the tribe of the mother-load aquifer. Pray for the water. The sweet aquifer. Nursing awe who tread lightly and carefully, lightly and carefully, lightly and carefully. Through the growth, through the growth, to a more sustainable low input, through put ubiquitous agrarian economy, a dream, perhaps utopian goal, but you must pragmatically start here with that dream. And right now, thank you. Thank you. No, no other individual signed up under citizens to be heard. Is there anybody in the courtroom on the call on the virtual meeting that would like to speak under citizens to be heard? Okay, I don't see or hear anybody else indicate they wish to do so. Gonna move to item four, which are proclamations under proclamations item A, recognizing October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Guadaloupe, County. I do want to pass it over to Commissioner German. It's an honor. I just want to recognize and y'all can come up and speak some guests we have. We have Elena, Winan and Aaron, Irkeline from Thrivewell. We also have local breast cancer awareness. People, ladies, can y'all come y and gentlemen and y' words about this and o proclamation. Good mo us. We're really honored we're with Thrive Wulc organization that provide support to families as th're battling this awful disease. We provide financial assistance, transportation assistance, and then we have wellness programming. And this is provided to anyone who has ever faced a diagnosis. But today we are honoring our breast cancer patients and survivors because it is October and we're all in pink. So we just want to thank you for making this a priority. Families are really struggling, and it's almost impossible to get through a diagnosis these days. So with the help of organizations like ours and the help of people like you, more families are getting help and being able to get on the other side of this disease. So we thank you very much. Thank you all for being here. It's such a testament. And it's not a death sentence anymore. People are surviving and thriving through this. So I'm going to turn it over to you. So thank you for being with us. Someone else, go ahead. Like how they all pointed at you, Elaine. I know. You told you didn't realize I're going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be We do have support through the foundation, the bras for a cause. And that goes for unfunded, an underfunded patients that we see. Who we have here today are people from imaging and people from infusion. So we care for every patient that comes through our door and you're correct. It's not a life sentence, that's sentenced anymore. There is hope. There are a lot of research. There's medicines out there. And the main thing is that taking care of that patient one-on-one and knowing that we're behind them and the family support system is very important for a patient to survive and get through those tough times. Anyway, I think it's very much of an honor to have this as a national recognition because it is important bringing that to everyone's attention because it affects more lives than you know. All right. Well, thank you very much for the comments. Commissioner Derman, would you read the presentation? I will read the proclamation. Recognizing October as breast cancer awareness month in Guadalupe County, whereas national breast cancer awareness month is a chance to raise awareness of the early detection of breast cancer. And whereas breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women. Whereas the American Cancer Society reports the average risk of a woman in the US developing breast cancer sometime in her life is 13%, which is a one in eight chance she will develop breast cancer. And whereas on average, every two, every two minutes, a woman in the US is diagnosed with breast cancer. And incidence rates have increased by 0.6% per year. And whereas not only is this diagnosis incredibly stressful to a woman herself, but it completely changes the world for her loved ones around her. And whereas this October, Guadalupe County is joining in the efforts to raise awareness about breast cancer, and we encourage county employees and citizens to spread the word about mammograms and early detection. And whereas early detection is crucial for effective treatment and improving the chances of curing breast cancer. And whereas women are encouraged to be an advocate for themselves and be aware of their families, their family members medical history and discuss it with their doctors. Now therefore be it resolved that in official recognition, the Commissioner Court of Water Loop County, Texas, proclaimed October 2024 as breast cancer awareness month and encourages everyone to offer support and care to patients, families, and breast cancer survivors. In witness whereup, we have here under to set our hand this 15th day of October 2024. Move to approve proclamation. Second. Do you have a motion, the second, to approve the proclamation? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? And that motion does pass. If you please come up, Do you have a motion the second to approve the proclamation all those in favor say aye? I am posed That motion it does pass if you please come up. We'd like to present you with a proclamation and take a photograph Yeah, I'm going to do it. Yeah, I'm going to do it. Yeah. Sorry. We'll go in there. Come on. If you want to have looks, no matter what you do, it's correct. Okay, I'm going to take several. You need to count. One, two, three. Here we go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah, definitely. See you here. Thank you. Martin. Sure. I don't be under proclamation is recognizing up over 23rd to 31st, 2024 has read ribbon week in Guadalupe County. I do want to invite up Miss Tina Dillon. Tina, how are you doing? Pretty good. Pretty good. I wished I had some young greens with me, but they're all getting smart Pretty good. Pretty good. I wished I had some young greens with me, but they're all getting smart at school. I understand. Well, I really appreciate you guys having us and getting a proclamation today and encourage everybody to be drug-free, not just during the week of Red Ribbon Week, but throughout the year and make good choices. And that's really what our young Marines do. And we try and promote that not only from them, but with their families and so on and so on and so on. How long have you been involved in active with the Marines? 22 years. I started the unit, Guadalupe Valley 15 years ago here in Sagan. So we've been going strong. Well, I know, I mean, the public and others get to see you come once a year for a proclamation, but many community members get to see at lots of events with the kids, but just wanted to commend you and all the groups and their families for all of the, just the effort that is put forth to, like you said, promote healthy living and community involvement and being role models and leaders. It means a lot and it goes really far. So thank you very much. Thank you. Commissioner Sutton-Burger, would you read the proclamation? My honor, Judge. A proclamation recognizing October 23 through 31st, 2024 as Red Ribbon Week in Guadaloupe County, whereas communities across America have been plagued by the numerous problems associated with illicit drug use and those that traffic in them. And whereas there is hope in winning the war on drugs. And that hope lies in education and drug demand reduction, coupled with the hard work and determinations of organizations such as the young Marines, of the Marine Corps League, to foster a healthy drug-free lifestyle. And whereas, governments and community leaders know that citizen support is one of the most effective tools in the effort to reduce the use of illicit drugs in our communities. And whereas, the Red Ribbon was chosen as a symbol commemorating the work of Enrique Quique Camarano, a drug enforcement administration agent who was murdered in the line of duty and represents the belief that one person can make a difference. And whereas the red ribbon campaign was established by Congress in 1988 to encourage a drug-free lifestyle and involvement in drug prevention and reduction efforts. And whereas October 23rd through 31st has been designated National Red Ribbon Week, which encourages Americans to wear a red ribbon to show their support for a drug-free environment. Now therefore, be it proclaimed October 23rd through 31st as Red Ribbon Week in Guadalupe County and urge all citizens to join in this special observance. In witness whereof we have here on two set our hand this 50th day of October, 2024. Move to approve the problemation. I think Commissioner Gernan just got you a little bit. Is there a second? Second. All right, we do have a motion and a second to approve the proclamation for red ribbon week. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Right. That motion does pass. Please come out. Yes, and I actually have a red ribbon tattoo for you guys for red ribbon week. No cheeks. maybe your hand. And I'd like to invite you to our fifth annual Kiki Kimmerino motorcycle run this Saturday. What's interesting is we will have a DEA representative there from San Antonio and he's going to cool. Actually, I would like to thank you. That might have done. One, two, three. Four. Do you want me with your funding? I'm two, three. Yeah. Thank you. and and and I'm see under proclamations recognizing October is manufacturing month in Wabalupi County. We have multiple members coming up to the podium including Mr Schneider. How are you, sir? I'm great. How are you all doing today? Doing good, sir. Well, perfect. Well, I don't have any tattoos for you guys, but it's a great idea for next year, hopefully. Well, good morning, Judge and commissioners, Josh Schneider, Director of Economic Development with the City of Sigeen. Just wanted to thank you all again for taking the time to allow us to be here today and for recognizing October as manufacturing months within Guadalupe County. Join today by some of our friends across the county representing cities and our manufacturers as well. So we've got Ashley Richey with the City of Shirts and their Economic Development Department Isabella Ellis with the City of Cibolo and then Brittany Watson here with the City of Sigeen as well. So manufacturing is it's a vital component to the economy of Guadalupe County. We've got over 9,000 folks within Guadalupe County that are employed in the manufacturing industry and the manufacturing industry in Guadalupe County actually represents nearly 17% of total manufacturing employment within the San Antonio metro area. So we are a very important piece of that overall puzzle within this region and even across the state of Texas as well. So the brand made in Guadalupe County, I think continues to grow with obviously some of the manufacturers that we've had in our communities for a very long time and some of the ones that we've had in our communities for a very long time. And some of the ones that are now just calling Guadaloupe County Home. So I really wanted to quickly thank you all for your continued efforts to recognize the importance of the manufacturing industry. Be a partner in a lot of these projects that we're working on hand in hand to bring more manufacturers to Guadaloupe County, increasing the amount of jobs that we have available to our residents here, well paying jobs as well. But we know there's a lot of work ahead of us as well to cultivate the environment, to make sure that we can continue to be in attractive location for future growth and investment from our manufacturers. So we're looking forward to future collaboration on enhancing our real estate development efforts, our workforce development efforts, and just the overall business environment to support our manufacturers going forward as well. So thank you all again for taking the time to recognize October as manufacturing month. Yes, sir. Well done, right? Commissioners, any comments? I know Josh, it's hard to wrap all this up and how really important manufacturing is for our community and county just doing a proclamation once a year but I do see and I'm sure you'll see it also a tremendous amount of community support for manufacturing. There's an understanding at the the very foundational level in our communities of of the impact that manufacturing has not just from a tax based perspective, but for the individual benefit for families for improving jobs and the whole condition of those smaller areas within our county that really build and the support that is also being given on workforce development and training programs, initiatives, and abilities for people to advance within our community within manufacturing was never bad, but it's so much advanced and so much better today than it ever has been really anywhere before. So I think we really need to take a moment to recognize the manufacturers, the businesses, the people who are putting in the time, effort, and money to help the community. Because it helps them, yes, but the focus really is to help the individuals and the people that live in our cities and in the county. So it's been wonderful. And we work with our manufacturers in our own respective communities day in and day out. And I know you guys are engaged in talking with business leaders in the manufacturing industry as well. And I think that's one thing that doesn't get recognized enough is they're obviously here making a product and it's a business, but they're invested in our communities in the county and making it just wonderful place to live, work, and play. But they're also taking the time out of their day to collaborate on those workforce development efforts. At the end of the day, it is a benefit to them, but it's also a tremendous benefit to our residents throughout the county as well. Manufacturing pays way better than I think people give it credit for. I think the average annual wage within Guadalupe County for manufacturing is knocking on the door about $68,000, $69,000 a year. And we obviously want to get folks more interested on career pathways within the manufacturing industry, just because there are, I think, opportunities for everybody, regardless of your destined for a four-year university or a four-year high school graduate just looking to enter the workforce. The career pathways and the career ladders within the manufacturing industry offer something to really everybody. in some cases for some individuals. I mean just really offers pathway to better their own lives and their families lives as well. Absolutely. Thank you for that. Commissioner Carpenter, would you read the proclamation? Absolutely. And it reads whereas national manufacturing month is an effective way to highlight the importance and benefits of a strong manufacturing sector and our local economy, as well as promoting supporting and celebrating all manufacturers for the jobs and products they produce, and whereas manufacturing creates primary jobs which infuse new money into our communities by exporting products to areas outside our region, state, or to international markets helping establish our local economy. And whereas Guadalupe County and city partners work in unity to grow the county's economy by attracting and retaining manufacturers. And whereas Guadalupe County manufacturers produce products in the automotive machinery, food and beverage, plastics and rubber fabricated metal, medical equipment and more. And whereas during national manufacturing month, celebrated October, we encourage our local manufacturers to provide plant tours to help educate residents and students to the potential jobs available in today's science, technology, engineering, and math career pathways. And now therefore be it resolved that official recognition we the commissioners court of Guadalupe County here by Proclaim October, 2024 as National Manufacturing Month and reaffirm this county's support and commitment to seeking out opportunities to further our economic development by investing in the welfare of our local manufacturers for the county's future. Let's celebrate and urge all residents to join in recognizing the value of our manufacturers and the importance they serve in our communities, 15th day of October, 2024. Moving to approve the proclamation. Second. You have a motion and a second to approve the proclamation recognizing October is manufacturing month. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? And that motion does pass. Come up, we'd like to present you the proclamation. Thank you. How are you doing? Three, seven. It's not budget time. Time for you. One, two, three. And one more. One sub-bomb. One, two, three. Right. Thank you. We can see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. I'm going to go ahead and see you. agenda is a discussion for reconciliation of funds from the America Rescue Plan or ARP is very and various projects including potential projects to utilize remaining funds. For the public, I know we talked about this just a couple short weeks ago. I do have a spreadsheet to put up on the screen, but as mentioned before, we can't show that to you at the moment. If anybody would like to see that, we're happy to share it with you. Court members, as we know with the ARPA funding, we have to commit the funds by December 31 of this year in 2024 and expend all project funds by December 31 of 2026. After going through reconciling with the information we have up to date, there's still a few outstanding things. There's about $2 million left out of the $32.5, $32.6 million that were allocated on our projects. I'm going to run through all the projects and remaining funds. One to talk about a handful of potential opportunities to allocate some of the remaining funds to, based on our last conversation and wanted to see if other court members had any other recommendations. Again, there are gonna be some limitations with specific projects that are related to items. If we have to obtain those items from a vendor and go through full procurement process, we have to do any formal bidding. That window is probably coming gone because we are in mid-October to go through that full process. Then with the holidays coming up, I think it's not very likely that we could really get a major project fully bid and get everything back when we need to. But a few of the projects that we have talked about were potential life cycle radio replacements for our law enforcement and fire. We talked about potentially adding additional funds onto our capital projects that we're already have on the books to give us a little bit more of a contingency budget on the EOC fire station and warehouse projects. Talked about potentially doing an MOU with the city of Seguin on joint fire station that didn't seem to get a whole lot of traction but a conversation I had with chief and Seguin at a fundraiser. I guess it was about two weeks ago the idea was floated that instead of building a full fire station on city on property is that we do an MOU to put temporary structures on the city on property, which would be less funds still get the benefit of the fire department and the community and when it was time we can move those facilities off only leaving the infrastructure that was put in place to be able to be moved to another temporary location as development occurs as the need changes as all that moves. Another project we potentially talked about was adding additional funds to the county clerk and district clerk projects that were already funded and have been completed. Trying to think and then another one was mentioned was additional funding for the hospital who was a vital part of our response and success to to the COVID response for additional equipment and or projects that they're doing at the facility. October we're going to be a Thanksgiving and Christmas before we know it. I want to make sure we have our ducks in a row so to speak so we can allocate funds and have our commitments in place. So I wanted to see if that was a discussion we'd like to have. Judge and commissioners in reference to the construction capital projects. I should have some tentative numbers by next month so that you'll be able to have an idea of plans are about 70% they're already being bid right now currently by our potential vendors or contractors. So I should have some members next month for you if there's any potential changes with the proposed money that we have a lot of for the capital projects. And Patrick, in both of those projects there are, it's just like any other capital project where you have, I mean, general conditions or contingencies built in the preliminary bids and, and over just to a conservative level already current. Correct. There was one thing that was mentioned during a construction meeting was the Cross the Street, the sewer line and the water line and gas line potentials could cause an increase in the construction cost based on where they're located currently. They're currently down by water lines down by animal control. The sewer line is down by either there or the sheriff's office. They're talking about a thousand foot of sewer line potential expansion. So that could increase the cost that we could have that conversation. And it's just utilities that would benefit the entire complex across the street. So based on the sewer line discussion at elections, a thousand foot of sewer, what do you think it would cost? Just a wild guess half a million. So there's no utilities on water or sewer on that side of the road. If you can push that conversation with engineers in the contractor on that, so we can try to get an idea that's a really important amount that we need to consider potentially add to the capital project. So we're not allocating it to something else and then we need to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the other things that we have to do with the projects are still ongoing. We have one department that hasn't received their funds currently. We also have another department that has had some issues on there from the county's perspective. So we need to, if we did that, we'd have to work with those departments. Some of those departments have made changes to the allocations. We provided them and we need to go back and retro some of the documents. How long do they have to expand those funds? They have, once we give them to them, they have till the end of the grant project. We have to do the, we have to provide them the funds or allocate them by December two months. I know some of the volunteer departments with the initial $100,000 each funding were pretty responsive getting that back, but on average from those initial conversations working with our grant administrators to receiving the funds to actually having the signed documents, what was the timeline on some of those projects? Some of the departments were aggressive and they got them done pretty quickly. If they have to bid something else just like us, it takes two weeks. That's what this current department that is waiting their funds is doing. They had to go through the procurement process and make sure that they got the proper process in line. They should be their the longest time frame and that's been about six months. On the short end we've processed some in about two and a half, two months. But they had they waited on a vehicle, they had to bid it. If it's just you know miscellaneous equipment and it approves and it's under 50,000 then we're in the new budget cycle they could get that immediately. In court we don't have to make any decision today. It's just a discussion what we're looking for is a little bit of feedback. Maybe consensus on a few things just to say, bring back a recommendation with these few things. So we're in a direction. We do have we don't have court next week. We have court on the 29th and then of course multiple times in in November and December, but we all know at the end of the year it's just gonna speed up and be here really soon. So if we need to work on any MOUs with the city, the hospital additional agreements with volunteer fire departments, we need to have attorney involved, review those documents, preliminary, have them approved, even if we're amending county clerk and district clerk contracts to extend project scope. We need a little bit of time to work those details out. So just wanted to see if we can all look in the same direction on the handle. I think we need to concentrate on whether it be our part department or the volunteers like the presentation we had in court last time from that major developer or from that major development. I mean we all are sitting here and we know of thousands of houses coming in. That need is going to get more and more and more. So if we can help with trying to serve that need now, what we know is going to be here in the future. We need to be looking at that. Okay. Any other? Well, the experience with the construction projects, you get the nail on the head. So we don't have final numbers. We'll have final. In place these, you know, civil engineering, all of those things add up very, very fast on construction projects. Two million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but at the end of the day if you're doing an EOC and a fire station or a emergency response center, it may take quite a bit. And after we get the geotechback, we're looking at, you know, soil stuff and the site where our not purchased yet has some soil. It could be potential, you know bigger foundations and so But we know that site's a septic tank not a sewer system. It's talking about having good a suspended slab or something in that location They're talking about like potential 11 things. Yeah, excavation. So No, we'll have discussions about engineers trying to save their own but later um instead of in court but it's so I mean the potential is um I mean an option just see what the response is and we could easily add half a million dollars to each one of those capital construction projects and fund volunteers and then still have maybe a couple of $100,000 left. If that's an option, is there a preference or kind of something else on the list, court members that you're leaning towards? I just wanna say you'd have additional information for us by the end of the month, not final numbers, but something more akin to closest to the pan. Yes, sir. I think we need to see what that looks like. Yeah. It may just make it a non-issue. We may have to allocate all these funds to projects that we've already got on the list. But I don't think we'll know that until we have that additional information. And, Commissioner, you spoke about the volunteers. Yeah, I think that's a great allocation with funds, but also the radio project would be a project that would be something to look at because their radio communications assistant that we've already spent county funds on improving that or building on that. We're going to hire new staff at not only us at the sheriff's office and the constables, and making sure they were cycling out to those radios and things. I think that would be a viable option also. So, depending on what we come back with on construction costs. So, like with any project, when you go to something new like we did with the radio communication system, we bought all new radios to be able to upgrade and start on the new system. Well, that means that all those radios really have about the same lifespan depending on how they were used and how it's worked out. And you can fluctuate a little bit, but trying to get into a pattern of having a reoccurring regular amount of radios and funding that we cycle out every year. So it's not all at one time. As it can turn into a couple million dollars of radios real quick. And we'd rather do that in blocks of a few hundred thousand or half a million as opposed to two and a half of three million at one time. Right. Last year we purchased, I think we purchased a couple hundred batteries just for battery backups and things like that. So any other thoughts conversation? Well, we will gather additional funds Patrick, if you can push as much as you can to try to get us some Some ballpark numbers and a little bit more refined ideas on the projects and that sewer is probably going to be one of the biggest discussions Yes, sir We will look back and make that the priority on existing projects and look at a few backups Just to verify with grant administrators some of these other items that we talked about are options. What's the realistic timeline and what exactly has to be done to make those decisions? We'll bring it back to court. Yes sir. All right, thank you everybody. All right, we'll move to, on the agenda, there is a presentation about the progress update on the new Guaraduan County website. As mentioned right before, citizens to be heard, we are having some technical difficulties with displays and screens since the update on the new County website is mainly visual. We're gonna push that to the next commissioners court and give an update. I know plan to go live sometime in November, departments for the county before we move on from the presentation just a quick update for any departments that still need to update their individual pages to have it ready for the county website. We don't have a whole lot of time. I know everybody's busy and a lot of stuff is going on, but we've got another a few weeks basically to get additional information and not saying that it can't be done after we go live. It's just that we're trying to promote an updated look updated features updated ability for the public to be able to access information through our new website. So if you haven't done that if you need help assistance, please reach out to Carmen or PIO or my office will help however we can. Any other comments on the county website before we move on? Right, we'll move to item seven on the agenda, which are consent items under consent item A budget amendments item B bill list item C the PCA list and jury registers item D the EBA list item E the Auditor's Monthly Report for August 2024 item F the Treasurer's Monthly Report for August, 2024. Item F, the Treasurer's Monthly and Investment Report for August, 2024. Item G, accept the $2,000 HEB Community Investment Program Grant for Veterans Treatment Court Graduations, Veteran Outreach, Trainings, Meetings, Comradery, Events at the Veterans Outreach Center. Item H, accept the following donations, $1,000 for the Global Accounting Shares Office from the McQueenie Lions Club. Two study corrals from office source LTD for the Veterans Workroom at the Veterans Outreach Center. Item 3, Historic Guadaloupe County abstract files to the County clerk's office from the Saguim Guadaloupe Heritage Museum. Item 4, 4, Dale, Optiplyx7020 computers from McCree, Vasell, Cabragn, Allen, PC, Mbba for use in the Guadalupe County tax office. Item I, the filing, the order appointing Kristen L. Klein is the county auditor for Guadalupe County for the two-year term beginning October 24, 2024, and the order setting salary of county auditor per local government code section 8 4.003. Item J, the amendment exercise, the second of three one year extensions for IFB 22-007 land lease for agricultural road crop planning and item K, the excavation permit request for the following county roads. One, South Santa Clara road precinct four. Number two, South Santa Clara road precinct four item three, Cresci Lane and Westmire road precinct two and Charles Way and Wild Road precinct four. Move to approve the items on consent as laid out by the judge. Second, do you have a motion to the second to approve consent items A through K any other comments? Hearing none all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed same sign Ignore position that motion passes We've got item eight on our agenda which are action items discussion possible motion relative to item a the resolution and support of The nomination for the Guadalupe appraisal district board of directors for the 2025 term. Commissioners, as part of our normal process, we talk about the potential nomination of an individual to the appraisal district board of directors, as well as a vote allocation based on our population as an entity and our voting size basically. A few things have changed this year where we historically have appointed our tax assessor collector as our board member, but the legislature have changed the structure of appraisal district boards, having multiple, five basically the five director ships that will be filled, three will be filled by voters out in the public that have never been done before and then the tax assessor collector is no longer required to participate in an appointment election, but it now serves as an exficio director as the ninth voting member set up by statute. So quite a bit different than what we've seen in the past. We do have a list of individuals that have been nominated. The vote actually will take place at a future commissioners court in December more than likely to allocate the votes. I know we sent the email out. There are one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight individuals that are the members and we anticipate will remain as appointed or nominated individuals to be voted on, but we don't have that final list yet because I believe today or tomorrow is the deadline for nominations. Today we just need to see if commissioners court and the county wanted to nominate any additional individuals to be considered for the appraisal district board and have that discussion. There have been some good members. We have talked to Mr. John, our tax successor collector. He really is our representative on the board. So we didn't have the same type of discussion, I think, as an entity of appointing additional members, because he really takes care of the county side of things for us. But just wanted to ask if there are any additional potential nominations on the board. If we don't have any additional nominations, we don't have to take action on that resolution supporting the nomination of additional individuals. We can get that information from the appraisal district on the nominated candidates and then we'll come back to court to allocate our 996 votes like we've done in the past for that board directorships. Is everybody okay with that? Yes sir. All right, we'll get the additional information, bring it back to court. So we'll take no action on item A, we'll move to item B, which is authorization and negotiate an agreement with the City of Shirts for shared use of unfinished space in the Guadalaj County Service Center located on State Highway 78 Commissioner Carpenter. Judge nothing different than we've talked about before. It's just simply authorizing our county attorneys to start work with City to get the details on paper for our future consideration. Court members and the additional questions detail? No, sir. I think was that still the playing commissioner to have a portion of that building utilized by the PD? By the PD, but since then, our constable has been working with shirts PD and there are some shared spaces that are anticipated now potentially for investigations and for evidence storage. Is there a floor in those rooms? I can't remember. It's just slab. Concrete. Just a slide is unfinished. It has some of the areas have HVAC in place and electrical in place as well as some bathroom facilities, but none of the flooring in any of the unfinished spaces is anything else. That was just loud. Yes, because we're going to have to do something of the other cities in our building it's something we don't have to completely tear out in the future to utilize the space for us and law enforcement now at the county can utilize that in partnership and it helps everybody it's it's not a bad conversation to have no any other questions, comments? With that judge, I'll move to that we authorize our county attorney to negotiate agreement with the city of shirts for shared use of unfinished space in the Guadaloupe County Service Center, located on state highway 78. Second. Do you have a motion and a second to approve action item B any other discussion? Hearing no other comments or questions all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed same sign? Hearing no opposition that motion passes. Move to action item C the quick claim D to Dale Dice and Susan Z Dice of a 0.549 acre track situated in the Jacob C. Dar survey A-14 Guadaloupe County Texas Commissioner side burner. the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . both sides of the road now and requesting that we quit claim that so that he can put a gate there. Now, he presented a package with a survey with all the meets and bounds and everything, the only thing and he's in the courtroom Dale. There was a question of whether or not the, there was a public notice made. Was there any posting of a sign or anything and notice that there was not? So then I'm gonna have to defer to Mr. Tyse, whether or not we can proceed without a notice to the public. In the Transportation Code, under Section 251.052, if there's a public application for a road change, it says the commissioners court may not grant an order on an application unless the applicants give notice of their intent to apply by posting at the courthouse door and at two other places in the vicinity of the affected route, a written notice of their intent for at least 20 days before the date the application was made. The two most recent that we've done similar to this would have been New Young's Ferd Road, and that packet is on the Commissioner's Court website as part of the agenda, and it had the notices posted as well as Baining Drive, which was also had the notices posted. And so I believe that 20 days of notice the road that was being closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. The road was closed. public road or is this more a having the way it exists today? Is it a private road or is it a public road? Is public access? But it's yes sir come on up to the podium but the determination of a public right of way is not made on whether the public travels on it but in this instance the public owns it until the quick claim deed happens, right? Mr. Dice, how are you? Thank you. I appreciate you let me present it. Yes, sir. Back in 1970, there was this right away that went through what we, what we referred to as a domino five ranch. And what we refer to as a domino five ranch. And it was never used to the subdivision that was planted. The access to that subdivision that was planted, it was an easement granite through the middle through another part of the ranch to access that subdivision. It was called Walker Shulkey number three. Then in 2012, we abandoned part of that county. It was never used. It was plated, but it was never, never used. So, then we, we, does it, let me, let me try to think of the correct terminology here. We abandoned a portion of that, of that right of way. I couldn't go any further to the end of Domino 5 Road because I didn't own two other properties in there and since I have bought those two properties so I own on all sides of the of the what was left of that right. So I didn't realize that there was a requirement for posting due to code because it's not just and just through my eyes It's not just a situation of of affecting whoever owns a property on either side to make sure that's not a normally traveled Route by others in the area to get to something. I think looking at the map It's pretty easy to tell that that that road hasn't been used It stops and you go around. So is there anything else with the packet that either one of y'all saw that did not meet the requirements other than the posting anything else he would need to fulfill also as additional requirements? I think we could probably update the terminology and the deed show that it's an abandoned county road and not just a conveyed piece of property and we could probably clean up that deed a little bit but the notice posting is important. It's also because when a county quick claims a portion of land owners on either side of the road have a right to the middle and granted you own the all around it. However, it's a public notice to anybody who may own an interest around stating that this is being quick claimed to ensure that the people who are have a right to that property being quick claimed are the people receiving that quick claim deed if that makes sense. And so it's a public notice to let everybody know that, whether it's whoever owns the property, now you own it on both sides, but that's not always the case, and that's part of the process. Mm-hmm. Well, the other thing I was just asking, so I mean, if Mr. Dice has to go back and post the notice on the courthouse and two other locations to comply with the code. Didn't want you to go do that, come back to court, and then somebody go, oh, but you also have to do this. If we're gonna send you away and make you come back so you can get this considered again, only want you to have to do it one other time. So not saying we need to approve anything with contingency or anything, there's some things that need to be cleaned up. I just wanted to be as clear as we could I don't want to make it sound like it's, it's no big deal. And it's already decided, but then we can get it back to court and have this potential action considered. All right. Any other questions? Well, we're here. Good question. Okay. Commissioner. Thank you for that. We can clean up some language in the deed. Referring to the abandonment. We can. Help you walk you through anything that we can on past back to court and have this potential action considered. All right. Thank you for any other questions while we're here. Good question. Okay. Commissioner Frantin. Are there anything else? I'll go with that. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Dice. Right. So we will take no action on item C the quick claim deed. Of the 0.549 acre track to be revisited in the future will move to action item D, which is a variance request from section 9. B dot 2 lot restrictions of the Guadalupe County subdivision regulations requiring all lots to have a minimum of 200 feet of frontage on an existing County road relative to 742 and 744 Ridge Road Drive New Brownville, Texas 78130 Guadalupe County property ID 30338 located in precinct 1 Commissioner Sunburner. This particular road those properties were long established before we established a 200 foot requirement so in my view they should be grandfathered. It makes logical sense for the owner to request to separate his property. He has two houses on the property. His mother passed away recently. He wishes to sell her house. There are two separate driveways. And it would be easy to divide that property in half, but neither property would have the 200 foot on the frontage. None of the properties in that whole area have 200 feet. It's a higher end or high valued lots and properties there. So when the request came to me, I looked at it and I said, yes, this makes sense and makes it's logical that we do it. And I would advocate that we approve this variance and grant him permission to proceed to divide that property into two lots. Commissioner. Commissioner. Commissioner. I think you said this is not a developer. It's just a family, at least, and that these lots predate us having a 200 foot. Yes. And so if it was, if it was different, if it was a developer or someone else, then if they wanted to make a change to their use of their property, they would have to conform to our new subdivision regulations. But this is exceptional in nature. It's exceptional in nature because it's physically impossible ever to get 200 feet. And those lots were platted originally a lot smaller in that whole area. And there are two driveways to this. It's two houses. It just makes logical sense that we would grant this variance in this location. I think there's effectively just a hardship on the family. Right. I think that's a lot of reasonable comments being made, but the analytical part of my brain also starts asking a couple questions like, did the second house get put on in a reasonable manner that followed the rules? Did they have a second septic system that was applied for? Did they have a driveway permit that was applied for? Because what that we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the point where we're going to be able to get to the podium, we're not granting variances. We have subdivision rules that are pretty lenient and reasonable, you need to follow up. And then I think this situation's gonna be somewhere gray in between all of those things. But I mean, it just wants us to have an open honest conversation about all that so we can do exactly the same thing when the next problem that comes up that we haven't even heard about. So, Daniel, did you get some? Yes, Judge Commissioner. So, this property as Commissioner Cytonberger said, I mean, it's a little bit, the whole property, the lot, lot 48, is over 200 feet currently, but being split, it would not be. There are two permitted septic systems on the property, which if it was divided, how the property owners suggesting would remain on each lot. I did locate back in 1999 there was a suggestion for the lot to be divided at that point, but I did not see the variance ever come through court, but there was a suggestion when the second system was put in. Both homes do have their own driveway off of Ridge Road, so it would be an easy split besides not meeting the 200 feet each lot. And they would both be over one acre in size. Correct. Right now it is over two and a half acres. It's about 2.62 acres in total. So they would have the room for both the one acre per system and accommodate that. Yes. Now that would be a totally different situation if the instance or occasion was that one would be 1.6 or seven acres, the other would be 9 tenths of an acre. Correct. Then we would be looking at a different situation if they did not at least meet the one acre of septic rule for us. We would probably not even be bringing this variance forward, but in this request both of them will meet the one acre and the septic systems are well set off of where the proposed property line would be. And would have enough area if they had to take out and replace or build extra drain field or do something else. Yes. Correct. And would they have to vacate and re-plat any portion of this old if they are now splitting this or is it just surveyed? This I believe because it isn't a platiss of division they would have to re-plat. They would have to go with that process, but the first step is obtaining the variance. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That answer my question is a platy subdivision. What are their rules, regulations, and that subdivision and referenced? Yes. Yeah. At that time, no. And like this is actually one of the bigger lots in the subdivision. All the other lots are smaller than the 200 feet. This is actually a larger lot. It appears that at one point, maybe it was intended to be too lots, but it was not, it was purchased as one larger lot. Yes. Any other questions, Calmouns? I know. I have a problem with it because of the fact that there's two houses here ready now. They had a house and then they wanted a variance to sell the lot. Then I would say, well, we've got a problem here. But the fact that these two houses are already here, I don't have a problem with it. I think our initial reaction to variance is always is, I don't know. Right. And I mean, just based on comments and discussions we've had in the past, and I understand if any court members hesitant about approving something like this, because I initially was also, but hearing some of the response about the subdivision, about the layout of the almost double lot design, the two septic systems being over and acre existing houses permitted driveway septic systems. It's it's an anomaly and I think if somebody else came in wanting to do the same thing that didn't have the same situation, we could we could explain in words why this would be different than something else. So I think I'll support the variance on the lot. Well, I too am reluctant to grant variances, but sometimes we have to look at what makes common sense. And also what these, this lot was never going to have 200 feet if it was divided into and none of the other ones do in that whole subdivision, the whole platted subdivision, there's not a 200 foot lot. That 200 foot was implemented by us much, much later than the plating for that subdivision. So I think common sense prevails and I think it's a good a good move to prove that variance. With that, I'll move to approve the variance request from section nine, B2, a lot restrictions of the Guadalupe County Sublimation Regulations requiring all lots to have a minimum of 200 feet frontage on an existing county road relative to 742 and 744. Ridge Road Drive, New Bronffellas, Texas, 78130, Guadaloupe County Property ID 30338, located in precinct 1. Second. You have a motion and a second to approve action item D, the variance request, any other comments or questions? We're not hearing no other discussion. All those in favor right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Fence Commission fiscal year 2025 formula grant. Did wanna ask any, I don't know if you have any detail or any information. I know Chris will usually have a little bit of information for us, but I know this is a reoccurring process that we go through every year to get, uh, go through this, this grant and grant award. Um, there's really nothing new that I have heard about. It's just the submission on it. And therefore, relatively ministerial in nature. Therefore, I'll move that we approve quite a little bit county resolution for the Texas Indigent Defense Defense Commission FY 2025 a formula grant. Second, do you have a motion and a second on action item E, any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign? In opposition, that motion passes. We'll probably have that on consent next time. Madam F, authorization for the County Judge complete the online application with the Texas comptroller's office on behalf. The sheriff's office for the rule law enforcement grant established by Senate bill 22. Remember the last legislative session, additional funds were given to the sheriff's office law enforcement and to county attorney's office, the A's offices for operations, for positions and or equipment. October 30, the end of the October is the deadline for submitting the audits, but also is the deadline for submitting the new request for additional funding moving forward. We just need this approved today in court, so we can go online and request the additional funds, which have been beneficial to the county and the SO. The additional funding, again, can be for some positions, has paid for some equipment, additional training. The state has told us that these funds, they anticipate these funds will be reoccurring for an extended period of time. We don't know that, so we're just trying to take advantage of an opportunity the public. We don't know that. So we're just trying to take advantage of an opportunity to get the SO what they need law enforcement what they need better serve the public. With that judge on move that we authorize you County judge to complete the online application with the Texas comptroller's office on behalf of the sheriff's office for the rural law enforcement grant established by Senate bill 22. Second. You have a motion and a second the sheriff's office for the rural law enforcement grant established by Senate Bill 22. Second. You have a motion and a second to approve action item F in any other discussion. If you, if we apply for these funds again, when will we be doing this again? It's said for a year or probably going to be a yearly. Okay. for a year or probably going to be a yearly submission on the new application and yearly audits on what the funds were spent on. Any other comments, questions? Right, hearing no other discussion, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign? Hearing no opposition, that motion passes. Action item G is review the bids and recommendations for IFB 24-23 patrol rifles and award the contract for purchase and accordance with local government code 262.02.027C. Good morning, judging commissioners. Some information was provided to me after business hours yesterday, which could affect the recommended award of this bid with that in mind, I request that no action be taken today so that I can look further into the information that was provided to me. Any other comments or questions on that? No sir. Well thank you for the additional information and recommendation. We'll look forward to having further discussions about this. All right, we'll take no action on item G. We will move to action item H. The rules of procedure, conduct and decorum at meetings of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court. Commissioner Carpenter. Yes sir, in working with our County Attorney Mr. Ties, I'm at meetings of the Guadalued County Commissioner's Court. Commissioner Carpenter. Yes, sir. And working with our county attorney, Mr. Ties, we made some changes to the rules that were established in 2019 by this court. One reason was to conform to our current practices. The rules read and reflect the number of practices in 2019, 2020, 2022, etc. But we do things a little differently now as we build our agenda. We also made some changes and I'm Mr. Ties May wish to talk to this as well, for us to conform to state law, not everything that we had in our rules worked with state law. Introducing a simplified parliamentary procedure. A lot of times organizations will refer to Robert's rules of order as parliamentary procedure for that body. That's a book. It's about this thick. So the simplified parliamentary procedures that are in the rules fit on two pages and not a book. And are easy to understand and to put into practice and then to establish a couple of norms for our meetings. One of which with which is regard to the amount of time that presentations made by staff, department heads, appointees, other invitees to five minutes. But at any rate, those are the the primary reasons that we made changes. I think that Mr. Tyson, I have any questions anybody might have. Item E4E, where the deadline, and I totally didn't get the deadline. I mean, we all should have that deadline. But in the current one, there is a, I hate to use word variants, but there's a emergency unforeseen situation where things can get on after that noon Wednesday deadline. I don't see it on here. Right. So and I asked Judge about that when talking about the rules and what What's what's working what's not working and I don't want to put words in your mouth. I was thinking you said maybe in the last five years, there was one situation that was actually emergency tight and that's not absolutely rare. I forgot to get it on time. That kind of deal. So there's a challenge that occurs developing the agenda on the backside. And I don't expect everybody to understand because you haven't gone through it. Everybody submitted written requests prior to our Granicus and Peac agenda process in the software. But things were turned in and it was Friday afternoons. We were scrambling around trying to make sure the documents were signed contracts were reviewed for a Tuesday commissioners court. And we moved things up to Friday morning and Thursday. And as we become busier with just things going on all the time at the county that process takes even longer now. So we instituted, I mean a few years back a deadline of Wednesday at noon. Almost every week I get a phone call going, I know I missed the deadline is okay to put it on. Well, what's the issue? Can it wait till next court? We have a court next week? Well, it really needs to get on. Well, typically those conversations are and I know we're all busy, but typically it is a reoccurring conversation of I waited because I thought I could get it on. I need it done next week and now it's your problem because it's Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon, which it's not the end of the world. The problem is when five and six and seven items pile up like that on a two and three page agenda, takes Mr. Ties myself, commissioners, court members and staff hours on the backside to review the paperwork submitted to get corrections made to make sure vendors that are out of state sometimes sign contracts. The list of issues can go on and on. So I mean, trying to just create a standard of everybody knows this is a hard deadline, where even myself as person kind can wait till the next court or for two weeks, but it's one of those things. I think all of us just need to be mindful nobody under any circumstance or situation of a likes might walk up to him, hand him a binder of paper and say, I need you to look at this in the next 15 minutes. And that happens on a regular basis. Just please be mindful, there's a lot of workings that nobody gets to see that take time and effort to make sure it's right. So we don't have to revisit things three and four and five times. So I think having a standard of time is good. I think Wednesday at noon is a reasonable request. Some other counties where I'd personally like the structure is to have something on court for next Tuesday. It had to be submitted before court started today. It's a week in advance. We're not doing that. We're giving additional time. I think it's a reasonable approach and request because if something does fall off the rails and it is unforeseen, it truly is an emergency. Under the code, we still have the ability to call an emergency meeting in a few hours. And we also have the ability through staff to go, hey, this really is an emergency. Is everybody okay with having this on court for consideration next week? It just, again, rarely happens. I think we can solve a lot of those potential issues just by communicating and planning ahead. And sorry, I don't want to give that back. No, no, no. But to put a fine point on it, assuming that we pass this to this today, the court is tying the hands, if you will, of everyone that participates in preparing an agenda. There's no need to call the judge of everyone that participates in preparing an agenda. There's no need to call the judge or call any other person that works on the agenda and ask if, oh, can I have an exception? We didn't get this in in time. There's no need to do that because the answer is no. And this being codified in this document. The other thing that needs to be said again, because we get new employees all the time, when you email, you have to, you cannot email us as a court. That's a meeting. Even if it's on email, it's a meeting. We can't have a meeting without posting an agenda. The same thing is true. Three of us can't get together at one time because that's a meeting. So please understand that, especially when you're emailing. I don't know if you can't make that blank in statement because there's a lot of emails ago to commissioners court and all of us receive that email. That's not a meeting. But they're emailed separately to each of us, not as a whole. But we can receive an email to all of us. Yeah. but none of us can respond to reply to all. That's the danger of it. That's the difference. Yeah. I don't think it's a bad point. Just be careful, staff, send in things out that does prompt responses. No, some people even put in there. Please do not respond all. And that's fine. Just be careful. If you are soliciting a response response maybe that should be sent individually or separated to begin with. So if somebody accidentally does respond, it can't be, it can't somebody can't respond to everybody on accident. There's a few other things in here that are probably worthy of pointing out to that will be, that are quite different that will affect appointees, staff members, electeds, and that's item 8a. It says each member of the public who appears before commissioners courts, I'll address the court from the podium. I'm sorry, that's the, that's five minutes for those that come before us. However, it also says in here, find it. I do apologize that while we were doing a proclamation, I did not turn the timer off from the previous speaker and that's why the timer on my phone was going off. So I'm sorry about that. I'll all good. Here it is, item number 12. Elected officials, employees appointed by the court, staff members or anyone else in making presentation to commissioners court at a meeting of the court, shall restrict their presentations to five minutes, excluding responses to questions by the county judge and or commissioners. Time can be extended by the presiding officer with the unanimous consent of the members present, no vote required unless there's an objection. Anything, just about anything and everything that the court needs to be educated on can be done in five minutes. If not, it's probably a good idea to go back and sharpen the pencil and work harder on condensing to a five minute presentation. So the change would be that's not just for any presentation. That's for all. That's any end all. Yes. Indeed. Now one thing that comes to mind. Insurance. Yeah, I was going to say insurance. I was going to be specific. But yes, I was. No, I mean, we do have some of those very detailed type discussions and presentations that come up that are extremely impactful to the county. But I think to your point, we would still have the ability as a court to decide, okay, this is more involved, more detailed, we need more information. We'd like to have more time on this topic, as opposed to having no standards set up and then listening to a 47 minute presentation, which we've done that we feel like could be done in 10 or 15 minutes. And it draws out court and takes time away from other important things. So it's I think having that mindset and viewpoint of trying to refine things so we can be efficient. I think a lot of us have a similar idea. If government sits in a room for five, six, seven hours, nothing good happens. We have gone horribly wrong. Right. It's like we should try to do it in a few hours and be prepared and be efficient and be concerned and move on, make good decisions and let's go. So I agree with that. I think we just need to know and thank you for pointing that out because it is a change that the understanding is everything will be short, but if something is important let us know ahead of time. This is going to take a while. This is why I think I mean may need extra time. But let me send the presentation ahead of time so you can review it and have questions. That's always very, very helpful. Yes, ma'am. There are many times that I submit a request to get on the agenda. We have to have approval from a commissioner to get on the agenda. And it's four or five days. That could delay my item on the agenda because nobody's looking at my email. Is there a response time that y'all need a response? Are you sending and submitting an email or is it only through peak in which you're receiving the correspondence? It's been in the past that I was submitting an email with my attachment. and email is only through peak in which you're receiving the correspondence. It's been in the past that I was submitting an email with my attachment. Right. I think Angie is doing it now through peak. Yeah, let's say everything should be going in and this is all through peak now. Like sending needs to be made clear. It is there. Yeah, and that's the biggest change. Before we had a software system where you could submit electronic requests to have agenda items on myself Garene Trish and Bob back then before mr. Ties were all getting separate emails sometimes all of us sometimes one of us and then I was gone at a meeting somebody was out sick or vacation They're like we sent an email last week and it wasn't all now Everything is required funneled It to be funneled and submitted through peak. Don't send an email to one of us going, I sent you an email, you didn't respond, Steven or Kyle and we're like, but we never saw anything on peak and we were doing that remotely or reviewing it at eight o'clock at night to make sure the agenda was good. So is that a fair response? One clarification is that one of the required items, as you fill in the peak form. So there's an online portal and you fill in the blanks. One of the items is approval for adding this to the agenda. So the goal is that whoever's submitting it, at least have a short conversation with one of the five of you because the only people that can add an item to the agenda for our members of the court or approve adding the item to the agenda. And so just to get a blessing of whether it's a, I wanna do a donation or I wanna do a, update this agreement or whatever it is, is it okay if I put this on the agenda? And so that is one of the items that, and I think that's what Teresa is talking about is trying to obtain that, hey, it's okay to go ahead and put it on. And I give what you're saying. And so that's, and if we want to change that process, we can change that process. I know, for example, I spoke with my counterpart in Hayes County, the way that they use the system is that somebody submits an agenda item online. They designate the member of the court and it goes to them and they have to log into the agenda system and they have to press approve and this process shows that they approve the item to be added to the agenda. That's another way to do it. However, we're still kind of new in this. And so the goal was to at least get some sort of blessing to say, okay, we can put that topic or that item on. Now some items we know know the EBA list the bill list those items are going to be on every week we've got to add those on but that was a thought behind that. What a phone call suffice. Yeah as long as they have your permission it didn't say that you have to have approval of writing or signature or anything it just says who gave you the authority to add It's also I had that recently with our email issues Either by text or by a phone call Are you okay putting this on the agenda and I'm like okay? Yes, that's fine. And so then it goes through you and the judge and verbally you will say. Commissioner, right, approved it via phone or whatnot. I just want to make it. So when we look at the agenda items, we can create, have the potential to create a report that says who the approving authority was. And if somebody said that Commissioner Grimman said that he could put this item on and he goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, I never said you could put that on. I don't support that at all. Why did you use my name? It's some sort of accountability for not just letting the agenda get out of control with adding whatever. Right. Because what's happened in the past is I mean, typically whoever the county judges has been the one that made kind of final determinations and approvals, which the benefit is not everybody has to be involved every minute of every day in the creation of the agenda. The bad thing is you have one individual making final determinations on whether things can be on or not and all that stuff and each court member has the ability to put items on. So I mean, well, I think the benefit of having this through Granicus and Peek is that you have that engagement by the requester to individual court members to have something on whether it's email, text, phone, some correspondence needs to happen that then we're informed of what's going to be beyond there. There's approval. There's somebody that owns that item and then we're informed of what's going to be beyond there. There's approval. There's somebody that owns that item and then we're not waiting till the end. Everybody goes, what, what is that? Nobody knows who's it is or what's going on. And the benefit also of this is if there's something that doesn't work right or needs to be defined a little bit more, we could come back and amend that right in a couple months if we had to and we could come back and amend that in a couple months if we had to. And we will come back and amend and change our rules of procedure conduct and decorum because things change around us, especially when we get the state legislature involved. And I just input back on what Trice was mentioning, it may be worth putting the back of our mind that if it is truly a consent item that we have a category that is consent that donations don't necessarily need to call a commissioner or remember the court to get approval to add or a renewal contract that is a renewed service, it's a budgeted item and the contract hasn't changed and the attorney has approved it and it's going to be consent that that doesn't necessarily have to say, hey, can I put this renewal for the copy machine that we've had for the last 15 years back on so that we can have a copy machine next year? Well, we've also had, I mean, you and I have had conversations where the requester goes, I want this to be consent and you're like, that's not even close. Right. Like, and that's where the review after the fact, I think, is in. But if it's completely, and maybe we define what we have a consent category and give it broad parameters and say, this is generally what our consent items are and and define that for a future update. In consent may be denied. Right. Right. Right. To be an action. Right. I think it's good to set the boundaries though. I mean, the previous rules of procedure conduct in the quorum have helped kind of steer things. I think redefining it as smartest things change as we get more involved with with all types of things and development and I mean public and presenters and information. I like the refined rules and procedure that will follow in court. I mean there's definitions. I mean somebody can pick it up and look at this and go understand how the court operates generally. Exactly. It's all through by publishing these things and letting the public know how we are going to conduct our meetings. The public can also hold us accountable to what we say. There's transparency. There's not a lack of clarity as to how we're going to conduct our meetings. I think that that's part and parcel of the reason for making sure that we have these, that we come back and make changes as the environment changes or when the legislature makes changes to the state law so that again, not only we and all of our staff appointed as an electives but the public have a clear understanding of how we're going to conduct our business. Any other commission? Item 9 is a streamlined methodology for selection of a judge pro-tem. However, it is significantly different from our previous one and I like it because it's program. It is a very important thing to be able to do with the community. It is a very important thing to be able to do with the community. It is a very important thing to be able to do with the community. It is a very important thing to be able to do with the community. It is a very important thing to do with the community. It is a very important thing to do with the community. this was changed. So I took this it was the old version was quite worthy and it and it didn't really it was incredibly vague too. The state statutes only state that the county judges to presiding member there is no backup as to who presides over the meeting so therefore it's left to each county to determine. As far as the terms judge pro Tim, I think that can be sometimes a misnomer because while a mayor pro Tim can generally act in the place of a mayor and mayor's absence, a member of the commission's court is not, cannot serve as the county judge in place of the judge. And so while they serve to preside over the meetings, they're not actually the county judge for that purpose, which is why I took that term out. This is a methodology that seems clean. I've been told that in the past, there was a rotating process that could get confusing. Also that it referred to years of service as an elected official, but it didn't say county elected official or City or state or national. I mean, it didn't define what those elected official numbers were. So it was incredibly vague as to who potentially could be the pro-tim and with this it will be that at the first regular meeting in January, all five members of the court will elect one of the four commissioners to serve as a presiding officer in the absence of the judge. And that's what it states now, however, it is completely up to the court as to how the court wants to determine who presides in the absence of the judge. Is there a provision in the state regs if there is a absence of the judge? He's incapacitated or is he's on extended leave or whatever is there any provision for another court member to function as county judge? I think it's only in the event of death or resignation if I'm not mistaken. And I can look into it for you some more, but I think it's only if that person can no longer serve as the county judge and essentially no longer the county judge that the court elects somebody to be the county judge. So while the judge is on vacation and to Heady and there's a need for a signature or a thing for the county what happens is just as much as there's court can still authorize a designated individual to sign documents that. I mean on behalf of the county correct right and that's why all of the meetings it says that it can be called by the county judge or a certain number of members of the court. It gives the alternatives when giving authority in the statutes. As I'll say, unfortunately, we lived through this years ago with vacancy and then basically having a judge pro timber presiding officer just to run meetings to coordinate an application process to have interviews to select an interim judge prior to Executive Party placing somebody on the ballot. So I mean, it's it's a challenging dynamic, but there are sections not only in this, but in the election code also also to dictate the timelines of how Open seats are appointed and replaced. So I know this is different, but I got to Mr. Ty's point. I think it does clear up and put in things in line in accordance with what is out there that counties have to follow. That's why brought it up. I wasn't really trying to send you to to Heaty. I was going to say have not been there not going. So I was going to say have not been there not going so. Didn't mean. Any other questions comments on the procedure conduct or rules of the quorum for Glowland County Commissioner's Court. I would just say that if we if we pass these today, I would encourage anyone who's part of the organization, elected appointed staff, et cetera, read through the rules and be familiar with them. It is our plan to adhere to them as a body. That judge, I'll move that we approve the rules of procedure conduct and decorum at meetings of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court as Presented to the court today by Mr. Tyres Second, move a motion and a second on action item H and the other comments or questions You ignore the discussion all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Same sign. You're in no opposition. That motion passes. We'll move to item nine on our agenda announcement of upcoming Guadalupe County public events. I see Mr. Pender coming up to the podium. How are you, sir? Good. Judge commissioners this weekend on Saturday, October 19th, starting at 10 o'clock. We will have the Seguin Falsafel Festival downtown. Live music, it's free to get in. We'll have a car show also during the event. We'll have 30 craft vendors that have signed up and secured their spots. We have about eight food vendors. Lots of kids activities will be right here on the square. So we encourage everyone to come out. The money raised from this event will benefit the local fire departments that are here participating. We've got all the volunteer fire departments participating, Cibolo, Sigeen. So they'll all be here, come out and say hi and enjoy the fun. Thank you. Thank you. Carmen, how are you doing? Good, thank you. So we have several events. You can go to the Guadalupe County website to learn more about the details. On Thursday we have veterans outreach and coffee and camaraderie for veterans at the Veterans Outreach Center on Winer Street. 12 noon and 5 p.m. to learn more about the volunteers needed. Marion Family Festival is on Friday night as well, starting at 5.30 at the high school. And Dean mentioned the Kiki Camarini run that is taking place at the Veterans Outreach Center, where their start will begin at 9 a.m. Patrick mentioned the fall festival and elections office. Want to meet to remind everyone early voting voting will begin Monday, October 21st, and run through November the 1st. Thank you. You're already using it. Yeah. Commissioners and the other announcements. Yes sir. The Wade Busby Memorial Fundraisers this weekend, this Saturday, they raise funds for the youth of Guadaloupe County. It's a good cause. It's a great event. Water fun. And our next regularly scheduled commissioners court will be Tuesday, October 29th at 10 a.m. With no other announcements, we'll move to item 10 executive session discussion only close to the public. Personnel chapter 551.071 under item A consultation with attorney for advice regarding pending or threatened litigation and take action if necessary item B. Personnel section 551.087 to discuss or deliberate regarding commercial or financial information. The governmental body is received from a business prospect that the governmental body seeks to have locate, stay or expand in or near the territory of the public officer or employee to it, wrote in Bridget Administrator and Item D, percent section 551.072 to deliberate to purchase exchange lease or value of real property. We'll recess from this regular session of Commissioner's Court and Enter Close Session at 11.48 AM. 40 a.m. you I'm going to go back to the next slide. All right, coming back from closed session, we'll reconvene this regular session of commissioners court at 2.44 p.m. We did go into closed session to discuss consultation with our attorney, also economic development negotiations, our road and bridge administrator, road and bridge and schedules, as well as the purchase exchange lease or value of real property. Commissioners, there are any comments, discussion points, or potential motions coming out of closed session. I don't think so. No action. All right. Hearing no comments, no potential motions to consider. Take no action on our closed session items and move to number 11 on our agenda, which is motion to adjourn move to adjourn second. We have a motion to second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed and we are adjourned at 245 p.m.