KingWm #LibertyMatters

It took the court 28 minutes to dispose of 12 items, including 10 minutes worth of public comments.  Three speakers urged the court to support the eastern route for the proposed Highway 77 bypass.  (It’s not too late to influence the route decision.)  The Court breezed through several routine items before Judge Zapalac began the budget discussion with the recycling center and Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace.  Local non-profits followed with budget request presentations.  Finally, plans for the Tuesday 7/16 budget workshop appear to include EMS, Sheriff, DPS, the Airport, Elections and another 5% payroll increase.  Don’t miss that one!  Hear it all here...

Today in Commissioners Court, citizens express their opposition to the Wind Farm.  TJ Mac led the way followed by several other speakers.  Don’t miss the comments by former Judge Ed and Commissioner Brossman.  My comments?  1) Tell Governor Abbott to stop encouraging green energy scams in Texas, 2) recognize that private property rights end where they cause harm to your neighbors, and 3) while County government may have no legal recourse, they have and should exercise all political solutions at their disposal, including a non-binding resolution condemning the ”green energy” project.

The first half hour is the budget workshop. Two things were discussed: projects to use the borrowed Maintenance Tax Note money on, and revenue projections for the next budget cycle.  At 6PM the budget workshop was adjourned and the Regular Meeting started immediately. There were two public speakers. The first (me) covered a couple topics: advising the board of some education-related items in the approved Texas State Republican Party platform, teachers’ concealed carry, and hiring third party companies with a stated “woke” worldview at six-figure rates in a time of budget shortfall. Also I spoke on some EFB-Local (library materials) responsibilities the board is neglecting to address. The other speaker basically read a story from progressive Texas Tribune about a board member who supposedly had a change of heart and decided that their school’s library materials weren’t a problem after all. This progressive second speaker refuted (basically by an appeal to authority) some of my own points.

It was a very nice and productive meeting today, beginning with public comments on Juneteenth and the windmill farm.  Subdivision regulation via enforcement gets a boost today, there is a lengthy EMS report covering billing issues and scholarships, and the Muldoon Park and the airport construction project and were discussed.  The main event, however, was the discussion on employee benefits, the budget and payroll.  Don’t miss the last few minutes.

At 12 minutes, this was one of the shortest meetings I have attended.  The court spent a couple minutes approving a CVTC easement and a contract for the demolition of the last flood-damaged home.  Last November, a ballot proposition to investigate the expansion of broadband internet access was passed and the implementation of this proposal appeared before the Court today and consumed most of its time.  Commissioner Sternadel, Kelly Ellison (the CEO of CVTC) and I were appointed to serve on the Broadband Committee which will study the availability of broadband internet access in the County.

Today in Commissioners Court, Emancipation Day was declared, and the employee insurance renewal was discussed.  The new subdivision ordinance received its first test since adoption and survived.  We hear reports from the Grant Specialist and EMC, the EMS director, Chief Deputy Noviski and the Court approved a new part time animal control officer.  The most interesting thing, however, were the budget amendments.  Precinct 2 Commissioner Sternadel asked for a half a million dollar budget amendment to build a bridge which will vastly diminish Precinct 2’s reserve funds.  No word on why it was not approved in last year’s budget or why it can’t wait until next year when it can be budgeted and collected from taxpayers.

Courtesy of Jeff Parker: The public portion of the meeting was fairly routine at 42 minutes long.  One public speaker addressed the board on the library materials issue.  The board approved borrowing $2 million for 15 years via a Maintenance Tax Note – interest rate 4.495% plus $45,000 fee to the company that helped line up the lending bank.  Intruder Detection Audit Report – there was one “finding”, but the details were to be discussed in closed session and not made available to the public.  Incumbent trustees Mr. Calvin Mersiovsky and Dr. Karen Roberts were sworn in to begin their three-year term.

At 70 minutes, this meeting was a bit longer than normal and there were lengthy discussions on several topics.  This month is declared “Older Americans Month”, it was acknowledged that the County could install a culvert for a cemetery and the interlocal agreement with County VFWs was approved.  Most discussion revolved around jail inmate communications contracts (very interesting topic), the maintenance requirements of Muldoon Park and the airport hangar leases.

The tension in the Courtroom today was palpable as the SB22 budget was narrowly approved by a 3/2 vote.  While the simpler and generally smaller requests made by the Constables and County Attorney’s Office received little scrutiny, the request by the Sheriff’s Office drew criticism and ultimately divided the Court.  At issue was the overall use of the funds, the size and distribution of the pay increases, the approval authority and the audit trail.  Some things can’t be reported on, you just have to hear it for yourself.  This is one such occasion.  It’s only 16 minutes.

The first order of business was to approve the language of the amendment to the subdivision regulations.  I support most of the changes, but the court went too far by setting the minimum lot width of 170’ when 150’ would do.  The second topic covered the use of the SB22 grant funds.  There was no information available to the public at the meeting and no presentation was made.  All they said was that they wanted to use 100% of the grant funds for salary.  After getting official copies of the spreadsheets, I can see why there is so much secrecy as the proposed raises would represent a total increase in overall compensation of 30% or more on average, in one year!  The final decision will be made Thursday 5/2.