[0:09] of the Commissioner's Court of Hood County, Texas. Today is Monday, March

[0:13] 9th, 2026. It's 9:00 a.m. and we're in the central jury room of the Ralph H.

[0:17] Walton Jr. Justice Center at 1200 West Pearl Street in Granberry, Texas.

[0:24] Uh, you want to give the invocation this

[0:27] morning, please? Mr. Wilson, >> pray with me, please.

[0:34] Our most gracious heavenly father, we're thankful for the many blessings you have

[0:38] given each of us in [clears throat] our lives. We ask

[0:42] that you be with each of us now as we go about the business for the county

[0:48] that we may make the decisions that are in the best interest of all.

[0:53] Continue thy blessings upon us. Bless this court in Christ's name. Amen.

[0:57] » Amen.

[1:00] flagged

[1:03] flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One

[1:09] nation indivisible with liberty and justice for

[1:14] all. >> I pledge to the great state of Texas.

[1:17] Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas one state

[1:24] one and indivisible. >> Okay.

[1:29] Okay. The first item of business is to receive presentations from and

[1:35] conduct questions and answers with shortlisted vendors in response to RFQ

[1:41] 20264 construction manager/owners

[1:46] agent. [clears throat] The court may make an award at this time or at a later

[1:50] date. Mr. Glenn Tilman. >> Good morning, judge, commissioners. Uh

[1:55] so yes, we're going to start with the uh construction management owners agent

[1:58] services. Um and the first uh presenter will be Southwest architects. We're

[2:05] going to ask uh all teams that have not yet presented today if they would wait

[2:09] out in the out in the hallway with their devices turned off

[2:14] uh to maintain fairness among the groups. The sheriff will call you in one

[2:18] at a time whenever it's your whenever it's your turn.

[2:24] Thank you, sir. >> Good morning.

[2:28] » Good morning. Let's wait until everybody gets out. Give a few minutes.

[2:33] » How are you doing?

[2:44] How you doing?

[3:06] Ready

[3:11] to start? Excuse me.

[3:16] » Yes, sir. Go ahead. Okay. Go ahead. Begin. Are you ready, Christine?

[3:23] » No, we're good. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Jeff Huffinger with Southwest

[3:28] Architects. Um, Southwest Architects. It's located in Crescent, Texas. We've

[3:35] been in business since 1985. We've represented counties throughout

[3:40] the state. Uh we've done over 35 jail facilities. And the first thing you're

[3:45] thinking to yourself is we're not trying to hire an architect. I know you're not.

[3:50] Wayne is a good friend of mine. He's a great architect. And it just so happens

[3:54] when you were trying to get an architect, I was pretty busy. So at the

[3:57] time, I didn't think it was prudent for me to get outside my comfort zone. But

[4:04] as this situation has developed, I just felt like it was important to reach out

[4:10] to the court. I'm a local guy. I'm actually semi-retired now. I'm not going

[4:14] to lie to you. Uh after 41 years of chasing work from all four corners of

[4:20] the state. It's time for me to kind of slow down. Just it happens. Okay. And I

[4:25] guess I've been blessed enough that I can do that. But I saw an opportunity

[4:30] here for something for me to work within the community that I shop in. We eat

[4:36] here. My we live literally one mile on the other side of the county line. And

[4:41] if somebody asks where I'm from, I'm from Cranberry. I'm not from Fort Worth.

[4:44] I'm not from Benrook. I'm from Granberry. And at the end of the day,

[4:48] that's that's the way my wife and I decided in 2006 to relocate out here.

[4:54] and I just really have enjoyed it. Um, the bottom line is is as I've went

[5:00] through the process and read all the documents that you can read online, I've

[5:05] got enjoy visiting with a few of you before the RFQ came out and uh and I

[5:11] will mention this, that is the most thorough RFQ in my career. I'm I don't

[5:18] know if you wrote it by yourself, but that was absolutely spoton. Okay, spot

[5:24] on. Now, I've I've I like I said, I can tell you about all the counties I've

[5:29] worked for. Wise County in this area, Somerville, Wise, Young, uh, Bossi,

[5:35] Corel. I just finished a courthouse in Corel. Just finished a jail expansion in

[5:39] Corell. Um, Weise County did in 1996,

[5:46] I believe it was. The irony of that was is I was challenged there to add on to a

[5:52] jail that was 100% full and that while we were going to do this addition, it

[5:58] was going to stay 100% full. Well, that challenge came back. We spent a lot of

[6:03] extra time master plan, which is one of the things that I'm really going to push

[6:07] for is a long-term master plan. They wanted that jail to last 30 years. We

[6:12] added on 230 beds. It's it is currently 50% occupied. Okay,

[6:21] that's what you want. You want you want your jail to last longer than your your

[6:25] your uh bond program. Uh and when I was looking at all the presentation stuff

[6:32] and some very interesting uh ways to look at it, the the accountants that did

[6:38] the analysis, the the jail commission and that's two years old. Now, one of

[6:45] the concerns I had when I was looking at it is it's two years old. I've seen a

[6:51] lot more explos I I drive that road and thank God for the bypass now. You know,

[6:57] I know the traffic volume is greatly increasing. So, I know that we have

[7:02] become not a retirement community but a community where with industry with with

[7:08] uh re commercial retail everything. So, it's growing, which is going to grow

[7:13] your issues with the uh the jail long term. And when I looked at a 160 bed

[7:20] addition to a 192 beds, I went, "Okay, their peak was 29.

[7:27] My quick averaging of their last 6 months is 230. We had 160 to 192. We're

[7:34] at 350." Right? Well, if you take the 40 odd that he's housing out currently, add

[7:41] that to 92, we're already at 250. Jail Commission recommends at 80%

[7:48] capacity that you start considering a new program. Well, at 282, you're going

[7:55] to be at your 80% capacity. So I just challenged this court, the department

[8:02] that we put together a team and that team is is supported by commissioners.

[8:09] Always like to have two commissioners on every team on the team. The sheriff's

[8:14] office, IT, the clerk, and also the maintenance department. And I'm I didn't

[8:21] get a chance to get with a sheriff because the RFQ came out beforehand. But

[8:25] at the end of the day, we meet very regularly with all my clients. I've done

[8:31] this. The keys to a successful project is the team and being accountable for

[8:38] every step of the process. Uh and quite frankly, in the booklet I gave you, I've

[8:44] given you a milestone outline that I've used for 30 years. And in that milestone

[8:50] outlay, you'll see how that team responds at every single milestone of

[8:56] the jail commission from pre-bond at uh schematic design. That team puts

[9:02] together a a very very thorough cost estimate. Now, I'm also of the opinion

[9:08] that we should have a construction manager on board right now. should have

[9:12] been six months ago because you can get a construction manager to go to work for

[9:18] this county for literally free to work with your architect and work with you as

[9:24] the owner and develop a detailed cost estimate. And that's the start of the

[9:29] project. And at every single milestone, it's updated and it's kept kept very

[9:37] thorough. And by doing that, we keep this court informed monthly. how this

[9:42] project's going, how it's developing. But but at the first, like I said, I'm

[9:47] coming, this whole process is coming in after the bond election. It's just like

[9:52] I was looking at when I was talking about the numbers, I was looking at some

[9:56] challenges that I've dealt with in the past similar to that. And so what we've

[10:02] learned is we as a team can create alternates at the very start of a

[10:09] project and track that cost potential through the point where we submit the

[10:16] project out to bid. And if we're tracking those alternates, this court

[10:20] has options that might en enhance your return on your

[10:25] investment. A good example is I I believe when I just reviewed real

[10:30] quickly the schematic, it 48 bit expansion. Well, based on everybody's

[10:37] recommendation, that's still 48 beds short. So, why not look at that

[10:42] possibility of that expansion in the original scope as an alternate? I've

[10:48] actually done it where we built the shelves and then if we were under

[10:52] budget, we finished out the bedrooms outside the box thinking at the start of

[10:58] these projects will make your return on your investment

[11:03] maximized. And remember, I started in this business doing jails at $160 a

[11:09] foot. They're not 160 a foot now. you know, we're lo we're closer to the 700

[11:15] range, but at the end of the day, um construction costs are going up

[11:20] everywhere from 6 to 8% a year. And anything we can plan now,

[11:28] even if it's just doing the infrastructure for our MA, if we could

[11:32] create a long-term master plan, everything we do today will save us in

[11:37] the future. and god forbid you was was to ever complete a construction on a

[11:43] project and five years later you're having to look at doing it again. I much

[11:49] rather look at a project forward thinking at the start and everybody

[11:54] understands the necessities of numbers and money.

[12:00] But if you're looking forward now, look what benefit it'll give a future court

[12:07] and you might be the one stabbing to deal with that in the future. So all I'm

[12:10] saying is costs are started at the very start of a project and the way to

[12:16] contain those costs is to have a very thorough master plan and follow through

[12:22] with the master plan through the whole process keeping the teams working,

[12:27] keeping the court informed all the way up to the point where it goes out to bid

[12:33] and then where there's no surprises. Um, in all my years I've been over budget

[12:38] one project and it was during the pandemic and I told the court it was

[12:42] going to happen. It does. It did. But at the end of the day that's because we

[12:47] pre-planned even that and failed. I hate to admit it but it did. But if you take

[12:53] if you take a 48 career year career and you have one bust,

[12:59] I'm I'm pretty proud of it. So another form of how we're going to maintain cost

[13:05] controls is I believe that architect or this representative should be on the

[13:10] site every week. Okay. And I'm going to propose a step contract. At the first,

[13:16] it'll be heavy. Helping develop master plans, helping develop costs, help

[13:21] developing all the cost controls, getting the construction manager on

[13:25] board, coordinating with the architect, working together, and bringing back to

[13:30] this court a good solid estimate. Then, as we go into the phase where the

[13:36] architect is spending his time doing all the construction documents, hey, you

[13:41] don't need to be paying somebody to do nothing. monthly update and I would I

[13:47] would perform those monthly updates and keep the court informed of how it's

[13:51] going with the architect meeting with the sheriff and and the team and then

[13:56] presenting to the court once a month and then when construction starts it could

[14:02] be every day um 17 miles away okay other than taking my granddaughter to school I

[14:09] have no responsibilities hardly anymore I've limited my my exposure to the

[14:15] industry, but I would expect once once it starts going vertical, I'd be here

[14:20] every day and I'd have a team meeting once a week and and that team meeting

[14:26] wouldn't necessarily always include the architect because I'm not familiar with

[14:31] your contract with him, but I would meet with a contractor. I meet with the subs

[14:37] the representatives from the court representatives from the so maintenance

[14:42] very important to have maintenance guy if he's if he's in the house or if he's

[14:46] countywide because if he understands how that pipes are run he understands how to

[14:52] fix them we don't wait till the end so we would be meeting every week we would

[14:58] thoroughly discuss the budget and schedules uh

[15:03] time is money at the end of the day and everybody makes more money if they keep

[15:07] on time. That's what we're going to do. I I'm I'm I'm not shy about it. I carry

[15:13] around a book with me. I have every single subcontractor's name from their

[15:17] foreman, the owner, and and anybody involved in those projects and they're

[15:23] welcome to call me night and day up to seven and I to answer questions. I don't

[15:30] want anybody ever to be held up because we aren't there. You know, that's the

[15:35] bottom line because times money to that subcontractor. And you build a

[15:39] relationships with those subcontractors and contractors, it's it's golden. They

[15:44] go bend over backwards for you. And so I I carry around 10 years of phone

[15:49] numbers. I just had a call the other day from a a jail I did in Wheeler, Texas,

[15:55] and they had an issue with their force man, and they couldn't remember exactly

[16:00] where it was. Well, one, I create a set of documents that go into the clerk's

[16:04] office that nobody can touch. And the sheriff gets a complete set of those

[16:09] documents for at his at his facility. But at the end of the day, I pulled it

[16:13] up on my computer, called him up, told him exactly where it was, got it

[16:17] resolved. I'm available. I'm available in the future. And as this project goes

[16:23] on and on, I'm very familiar with how the jail commission standards are going

[16:28] and what they're expecting and how they're expecting it. We're one of the

[16:32] three architects that do these jails in the state as a general rule. Uh, and

[16:36] like I said, we're good friends with plane and and at the end of the day, I

[16:41] understand the jail commissioning and once it's commissioned, I have a very

[16:45] thorough maintenance checklist that I propose that the sheriff keep in house

[16:51] with his maintenance people which deals with items weekly, monthly, quarterly,

[16:56] semian, annually. And by maintaining those items and and being accountable to

[17:02] the sheriff who's accountable to the court when it comes to the spring and

[17:06] summer when you go to be uh doing your budgets for maintenance, he sees where

[17:11] he's had problems. It helps. But more importantly,

[17:17] you as a court are observing that he's doing his best to maintain the facility

[17:22] that you blessed him with to have. And at the end of the day, that's so

[17:26] important. The long term, I mean, I've done jails 25 years ago. You can still

[17:31] walk in and they're still just like a hospital. The floors are kept beautiful,

[17:36] the painting is checked on, and the graffiti is taken care of. And at the

[17:41] end of the day, that's what we're here for. Um,

[17:47] » finger, I have a couple of questions.

[17:50] » Yes, ma'am. Let him have his time. >> Okay. I didn't know if he was

[17:54] » I I I'm I'm Yeah, I'm done. I'm I'm I'm I'm happy that I've submitted everything

[17:59] I can to you. >> Mh. Commissioner Wilson, why don't you

[18:02] go ahead? >> Go ahead.

[18:05] » Did the job in Wheeler County? >> I mean, what was the capacity that you

[18:11] added? >> Uh it was a new construction.

[18:13] » New How many? >> 64.

[18:16] » 64. >> 64.

[18:18] » Okay. >> Yes, sir. Um, I'm I've been in my career

[18:22] I've been pretty well known for like 140 less. That's been my bread and

[18:30] butter to speak. Um, at the end of the day, all the rules on the jail

[18:35] commissions are are the same for every jail, though. So, I'm very I'm very

[18:39] confident. Like I said, did I did a large one for uh Weise County and I've

[18:45] actually did a planned one for Corell County. What about at Parington? At

[18:49] Parington Alche County. >> Uh that is a 48 bed.

[18:54] » I mean >> 48 bed sir.

[18:56] » Okay.

[19:00] » What years were those? >> Go ahead.

[19:03] » Wheeler and Wheeler's about 10 years ago. A tree was

[19:07] uh six maybe six years ago. Something like that.

[19:14] So, is there anyone else that would be assisting you in your firm or is it just

[19:17] you? >> Yes, ma'am. I have I have a I have an

[19:19] architect that that works with me, uh, Russell Baldino. He actually just got

[19:25] his license in the last 6 months. He's been in uh construction for eight years.

[19:31] He actually brings a pretty important function in terms of cost estimating.

[19:37] Uh, I've been involved so much with the construction. I pretty well know what

[19:42] mechanical, electrical, all the different as u aspects of a jail cost.

[19:47] I'm pretty very familiar with it. But he actually has the the he uses blue beam

[19:52] on it for example. And he'll be assisting me. U there'll be there'll be

[19:55] a few times that I'll need him down here because I've got to do something or be

[20:00] somewhere but as a general royal it'll be me.

[20:03] » And where's he located? >> Uh in fourth. Okay.

[20:10] So, you mentioned this and I think we went over this a few months ago when we

[20:14] were discussing on putting out the RFP, but could you kind of go over the

[20:20] different roles of the owner's agent, the construction manager, and the

[20:25] architect? >> Yes. Uh, this would actually be kind of

[20:29] unique. Uh but the architect's role and I've always assumed it as well as Wayne

[20:35] does. Our fiduciary responsibility is to this court and and his main goal is

[20:42] going to be the design, the programming, the design and with the input from the

[20:48] sheriff's office, the court, uh your representative. Uh this will be, like I

[20:54] said, unique. if if you chose to hire an architect to be your representative only

[21:00] from the standpoint of knowledge though I would never try to override I

[21:05] understand not only the ethics of it but also I understand uh the way the your

[21:13] contract is going to be with your architect what his responsibilities are

[21:17] versus your responsibilities and I would represent your responsibilities in that

[21:22] contract and he would represent the architects But he and I can speak on the

[21:28] same level of experience and uh education which will benefit in the long

[21:35] run because not only uh are we both architects but very experienced in the

[21:42] jail standards. The key on this project is the jail standards. Everything about

[21:47] this project, you know, god forbid these inmates have more rights than the

[21:52] jailers that have to maintain them. So, it's our goal to always create a

[21:57] atmosphere where we minimize their contact with the jailers and that's what

[22:03] we'll look at. Now, on the front side of this thing in the master plan, I think I

[22:08] would bring more to the table to make sure that everybody's thinking outside

[22:13] the box. They might not all be good things, but we need to think outside the

[22:17] box. We need to think long term. I mean, uh, I I'm I'm I know I harped earlier on

[22:23] our numbers, but the numbers tell the truth. And if our growth is where it is,

[22:28] and if our numbers are going to be where they are, we're going to have only a

[22:32] short gap of being able to do this and and uh perform

[22:39] without having to be back in the same box again. So thinking outside the box

[22:43] on the front side, you know, Wayne and I have been friends for years and years

[22:46] and I know he would respect the opinion and review it and same way with

[22:51] alternatives. Not a lot of my colleagues have looked into that kind of stuff, but

[22:56] I've actually done it and it works and but here again, it's thinking outside

[23:01] the box. >> And then the construction manager, how

[23:04] does that fit into >> the construction manager will be a

[23:07] vendor to this court and to this county? that that person will align as a u an a

[23:15] vendor to the court and their responsibility would be to take this

[23:20] project, put it out on the street, manage a construction schedule, manage

[23:25] the bidding, bring that bidding back to the court, let the court review it, and

[23:31] prepare a guaranteed max contract, which is what we would manage that guaranteed

[23:37] max contract. And we would have uh uh contingencies built in. They would have

[23:42] contingencies built in. They have to get authorization on the contingencies. The

[23:47] court has to authorize the owner contingencies. But managing that

[23:51] contract, u I hate change orders. I would rather

[23:56] spend an extra month making sure that everything is ready to go than signing a

[24:01] change order. I I'll be honest with you, I I'm very difficult about change

[24:05] orders. And uh when somebody when a court asks because say we're we're in

[24:11] good budget and they decide u you have needs and you have wants and you have

[24:17] desires and maybe there's a want that they have and you're under budget and

[24:21] the court sees fit to consider it. Then we go out and we verify those things.

[24:26] With my extensive background with subcontractors through the years, I can

[24:30] check somebody's number in a heartbeat and that's what'll benefit the long run

[24:34] of it. But as far as a change order goes, change orders, um are considered

[24:40] mistakes in a lot of cases. And so, uh accountability in that team is going to

[24:45] be very important. But I think when you when you have that team concept and

[24:49] you're meeting regularly, u accountability is a lot easier to

[24:53] assume. >> So, does the owner's agent manage the

[24:57] construction manager? >> Yes, ma'am.

[25:01] Ma manage them as in their contract. >> Oversee them. just oversee them. Yes,

[25:05] ma'am. It would be it would be our responsibility to go out on that site. U

[25:11] they have quality control people. They have project managers. They have

[25:15] superintendent and they have foremans. You have your representative that goes

[25:19] out and meets with all those. Whereas their project manager is going to be

[25:24] kind of their head and down from there. But as a typical rule in those team

[25:29] meetings, we all visit together. So what are the top risks that you see

[25:36] for our project? >> Top risk

[25:41] » and how would you mitigate them? I think the top risk right now that I would like

[25:46] to at least everybody get on board on is let's make sure that one our

[25:52] infrastructures put in place for our master plan to go forward in the future

[25:57] to look at any alternatives that we can at the present time and how those cost

[26:04] savings or cost can be associated with that long-term project. For example, uh

[26:11] making sure the sewer lines in this expansion are designed for the future

[26:16] expansion. We don't want to revisit that 10 years from now. Make sure that the

[26:21] fire protection setup, the fire alarm, the security electronics,

[26:27] all those major infrastructures need to be addressed now. So, when you

[26:34] need to add on, I used to use a story about the husband and wife that had two

[26:39] kids in a three-bedroom house, and then God blessed them with another child, and

[26:44] it was a lot easier to add on a bedroom than it was a kitchen and a dining room.

[26:48] Make make the infrastructure in place. Okay, bedrooms are cheap

[26:55] in this world. Please understand, take that relative. But but I want to make

[27:00] sure that and how I mitigate it is the master planning of the start and working

[27:05] with the architect and the so and the court to make sure they understand the

[27:10] ramifications of what we're doing because it's important to be able to

[27:14] communicate that in advance with numbers. I'm not one of these guys that

[27:19] brings a problem without a solution. You need a solution if you got a problem.

[27:25] job at Wheeler County and Bossi County. Both did you come in under budget or

[27:29] overbudget? >> Under budget, sir.

[27:32] » Both of them. >> All of them.

[27:33] » All of I've done I've been blessed. Uh matter of fact, in Corell, we were under

[27:39] budget enough on the jail expansion that they got to redo the electronics in the

[27:43] existing jail. And uh

[27:47] Oh. And and I'd be lying if I tell you how much, but I know that we we've been

[27:51] consistent with our budgets and underbudgets. And I'm not one of these

[27:55] guys that makes the budget crazy, so it makes me look good at the end. That

[27:59] budget is presented by the construction manager at the start, and I keep them

[28:04] accountable through the project. Now, there is a lot of items that will go

[28:08] into this budget that the construction manager has nothing to do with.

[28:12] thirdparty testing, engineering surveying, those kind of items that

[28:17] we'll manage inhouse. FFN and things like that. We'll manage those in house.

[28:21] We'll also we'll also um get the numbers for that. So, it's there's more than

[28:28] just the construction cost. >> Okay. Thank you.

[28:32] » As you you mentioned, this is going to be a project where the jail is

[28:37] operational while the construction is is going on. So, walk, you've said you've

[28:42] done this before, so walk through a project where you've handled that phase

[28:47] construction and how did you address the security and compliance issues?

[28:52] » Good, great question. Um, well, I I can tell you about Weise

[28:57] County real easy. Uh, we made temporary doors. Uh, worked with the So back then,

[29:04] I think M. Uh, Sheriff, weren't you over there at the time when we built the

[29:10] jail? >> Okay. For some reason, I was thinking

[29:13] you were over there. It had a different capacity, but anyway, we created we we

[29:18] created uh uh zones where the inmates stayed within the facility while we were

[29:23] working. And any of our contractors that had to work in like the kitchens and

[29:27] processing, they have we have a a protocol that we work out with the

[29:32] sheriff where they can bring tools in and out. we can work with and without

[29:37] trustees. Uh scheduling it that weekly meeting that the sheriff or his chief

[29:42] deputy or his jail admins at those where you discuss what we're going to do next

[29:47] week. So we've got a plan in place for for the inmate to be uh contained

[29:54] through that process. And it's not as difficult as it sounds because remember

[29:59] they're incarcerated. So it's not like they wander in the hallways. But at the

[30:03] end of that age, you still have your life safety systems you have to deal

[30:06] with. You have to deal with your how you're going to deal with if you have a

[30:10] fire alarm. But those are the items that we work out with the sheriff and his

[30:14] team that that they have forms that they actually deal with with the jail

[30:20] commission where they do practices on evacuating an saying got sick and we had

[30:25] to evacuate him ambulance. All that stuff we take into consideration and in

[30:30] that meeting we discuss it and then if we need to have additional meetings with

[30:34] the jail admin or staff we would go in there and take care of that too. But

[30:39] that's a weekly thing that has to be uh prosecuted.

[30:48] » So how do you ensure complete independence as an an advisory agent?

[30:54] complete independence >> without so you you have

[30:59] relationships with the other subcontractors. So how do you ensure

[31:03] complete >> well first of all we don't know who any

[31:08] of the contractors are. So I being hypothetical uh

[31:15] my loyalty has always been to my clients and if I'm the architect I have the same

[31:20] fiduciary responsibility I would as a manager for you and therefore uh there's

[31:27] you know the architect's going to draw those plans up and I am going to along

[31:32] with him are going to ensure that those construction documents are followed.

[31:39] That's it. There's no there's no gray area in that. Now, I will tell you this

[31:46] that through my career, I've learned that I'm not the smartest cantaloupe in

[31:50] the pasture because sometimes the subs understand something a little bit better

[31:54] than you do. And we as professionals have to understand that if he's got a

[32:00] better solution, then we might be looking at that

[32:06] solution. And if it saves the county money, that's even a bonus. But at the

[32:10] end of the day, we have to be open to that. That's why we meet every week

[32:14] because like I said, I've learned the day I quit learning is probably the

[32:20] first day you're going to find dirt on my face.

[32:23] » Have you ever declined work due to a potential conflict?

[32:26] » Yes, ma'am. How did you

[32:29] » I I uh I had a public client that did not want me to

[32:36] um watch over the construction. They just

[32:39] wanted me to draw the plans, get them approved, get them a permit. And uh I

[32:45] won't do that. Um I've been blessed 41 years. I haven't had to call a lawyer. I

[32:51] ain't going to start. It's getting way too old for that. But at the end of the

[32:55] day, being there on that site every week, that accountability to my client,

[33:01] to the contractors is super important. And uh when they told me that they

[33:07] didn't want to pay for that, I said that you might need to go to the lumber yard.

[33:15] » You already you already talked a little bit about your budget and your cost

[33:19] management. So I have that question, but you you covered that.

[33:24] um in the other ones too. So I think that's

[33:28] I think you covered pretty much all the things that I had written down.

[33:33] » Like I said, I'm an architect. You got some very good firms out here. I I

[33:39] totally understand that and they every day they do project management for

[33:44] school districts, maybe some counties and stuff. But what I believe I can

[33:49] bring to the table is more knowledge of the jail commission.

[33:55] Being that, you know, I take a lot of pride in where I live and work and play.

[34:00] Uh I don't think that can be replicated. And uh

[34:06] » I I don't have a bunch of fancy forms. My form is going to be is every week

[34:10] you're going to get an email from me, everybody on the court, even the the

[34:14] members that are at the meeting and keep them updated. And once a month I'm going

[34:18] to come in here and I'm going to give the court a very thorough 15minute

[34:23] throwdown of the month where we're at and where we're going. That's my plan.

[34:28] » Okay. I did I did have one other question. Do you have other projects

[34:31] going on right now and how would you prioritize Hood County within those?

[34:36] » Good question. Uh tomorrow I will finish my third remodel for Hempill County. Um

[34:44] [snorts] I'm going up there this evening. uh to do a final punch list. Um

[34:50] I've worked on their uh museum, their pavilion, and then another project at

[34:56] their pavilion. I'm just finishing those up for them. Um

[35:02] really, that's only thing I have going right now. Um I do, like I said, I get

[35:08] calls for some consulting, but the priority I have is for Hood County. I

[35:13] mean literally uh you know um I moved out of the big office buildings like

[35:19] seven years ago because in 41 years or back then it was 35 years I'd never had

[35:24] a client come to my office. I drive from to Texas to Crane Yokum Pitton Santo

[35:32] County. I drive all over the state but none of my clients come to my office. So

[35:37] I moved to the country for a reason for the peace and quiet just like I my

[35:41] office is. So yeah, my my uh my goal is this would probably be the end of my

[35:48] career, be honest with you. >> Thank you.

[35:50] » It is what it is.

[35:56] » Thank you for your time. Enjoyed it. >> Good presentation.

[36:10] Next one is kitchen. CM

[36:15] Kitchel.

[36:29] Fact that he's close is good.

[36:40] Good morning. >> Good morning.

[36:42] » Y'all come on up here. Yard Kitchell, CM, right?

[36:47] » Yes, sir. >> Deal.

[36:50] How are you doing? >> Good. Ron Massenill. Nice to meet you,

[36:55] Seth. Nice to meet you.

[36:59] » All right. Good.

[37:02] Seth Akan Cameron Glass. How are you doing?

[37:06] » Good. Good. >> Good. All right.

[37:30] Oh yeah.

[38:12] Well, based on yesterday, I'm just glad we're not an hour late.

[38:18] [laughter]

[38:23] Y'all let us know when >> Oh, okay. Go ahead.

[38:26] » All right. Great. Judge, commissioners,

[38:32] sheriff, thank you for having us today. We're

[38:36] we're really proud to be here and representing Kitell CM. CM stands for

[38:42] capital expenditure managers. It's how our company was started and uh for 40

[38:50] years uh we have been managing capital expenditures which is very critical for

[38:55] this project. As you know, our mission is to be stewards of this project.

[39:02] Stewardship is a key element of this. And how we will get there is we have to

[39:06] build trust. We have to build trust with the team, build trust with you, build

[39:11] trust with Wayne and his team, build trust with the sheriff's office and his

[39:15] folks. From trust comes commitment, accountability, hard conversations, and

[39:22] results. With that, I'd like to turn it over to

[39:27] Cameron Glass. Hi, >> Cameron Glass. I'm with Kitch as well.

[39:30] I'll be your project director. >> Microphone, please. Is the green light

[39:34] on? >> Okay. Cameron Glass uh with Kitchell as

[39:38] well. I'll be your project director. Uh I have a 25 year uh background in

[39:42] history in doing these exact type of projects, prisons, jails, courts,

[39:46] police, and juvenile. That's what I've spent uh 25 years of my career on. And

[39:50] I'm excited to be here today and talk about your project.

[39:54] Yeah. And I'm Tyler Cook. I'll be your senior project manager on site. Um I've

[39:58] spent the last decade doing justice projects across the country as well as

[40:01] the last several years working with uh local government, especially counties

[40:04] here in the DFW Metroplex. So I'm very um understanding of what it's like to

[40:09] work for a local government and and the rules and regulations with that.

[40:14] » All right. This is a very busy slide, but I want to break it down with a

[40:17] little story. So Kitchell's big company, medium-sized

[40:22] company, but we have a personal approach. We really do. And I'll give

[40:28] you an example. We've got a lot of resources at our disposal. And these

[40:32] resources provide value to you and give give you this little story. Tyler and I

[40:38] are having lunch in Ellis County with right before our commissioner's court.

[40:42] And there was an item on the commissioner's court that the elevator

[40:45] contractor that was modernizing the elevator in the jail elevators

[40:49] was trying to charge $80,000 because there was an electrical issue

[40:55] and a and an issue with shortcircuit uh current ratings. Too much information,

[41:01] but anyway, they were very concerned about it. One of the commissioners was

[41:05] like, "There's just no way. This is $80,000. It's holding up these elevators

[41:09] getting going." I stepped out of lunch. I think I was eating meatloaf that day

[41:14] and uh I called our electrical engineer. He walked him through it. Um they pulled

[41:20] that from the agenda. 3 days later we had a plan for them. Um we got

[41:25] electrician in there, put in a couple fusible disconnects and they were off

[41:29] and running. Elevator contractor all all the road blocks were removed.

[41:34] These are the kind of resources, reachback resources that we have at our

[41:38] disposal that will bring value to you and this project. Um, next slide.

[41:45] Like I said, capital expenditure managers, we got our foundation doing

[41:50] justice work. We've done justice work uh across the country as well as uh here in

[41:55] Texas. So, don't let the numbers scare you because we have a like this is your

[42:02] team. Um, we're here. We're not corporate people or anything like that.

[42:06] Um, we're here for a personal touch. >> So, let's uh let's talk about your

[42:12] project a little bit. Uh, we have the luxury of going down and uh we we've

[42:16] toured your existing jail. Uh, we've even seen where the expansion is going

[42:19] to happen. Um, and I think uh on our side, one of the largest risks that we

[42:24] see on your project is going to be how do you deliver this jail within an

[42:27] active facility. Um, it's going to be key that the facility continues to

[42:32] operate while this project is going on. Uh, if you look at the back of your

[42:36] placemat that's in front of you, I'll just kind of jott it down some ideas and

[42:40] thoughts uh that we've uh kind of pulled together over our history of doing jail

[42:44] projects. Uh part of this is going to be just a lot of a lot of communication, a

[42:50] lot of communication, a lot of planning, working with the uh sheriff's department

[42:54] and jail staff to uh understand when utilities need to be disconnected and

[42:59] reconnected for this new facility. We want to minimize downtime within that

[43:03] jail. Uh the security electronics and the detention components as you get

[43:07] ready to install the new system and plug it on, turn it on, you want to minimize

[43:12] downtime as well. All those doors that are operated electronically over there

[43:15] are going to have to be keyed as well. So, we're going to want to have a plan

[43:19] in place for all that. We can't be impacting the operations all that often.

[43:23] We can't be impacting the staff. Uh as well as there's an impact on those that

[43:27] are housed in there as well. Uh they don't have any place to go. Uh and when

[43:31] it gets loud, when it gets noisy and vibrations start to happen, they get

[43:34] cranky and that's uh it's not always great for your staff. So uh again just

[43:38] good plans in place, good ways to uh mitigate some of the challenges that

[43:42] will come. Uh understanding different areas of security the way your site's

[43:46] set out, the way the addition uh is going to be. There's a great opportunity

[43:50] to have some areas outside of the secure perimeter where uh the staff uh the

[43:55] contractor can come and get his work done freely as he needs to. And then

[43:59] we're going to have to determine with the sheriff's department what's inside

[44:01] security. When do tools have to be checked in and out? I've worked on

[44:05] projects where screws had to be counted. If you took five screws in and you only

[44:09] installed four, they want to make sure you have one when you come back out. So,

[44:12] there's a lot of planning in place and a lot of things that need to be discussed

[44:15] and talked about to make sure that your jail can continue operating while this

[44:19] work uh is going on. So, um that's what we see as your biggest risk as you look

[44:23] at the work that we want to provide to you. Uh as Seth kind of said earlier,

[44:26] Kitchell's a full service uh owner rep, construction project manager. uh we see

[44:31] us involved in uh pre-construction services with you all all the way

[44:35] through closeout. Um as we look at the services though, you know, it's talking

[44:39] about different delivery methods for you all. What are the pros behind all the

[44:42] delivery methods that are available to hire a contractor? Additionally, it's

[44:46] understanding what types of contractors should actually be on your jail project.

[44:50] They're not not every contractor should be should be working on your project.

[44:55] So, it's helping set some of the minimum qualifications to make sure that you end

[44:58] up with the right uh firms in place to help deliver your project successfully.

[45:03] Additionally, we've got in-house cost estimators and schedulers. So, it's

[45:07] getting a budget set early, making sure that it's realistic, and also getting a

[45:12] schedule put together so we understand when activities are going to happen so

[45:16] that we can help you minimize risks and minimize some of the surprises uh for

[45:20] this project. Tyler's going to talk to you about the rest of the services.

[45:25] » Yeah, thanks Cameron. So, just like uh continuing on with what Cameron said

[45:29] about being a full service. So, as construction starts, we'll have an a

[45:32] daily on-site presence on your project, inspecting the work, u meeting with

[45:37] contractors, helping to problem solve. If there's any roadblocks that arise,

[45:40] we'll be working with the architect, with the contractor, with your staff,

[45:43] the sheriff to figure out the best means to move forward at the most

[45:47] cost-effective price. And then if there happens to be a change order, we always

[45:50] try to find solutions that don't cost anything. But if there happens to be a

[45:54] change order, you know, we'll review that change order, making sure that

[45:56] every dollar is accounted for. You know, I understand this is taxpayer dollars,

[45:59] and so we need to make sure that we are steadfast with their their money and

[46:03] making sure that we are accountable for where every dollar is spent. Same with

[46:07] that, um we will also be reviewing pay applications. So when the contractor

[46:10] submits for payment, we'll be checking their work um against the schedule,

[46:13] against the work in the field um with your staff to make sure that you guys

[46:17] feel that what is being paid is the correct payment. And if there are any

[46:21] changes that need to be made, you know, we'll negotiate that with the general

[46:24] contractor on your guys' behalf. And then just like Cameron said, as we uh

[46:28] have those in-house um schedulers, we'll also be monitoring the the general

[46:31] contractor schedule, making sure that activities are aligning with what work

[46:35] is in the field. Um, and if there happen to be any schedule delays, we'll work

[46:38] with the general contractor to help alleviate those um, and make sure that

[46:42] they stay on time to deliver you guys a quality project on time and in budget.

[46:46] And one thing that we do um, that kind of sets Kish apart is every month we'll

[46:50] give you a report of the overall health of the project. It will show the

[46:54] schedule of the project, where we're at, um kind of kind of key activities that

[46:58] are coming up, where we are with cost contingency, if we've had any change

[47:02] orders, overall budget, um and as well as any risks that we foresee in the next

[47:06] couple of months on that project and what we're doing to mitigate those risks

[47:10] and to keep the project moving in the right direction. And then when all that

[47:14] construction is said and done, we're here to help you guys with close out,

[47:16] helping you transition from a construction zone to an occupied jail.

[47:21] And so we'll be helping with warranty oversight, making sure that the on andm

[47:24] manuals are collected and given to your facilities department, whoever is

[47:27] maintaining the facility, making sure that they have an understanding of what

[47:31] is there now, what if there are any new systems that might need training or, you

[47:36] know, new equipment, we'll make sure that they're trained up on that and to

[47:39] make sure that they can take on this facility for years to come.

[47:44] And understanding that the budget is is very tight on this project, I wanted to

[47:48] take a moment and share a case study with one of the counties that we've been

[47:50] working with um which is Kaufman County just across the metroplex. Um we were

[47:55] able to come in kind of late to the game. Um they were kind of in a in a

[47:58] situation where they had let go of a general contractor and was way over

[48:02] budget and so they brought us in and we were able to kind of take a a pause to

[48:06] the project, take a proactive approach and we were able to actually save them

[48:09] 15% on their overall budget. uh we were able to come in and you know figure out

[48:14] what the actual scope of work is, work with the architect to provide more

[48:17] detailed drawings. So that way when we put the project back out to bid, we had

[48:21] a a better scope definition which got rid of any assumptions that the general

[48:25] contractor had to make. Um also early procurement is always um something we

[48:30] find very successful. Uh they had some ARPA funding that they had to um spend.

[48:34] So we were able to actually order their HVAC equipment ahead of time which

[48:37] helped us on the schedule. Um, I know that data centers are kind of buying up

[48:42] all of the resources right now. So, anything that we can do to get ahead of

[48:45] that, um, helps tremendously. And then when proposals come in, you know, we we

[48:50] need to review those quickly and get them approved or, you know, rejected and

[48:55] figure out a path forward. >> What year was that? Kaufman County,

[49:01] » we are actually just ready to finish that in May this year.

[49:07] » All right. Thanks, Tyler. Um, that was our slides that we had. I kind of have

[49:12] some closing comments, but uh, do you want to do Q&A first and I can close

[49:18] after the Q&A? >> Did you say fulltime onsite oversight?

[49:25] Tell me that. Is that full-time? Is that from 7 to 5? You got somebody there?

[49:33] » You said full-time on-site oversight? >> Yes, sir. So, we try to have somebody

[49:37] there. um whenever the construction site is open. So, typically we try to keep

[49:41] construction sites open um depending on schedule about the hours that the county

[49:45] is open. So, usually 8 to 5 and so we'll have a representative on site full-time

[49:50] » coming where where's your staff located? Where would they be coming from?

[49:54] » We have staff all throughout the DFW Metroplex.

[49:57] » Okay. So, from Dallas or >> Yeah. So, I live just south of Dallas.

[50:03] Uh we have some people in Fort Worth and some people on the north side of Dallas

[50:06] as well. >> Okay. So it's not not you three that

[50:11] will be here. It's somebody else on your staff.

[50:15] » Yeah. >> One of you three.

[50:16] » Yeah. So let me back up just a little bit. So, ideally with this type of a

[50:22] quick, not not quick, but a fastm moving expansion to an existing jail, I think

[50:28] it's in the owner's best interest to have somebody there making sure that

[50:33] everything is is being controlled. >> Um, however, we haven't met with you yet

[50:38] to decide if that's really the best approach for you as well. So, we say

[50:42] that because that's kind of best practice.

[50:45] » Um, you know, Tyler's in walks a Hatchee. Uh Caleb's uh in between. Um is

[50:51] he in is he still in Benbrook? >> Hazel.

[50:54] » Hazel. Um and you know Caleb's the guy that we have in the uh in the proposal

[51:00] there that would be on site. Currently he's he's on site uh in Ellis County. Uh

[51:06] they just opened a new district court and uh two other new courtroom or one

[51:11] other new courtroom um in an occupied facility. And so he was there. I mean,

[51:17] the judge said that if like he got if there was a problem, he was going to put

[51:20] Tyler in contempt. And so Tyler was there. And uh so yeah, we you know,

[51:27] you're you're going to see the the this is your leadership team, Commissioner,

[51:32] » and Cameron's got decades of justice experience. I've got decades of

[51:38] construction and and owner relation experience.

[51:41] He's got a decade of of uh construction, hands-on experience, and a lot of

[51:46] experience presenting to Kaufman County, presenting to Ellis County in

[51:50] commissioner's courts, updates, things like that. We're we're we're going to be

[51:54] involved, but the dayto-day guy that you'll see is Caleb.

[51:57] » Caleb. >> Okay. And he's in Ail.

[52:00] » Yes, he grew up in Ail. Um he wants to move to Waka Hatchee, but uh he hasn't

[52:05] moved yet.

[52:09] » Yes. Yeah. So, I've worked with Todd Little

[52:12] for going on three and a half years now. >> Call him up.

[52:20] » Yes, sir. >> Yep. Todd and I have worked very closely

[52:24] together. Worked with both of his chief of staffs, um, Ryan and Eric. So, know

[52:29] them both very well. >> Who you work with?

[52:34] » So, we work with the purchasing agent, the facility director, and then Judge J.

[52:38] Jake Allen. And then Ski, uh, Commissioner Ski

[52:42] Phillips. >> And you could call that, too.

[52:48] » Who was that? You said it was Judge Allen and Commissioner who?

[52:53] » Uh, Ski Phillips.

[52:58] » Yeah, that that project is uh wrapping up here in the next couple months. uh

[53:03] they took their original courthouse and they're

[53:07] repurposing it uh for commissioner's court but also for administrative

[53:12] needs and it wasn't a full historic they don't have a a beautiful courthouse like

[53:16] you all have um no offense to their courthouse but it's just built in a

[53:21] different time and uh anyway that's that's about to wrap up and uh again

[53:26] that that full kind of that on-site presence has has really brought a lot of

[53:30] value and also brought a good value in the in the in what that costs

[53:36] » about county. Did y'all do anything on the Archer County Gilmer?

[53:41] » No, sir. >> You didn't do anything on that jail?

[53:43] » No, sir. >> Or courthouse?

[53:48] » No, sir. >> How How does your firm ensure complete

[53:54] independence as an advisory agent without affiliating with the

[53:59] architects, contractors, or subs?

[54:04] How do how do we how do we keep our uh

[54:10] » independence? >> No, no conflict. Yeah, absolutely. Um

[54:15] that's mission critical. I mean, we represent you and your tax dollars and

[54:21] your your citizens tax dollars. There's there's no conflict of interest with uh

[54:27] architects or GCs. I mean we couldn't we couldn't do the work that we do if there

[54:31] was

[54:35] » you mentioned um change orders. So what do you how do you

[54:41] manage those? >> Yeah. Yeah. So when a problem is

[54:45] identified in the field um instead of just having the contractor, you know,

[54:48] take reins and price it, we like to be involved and understanding what the root

[54:52] of the the cause is and then we'll work with the staff um the commit the county

[54:57] staff, architectural team and as well as the general contractor to put all our

[55:01] heads together to find the best path forward. When a change order is needed,

[55:05] um we will review that um against the contract, against the specs, the plans,

[55:09] making sure that it is actual cost and that it aligns with the contract. And

[55:14] then if need be, if we need to come and present that change order for a change

[55:17] to the commissioner's court, we will. Um contingency is your money. It's not our

[55:22] money. It needs to be approved by you guys before we spend it. So the way I

[55:26] look at it is I don't have any money for change orders unless you guys give me

[55:28] the permission to go ahead and make that change.

[55:36] I think one other thing, Commissioner, on uh change orders is

[55:41] working with uh Wayne and his team in pre-construction.

[55:46] We'll do a real thorough review of of the drawings and specs from a

[55:50] contractor's lens before it goes out to bid. I mean, I've spent 30 years

[55:55] building stuff and been on the other side of being a contractor for 23 of

[55:59] those years. and we'll look at that stuff to uh tighten up the drawings as

[56:04] as he said and make sure that we get as much uh RFIs and things out of them

[56:11] early as possible. Sometimes we hit unforeseen conditions. You know, I think

[56:15] on this site we really got to study the soil and make sure we got the right

[56:20] geotech engineer and we've got a really good soils report and a good foundation

[56:24] design. um you know, we've got some stuff going on in that area with the

[56:30] soil conditions. So, pretty much everywhere. But you you just got to go

[56:34] into it eyes wide open. Um >> you mentioned earlier that you thought

[56:39] that the biggest risk was that the jail is operational while you're doing this,

[56:44] but it sounds like you just mentioned another risk about the soil.

[56:47] » Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think uh the jail operation is a short-term risk in

[56:56] terms of while the construction's going on, the soil and, you know, underground

[57:02] piping and piping connections and things like that. That's a long-term risk. You

[57:07] don't want to be here in 30 years, you know. Well, you know, probably I know I

[57:12] probably won't be here in 30 years, but um uh you know, and have have a new

[57:17] sheriff's like, man, I got all this, you know, things going on in my jail. Like,

[57:21] we got to build it so that's structurally sound for, you know, at

[57:26] least I don't know. I mean, most most are 50. any other risk besides the doing

[57:32] the construction while the jail is operational and the and the soil issues.

[57:37] » I think understanding your budget, getting getting a good good estimate

[57:41] early. I know you probably throwing some conceptual numbers together, but

[57:44] starting to get real estimates around maybe what the concept design is that

[57:48] DRG is working on, understanding when this could go out to bid, taking a

[57:52] really good look at the market to understand maybe if there are uh tariff

[57:55] issues that might have an effect and an impact on your project. So, I think

[57:59] budget, you know, unless unless you all have a detailed cost estimate right now,

[58:03] uh getting that set up, making sure that it all kind of aligns with the plan is

[58:08] going to be another thing as well. These projects have gotten very costly uh in

[58:13] the last three or four years, and so just making sure making sure we've got

[58:16] the money to do what you all want to do.

[58:24] All right. Do y'all um It sounds I mean, you're using some of the words that are

[58:29] Do you prescribe to project management philosophy?

[58:34] » Yeah. I mean, >> do you have project management um folks

[58:38] on your staff that are certified in project management or you

[58:42] » Yes. Yes. I Yeah. I sorry. I I wanted to make sure I understood the question.

[58:47] Absolutely. I mean that that's our bread and butter, you know, schedule, budget,

[58:53] risk. >> I mean, it's that it's it sounds simple,

[58:56] but it's not, right? Those things are complicated and those things have to be

[59:01] well communicated, well understood. Um, you know, again to Cam's point, like we

[59:06] have got to figure out like early on, we'll get we'll get with you all and,

[59:11] you know, [snorts] what do what are the perceived risks? What are the what are

[59:14] the risks? What are the blind spots that we need to identify early on so we can

[59:18] start moving forward on those before they become a problem? Um, and just how

[59:23] does that affect schedule? How does that affect budget? How those things

[59:26] intertwine? The monthly report that Tyler talked about, it's founded on

[59:31] schedule, budget, and and risk. And I say schedule first because time is

[59:35] money. And so, you know, as you're moving through these things in buyout

[59:40] and procurement and, you know, getting things ordered, time is money. So, not

[59:45] that we would force an accelerated schedule, but we're going to weigh all

[59:48] the options and present you like options so that you can make informed decisions.

[59:53] So why did >> Well, I was just going to say

[59:55] additionally I think part of that question we have multiple staff with CCM

[59:58] and CMIT certifications as well through the construction management groups.

[1:00:04] » So what brought you to um respond to this RFQ? What was unique about

[1:00:11] Hood County or your expertise that Go >> Okay, this is this is our bread and

[1:00:17] butter. We love working with counties like y'all. Um, you know, Ellis County

[1:00:22] has been, you know, I started working with Judge Little over five years ago,

[1:00:27] um, before we brought Tyler on, uh, on kind of, he was on site for a while. Um,

[1:00:33] and we did some master planning with them. Uh, you know, we're working with

[1:00:39] Kaufman County, we're working with Williamson County, Hayes County, Colin

[1:00:42] County. So, like this is our this is our wheelhouse,

[1:00:46] » but why Hood County? >> Why Hood County? We have beautiful lake.

[1:00:51] [laughter] No, honestly, Commissioner, um what

[1:00:55] when I met you and uh you know, Hood County was all Granberry was always on

[1:01:02] my radar because I knew it was a beautiful place to retire. And uh when I

[1:01:07] met you at that TAC conference with Judge Little and and Bode Decker and

[1:01:11] Judge Bodecker, um I thought, "Wow, that sounds like a a a county that we could

[1:01:17] we could we could help, we could serve." And so, um, when this came up, we were

[1:01:22] just like, we got we got the right team. We're right. We're close. We're not

[1:01:27] here. We don't live here. I wish I did. Um, but, uh, that does that answer your

[1:01:33] question? >> Yes. Thank you.

[1:01:40] » Presentation. Thank y'all. Thank you very much.

[1:01:42] » All right, judge. Thank you. >> I'm calling Todd Little, too. Just

[1:01:46] verify it. >> Please. Please.

[1:01:50] » All right. Okay. Thank you.

[1:01:56] Okay. JMT.

[1:02:03] » Thank you.

[1:02:32] Good morning. >> Good morning.

[1:02:33] » Come on up. >> Good morning. How are you?

[1:02:40] » I'm going to speak from the podium so that whoever speaking can speak into the

[1:02:44] microphone. We make a recording. So,

[1:02:48] » okay, >> one at a time. Come on up there.

[1:03:29] Great. We're ready when y'all are.

[1:03:39] All right. We'll go ahead and get started. Thank you uh for having us. My

[1:03:43] name is Trevor Castillia and I'm with JMT and we're uh we're excited for the

[1:03:48] opportunity to present to Hood County on this uh gel expansion project and so

[1:03:53] we're glad to be here.

[1:03:57] [clears throat] Go ahead. Uh so I lead our McKini office uh here in North Texas

[1:04:03] and it's my responsibility to manage the the contracting requirements for this

[1:04:07] contract. with me are our team of individuals that you al that also

[1:04:12] included in the uh proposal that y'all have seen. Jordan Barber is going to

[1:04:16] serve as our project manager and Pablo Martinez is going to serve as our

[1:04:21] on-site construction manager. Unique thing about Pablo is he is actually

[1:04:25] going to be moving to the area so that he can be on site every day as needed.

[1:04:30] Then Anthony Simmons is going to serve as our uh project executive, managing

[1:04:34] the the entire project process, ensuring that the commission knows what's going

[1:04:40] on with their project uh every month. A little bit information about JMT. Uh

[1:04:47] so we've been in business for 54 years and so we have nearly 3,000 uh employees

[1:04:53] that are engineers, architects, project managers, inspectors and we have been

[1:04:58] designing projects and building projects for government agencies for over 50

[1:05:04] years. We have 50 offices. Uh we are ISO 901 certified which means quality is

[1:05:10] extremely important to us and so getting that certification is important. So, we

[1:05:14] want to make sure that we deliver quality projects and service to the

[1:05:18] county and the taxpayers. And what's unique about JMT, we have $5 billion

[1:05:22] worth of facilities project management in the last five years. 200 million of

[1:05:27] that has been uh on Texas public safety projects. And so, we're proud of that

[1:05:32] record.

[1:05:36] Locally, uh we've we've been in the area for 30 years. We work for government

[1:05:41] agencies where you whether you're a city, a county, a university, or or the

[1:05:46] uh state. All we do is service uh public agencies. We have almost 300 engineers,

[1:05:53] architects, project managers, and inspectors uh in Texas serving nine

[1:05:58] different cities. And so I want to give our team the opportunity to present some

[1:06:02] more information and ideas about your project and show how uh JMT is well

[1:06:07] suited for this contract.

[1:06:16] uh to to keep expanding um on what our general company background is, we've got

[1:06:22] a couple of uh project highlights here. Um these projects are uh referenced and

[1:06:28] mentioned in our statement of qualifications. we wanted to take a

[1:06:32] minute just to to talk about them, but also uh focus on um our project

[1:06:37] management approach as a whole. Just how we do business, how we represent you as

[1:06:42] the owner. Um our primary clients throughout Texas and specifically in our

[1:06:48] uh project management division are city and county governments. That is our core

[1:06:54] uh client base and not only jail facilities but all types of municipal

[1:06:59] facilities. So, while we do have jail experience and qualifications and we

[1:07:04] understand you've got an architect that really knows jails as well, we think

[1:07:07] that's a great thing. Um, our process is really our strength. The way we manage

[1:07:11] the process, watch the funds. Um, we know that there's 24 million allocated

[1:07:16] for this bond election and we've got to be smart with that money, make it go as

[1:07:20] far as we can, uh, understanding that the facility existing needs some work as

[1:07:25] well. So uh the Hayes County project was um beautiful project multi- uh faceted

[1:07:32] multiah phases but very similar in the fact that uh Hayes County is growing a

[1:07:38] lot. It it needed a renovation of the existing jail facility plus the addition

[1:07:44] of a new facility to keep up with the expansion and population growth similar

[1:07:48] to Hood County. Um we were involved very early on that project uh to do uh bond

[1:07:54] facilitation so to get the bond program out there help develop the the

[1:07:58] propositions and do some of the budgeting. Obviously in in this case

[1:08:02] we're ahead of that. Um but we were involved in the actual procurement

[1:08:06] solicitation selection qualification of the design and the ar uh design and the

[1:08:12] contractor teams.

[1:08:17] Then B County, uh, another county example. Um, this one is in Beville,

[1:08:22] Texas. Um, a lot of similarities similarities with

[1:08:27] this one as well. 51,640 ft square foot facility. It also had a

[1:08:32] sheriff's office attached separate modular uh, construction, but um,

[1:08:39] construction manager at risk delivery, which I think is something that uh, the

[1:08:43] county has considered for the the Hood County Jail project. Um, we also did

[1:08:48] owners representation, full project management, uh, package there, on-site

[1:08:53] construction management, which Pablo will be, uh, executing hopefully for for

[1:08:58] Hood County. Um, you know, these projects, uh, being jails have a lot of

[1:09:04] similarities, but we've also got another example, um, of local work. Um Tarlton

[1:09:11] State University just down the road in Stevenville. We've got a really amazing

[1:09:16] partnership with uh Tarlton and Texas&M University system. Uh we've done a three

[1:09:22] we've had three renewals of one-year master uh service agreements with

[1:09:27] Texas&M University system at Charlton State University. We currently have

[1:09:31] full-time on-site project management staff in Stevenville. That's going to

[1:09:35] support Pablo if if we need it, if we need additional capacity. Um but we've

[1:09:40] got what you're seeing here is a a convocation center um recently

[1:09:45] completed. We've also done a health sciences center, a library expansion and

[1:09:50] renovation, a parking garage, and we're currently engaged in a large thousand

[1:09:55] bed dormatory project in Stevenville, Texas. So, local assets um really

[1:10:01] amazing partnership and that's something that you guys could visit that uh if if

[1:10:05] needed or if last name the maintenance director at Carlton. You know who I'm

[1:10:10] talking about? >> Louise, our on-site PM probably would

[1:10:15] know. We we deal primarily with the FPNC Texas A&M out of College Station and

[1:10:20] then they link us up to the Stevenville uh facilities people. So, I'm one layer

[1:10:26] removed from that technically, but we can we can get that info.

[1:10:31] » Previous slide you had Stevenville. Is this what you were referencing or is

[1:10:35] there something else you're doing in Stevenville?

[1:10:37] » Previous >> I think that was B bill.

[1:10:40] » No. Okay. Keep going back. >> She said Stevenville was listed as

[1:10:46] » one of your >> Yes. Correct.

[1:10:50] » Okay. >> Correct. Yes.

[1:10:52] » Okay. was been a couple slides back. >> Okay. And so, uh, apart from from the

[1:10:59] projects, uh, Jordan Barber as the proposed PM, he's going to talk about

[1:11:02] our proposed services and we'll watch the time.

[1:11:08] » Have eight minutes. >> So, as as Trevor and Anthony uh showed

[1:11:12] you, this isn't our first rodeo, but now, like he said, I'd like to get into

[1:11:16] more of the specifics of what we can do for you. So, like I will be the project

[1:11:21] manager, my team and I, this is a a vast list of services. It's not

[1:11:24] all-encompassing, but that we will provide to you to ensure this project

[1:11:30] goes smoothly on time and budget from start to finish.

[1:11:35] So with my personal municipal and military construction background,

[1:11:41] dedicated service to my projects, their owners, and while also being a good

[1:11:46] steward of taxpayer dollars is in my core foundation, and that would be the

[1:11:50] same here in Hood County. So I've managed multiple barracks projects and

[1:11:54] combat zones that were very similar in construction as this, built in high

[1:11:59] security environments, required extreme oversight and management. and that's

[1:12:04] exactly what we could bring to the table for this one. So, our priority as your

[1:12:08] owner agent is to manage every aspect of this project, design and construction

[1:12:13] for you and for the best value to the county.

[1:12:18] We'll be your eyes and ears on site managing all the logistics, site

[1:12:22] security, reviewing and validating all paperwork, document control, as well as

[1:12:28] co coordinating all the other things that the the contractor may not the

[1:12:32] security equipment, audio, video, furniture, fixtures, equipment,

[1:12:35] materials testing, as well as coordination with utility providers,

[1:12:39] city permitting, TCJS from from design through construction,

[1:12:46] commissioning, closeout out all the way to final occupancy while providing

[1:12:51] timely updates along the way. So now I want to I want to focus on the

[1:12:58] the cost controls that we can provide as I know that the budget is particularly

[1:13:03] u high priority here. So, just as this says, we'll be managing the budget as

[1:13:07] early as possible in the design, advising you on your your construction

[1:13:12] manager at risk selection to begin gathering budgetary numbers as early as

[1:13:17] possible and ensure the DRG is designing to the budget while also we could help

[1:13:22] play any interference from possible scope creep that could try to be

[1:13:27] inserted into this that could affect the budget as well as identifying risks if

[1:13:32] there are potential risks as early and mitigating them as early as possible. We

[1:13:38] will thoroughly scrutinize every aspect of both the design and construction that

[1:13:43] has any tie to the budget. Some additional details on that um you

[1:13:50] can see up here. So, constructibility reviews are going to be key to

[1:13:54] minimizing change orders. And with Pablo as a registered architect's assistance,

[1:14:00] together we will ensure that what get what is in the design will actually work

[1:14:04] in the field. We also work with the architects and contractors on a

[1:14:07] continuous basis looking for value engineering opportunities throughout the

[1:14:11] entire life cycle of the project. We will dissect every pay application and

[1:14:15] validate all the backup documentation and and validate that it's actually what

[1:14:21] has been done on site as well as continuously validating the the the

[1:14:27] construction project versus pro progress versus the schedule and ensure there's

[1:14:32] no additional cost for delays or extensions.

[1:14:36] For reference, this is another project of ours where we're the owner's agents

[1:14:40] for the city of Salina on this $und00 million downtown center that is the

[1:14:44] centerpiece of their of their downtown square. And their biggest priority was

[1:14:49] staying within the guaranteed maximum price GMP.

[1:14:52] their contractor presented dozens of change orders that J&T meticulously

[1:14:56] scrutinized and vetted like I said we do through and just through this process

[1:15:00] alone we've advised the owner to reject multiple of them that saved over

[1:15:06] $150,000 and we and on some of the other ones we

[1:15:09] were able to save over $100,000 by identifying errors that they the

[1:15:14] contractor had made in their quantity takeoffs scope ads and gaps and if we

[1:15:20] hadn't have been there the owner may have just approved these

[1:15:22] and the GMP would have certainly been in jeopardy. Bottom line, all our

[1:15:28] decisions, recommendations, and actions will be grounded in the county and the

[1:15:32] taxpayers's best interest. >> I'm sorry, GMP

[1:15:36] » uh guarantee maximum price. >> Okay.

[1:15:42] » Okay. So there was a lot of words there, but

[1:15:48] can you just describe succinctly how you would manage the cost and then make sure

[1:15:53] there was no cost overruns because you you you used a lot of big construction I

[1:16:00] mean project management terminology and but just in layman's terms, how are you

[1:16:05] going to make sure that the project doesn't overrun the budget?

[1:16:10] » Oh, can you

[1:16:14] Yes, ma'am. So, attention to detail is key and again vetting every every

[1:16:21] pay, every RFI, every submittal and with also with the document review ahead of

[1:16:28] time, knowing exactly what the pro the project entails and ensuring that the

[1:16:35] contractor is meeting the specifications and you know that what that that it

[1:16:42] meets what the intent of the design is and there's no deviations that could

[1:16:48] that could come with co additional cost impacts.

[1:16:51] » So are you doing that just by reviewing reports? Are you

[1:16:56] » I mean would Yes. I mean, with my oversight, his on-site oversight, we

[1:17:00] have a direct connection to what's going on and ensuring that

[1:17:06] that there's nothing that could go wrong to add cost. And if they try to claim

[1:17:13] that, we will we will, you know, refute it. And if there is any way to

[1:17:22] to prove that there shouldn't be cost there.

[1:17:25] » Okay. And so how often will you be you or someone be on site?

[1:17:30] » He could be on site every day. >> Could be or will be.

[1:17:32] » Will be. >> Will

[1:17:38] or something like that. >> As long as I need it. As long as the

[1:17:42] construction activity is there, I will be there.

[1:17:48] » You would be traveling from >> No, I'll be moving here from Austin.

[1:18:00] Thank you. >> As uh Jordan mentioned, one of the key

[1:18:05] responsibilities of owner's agent uh field agent is to

[1:18:09] review project drawings from initial design through the final completion to

[1:18:15] identify potential cost savings and uh prevent additional cost expenses.

[1:18:20] relevant example is the um water utility fleet maintenance facility in El Paso,

[1:18:27] Texas. During their design view, I noticed that they designed uh included a

[1:18:32] top running crane running the length of the building. Uh drawing from prior

[1:18:39] experience, I advised the team to if the hook height or the lift uh of the crane

[1:18:45] met owner's requirements. After further study, the owner and the architect

[1:18:52] uh decided to uh increase the size or the height of the building and also the

[1:18:59] height of the crane to meet their requirements.

[1:19:03] Also identified was a insufficient steel support for a movable partition over the

[1:19:08] break room. Uh by identifying these early uh the team resolved costly change

[1:19:14] orders and in this case uh the crane system uh could be used to its full

[1:19:21] potential at the Air Paso uh airport uh

[1:19:26] international airport. The project was highly complex. Uh a com a comprehensive

[1:19:31] logistic meeting was held with the construction team and key stakeholders

[1:19:38] uh to address the security protocols in the sterile and the non-sterile areas of

[1:19:44] the airport. Material storage requirements for each phase. Sequencing

[1:19:49] sequence of of uh phases including the construction of temporary check-in

[1:19:55] baggage. Demolition of existing check-in baggage, new check-in baggage facility,

[1:20:01] the back of house renovations, and finally the demolition of temporary of

[1:20:06] check-in baggage. Operational consider uh operational during normal peak hours

[1:20:13] including high peak seasonal were considered to minimize passengers

[1:20:18] disruption and stakeholder activities. Effective logistic planning was

[1:20:25] instrumental in meeting projects objectives uh aligning stakeholder needs

[1:20:30] and maintaining a tight construction schedule. Through detailed cost

[1:20:35] estimating and analysis, we achieved a cost savings uh exceeding $100,000 uh

[1:20:42] dollars. Building on these experience, we applied

[1:20:47] a similar proactive approach to Hood County by conducting a thorough review

[1:20:54] of ex existing conditions, coordinating inmate relocation, establishing an

[1:21:00] efficient renovation sequence, prioritizing HBAC and plumbing systems

[1:21:06] upgrades, and addressing ceiling heights constraints and if necessary, structural

[1:21:12] or insecurity enhancements. ments maintaining facility operations while ma

[1:21:18] m managing a controlling renovation cost.

[1:21:23] And of course adding to this, I will be there

[1:21:28] uh during construction activities to report to uh Jordan.

[1:21:34] Um, I'll be there for

[1:21:38] uh inspections, special inspections, uh, reviewing submittals, making sure

[1:21:45] that the construction is per

[1:21:50] uh, construction documents. Thank

[1:21:55] » you.

[1:22:00] Are you moving yourself to Granberry? >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I mobile

[1:22:08] » to Granberry. Yes. >> Yes.

[1:22:11] » Not to Stevenville. To Granberry. >> No. To Granberry. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[1:22:16] » So, um, what do you see as the top risks facing Cood County with this project?

[1:22:22] I see budget as as most of my projects that I'm currently um uh handling right

[1:22:29] now is is a budget uh issue. >> Yeah.

[1:22:33] » Okay. >> Um what about the um you mentioned kind

[1:22:38] of went over it with the baggage example, but it's a little different

[1:22:42] with the jail, but so where you had to handle a phased approach where the

[1:22:47] jail's operational while you're in construction. And how did you handle the

[1:22:50] security compliance during that project?

[1:22:54] » Well, first of all, we have to uh familiar familiar size with the the

[1:23:00] protocols of the of the security with with the uh you know, whoever the is

[1:23:07] managing security at the at the jail and what are those protocols

[1:23:12] and then and then uh broadcast that to the construction uh team.

[1:23:20] But certainly uh a a logistics was was certainly uh uh we'll we'll do a

[1:23:28] logistics on on on these on these matters.

[1:23:30] » So have you had that situation before where you had a jail that was occupied

[1:23:36] while adding on to >> uh No. No.

[1:23:42] Have you we have some documents online um that

[1:23:48] about the jail. Have you guys reviewed those?

[1:23:51] » Yes. Uh some of it. Yes. >> Yeah.

[1:24:01] » Do you have an example? How would you handle change orders?

[1:24:06] change orders are um actually uh brought up on the field and

[1:24:12] so the the the uh they look at the problem what the situation is lack of

[1:24:18] for example drawing details for example that there's no details on it uh or

[1:24:26] unforeseen unforeseen things in the in the field then I I looked at those and

[1:24:32] then I take a cost analysis on it and then I forward over to um Jordan. Jordan

[1:24:40] will then uh do more cost analysis on that and then and then uh when the

[1:24:47] superintendent and his contractor gets their their

[1:24:53] change order in, then we'll we'll uh analyze the change order and then and

[1:24:59] then have the architect approve or whoever is in charge. So what's the

[1:25:03] process of informing the court kind of not just but change orders but for

[1:25:09] project for the status what's your process?

[1:25:13] » Uh well actually the the process would be uh through through Jordan would would

[1:25:20] answer that that question but as as a field guy I know what what what

[1:25:26] the work is in entails the work and material.

[1:25:30] » Okay. And so I look at at how many men it was going to take, how many hours it

[1:25:35] going to take, how much material it's going to take, and then I take a cost

[1:25:39] estimate of from my experience and from other

[1:25:43] sources, >> and then I send it over to Jordan, and

[1:25:46] then Jordan will will distribute that. >> Yeah,

[1:25:51] » Jordan. >> So maybe I was asking the wrong person.

[1:25:54] So what's the process for keeping the court informed?

[1:25:56] » Yes, ma'am. I mean we we can actually tailor that to however you would like. I

[1:26:01] mean obviously any cost impacts we would want to notify you say hey they are

[1:26:07] claiming this. We are go what I also want to say we have no problem being the

[1:26:11] bad guy. Okay contractors we love them but we need them but you know sometimes

[1:26:17] they're they're in have self-interest and so so you will absolutely be

[1:26:23] notified that they are claiming this. Again, we will go through it with a fine

[1:26:28] tooth comb, validate their claims and and then we will have a discussion

[1:26:35] about what to do with it and how does this work with the budget and what you

[1:26:40] know what are the implications >> and I mean just overall for the entire

[1:26:44] project what not just change orders I know that was where I started but how do

[1:26:48] you keep the court informed of the >> Yes ma'am we do we do weekly reports

[1:26:52] monthly reports I mean we have we have a Procore. We use Procore which is a

[1:26:57] online where we where we have all everything filed that you can go in at

[1:27:02] any time and and pull things, run reports.

[1:27:07] » We would do that. >> No, you don't have to. You could,

[1:27:09] [laughter] but we will we can provide certainly weekly reports, daily reports.

[1:27:14] It is again we can tailor it to exactly how you would like to be informed. But

[1:27:19] certainly any any changes, major issues we would I would bring to your attention

[1:27:26] as I handled them. >> Okay. Any other risks that just um you

[1:27:31] mentioned when I asked what the tough risks were, you said someone said

[1:27:34] budget. I guess Pablo did. Was there anything else?

[1:27:41] I mean the the budget is is is going to be tight but that's why I

[1:27:46] said we we have to make sure we design through the budget and not vice versa.

[1:27:51] Um as far as other risks again the

[1:27:54] logistics will be you know will be unique but we nothing we can't handle

[1:28:00] and yeah I think other than that I don't see

[1:28:06] any major risks.

[1:28:14] » All right. Thank you very much. >> Very good presentation. Thank y'all all

[1:28:19] for coming down. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you.

[1:28:23] » Okay, Sheriff. The last one. Brous and Associates.

[1:29:02] Come on down, gentlemen.

[1:29:08] » Y'all have a seat. One speaker. One at a time will come to the podium and use the

[1:29:13] microphone. We make a recording of it. So,

[1:29:18] if you have a handout, we'll be glad to receive it up here.

[1:29:32] Thank. Okay. Thank you very much.

[1:29:50] » Good deal. Thank you.

[1:29:55] Yeah.

[1:30:54] Okay, please. >> Yes, sir.

[1:30:56] » Good morning, >> honor. Good morning. Thank y'all. Uh

[1:30:59] we're honored to be here today. Paul Webb, the chief operating officer of

[1:31:03] Broaden Associates. We're in Austin, uh headquartered in Austin, Texas, but uh a

[1:31:09] Texas ccentric firm, Morning Bread. Our first job was for Williamson County, a

[1:31:14] jail expansion project 25 years ago. So, just an honor to be here this morning

[1:31:19] and discuss how our firm we think is well suited to help you deliver the gel

[1:31:25] expansion project over the next uh 18 months or so. U want to start with

[1:31:31] introductions. I'll let my team come up and introduce themselves. Okay.

[1:31:38] » Good morning everybody. Thanks a lot for having us. We're excited about this

[1:31:41] opportunity. My name is Steve Cook and I'm going to be the program manager for

[1:31:44] this project. I'm local, one of the local people here. Um, and I come from

[1:31:49] your side of the table from 34 years. I've worked at several different cities

[1:31:52] over the last several years, Arlington, Fort Worth, Rowlet, and some other ones

[1:31:55] here and there. Um, I did public works director and and um property management

[1:32:01] director and things of that nature. And so I really admire you for getting to

[1:32:04] this point. I were in the the the bond elections from 2018 for Fort Worth and

[1:32:09] 2022. And so I know the scars and bruises it takes to get to this place

[1:32:12] where we are today. So you're to be commended for that and that's a great

[1:32:16] that's a great thing. Um, one of the things I wanted to um talk

[1:32:20] about too is my relationship with Brus in 2020. I had to um we had I had my own

[1:32:26] team of four architects and and four or five um project managers, but we had a

[1:32:32] big old project coming up on the on the convention center. It's $150 million

[1:32:35] project and we just didn't feel like we had the expertise for that. And so we

[1:32:38] went out for solicitations just like you're doing today and um we we made our

[1:32:42] selection and my selection was brought us at the time and you if you're

[1:32:46] familiar with 2020 you know what happened with COVID and all the things

[1:32:49] and materials you couldn't get them and all that and so that was extremely

[1:32:52] difficult project and I had to work very very very tightly with one of the people

[1:32:56] that he's not here today but he's one of the ones that be with us too his name is

[1:33:00] David Crabtree and um it was a fantastic relationship that we built going through

[1:33:04] the trenches together you know to get that project built and um and all the

[1:33:08] experts that brought us had that came in to help us with anything any eventuality

[1:33:12] that came up, they had somebody there to help me and take care of me. So now that

[1:33:16] I'm not in the public sector anymore, it was pretty easy choice for me to come um

[1:33:20] do something that brought us uh so I'm honored to be here. Um can't wait to be

[1:33:23] on this project with that.

[1:33:28] » Good morning. My name is Brett Edmonson. Um, I have been in construction for 17

[1:33:33] years and of those 17, um, I've been an owner's rep for 12 of them. Um, I

[1:33:39] thoroughly enjoy what I do and something that I've learned in those 12 years is

[1:33:44] my passion to, um, really look out for the ownership and the project itself and

[1:33:50] all of that and deliver it to you um, based on um, how it's designed and

[1:33:55] within your budget and and schedule. So anyway, thank you very much.

[1:34:02] Good morning. Uh Jack Judy, uh the chief estimator for Broadus and Associates. Uh

[1:34:08] 35 years uh in the construction business, 18 years with Broaden

[1:34:14] Associates. Uh my passion is uh taking care of owners money, taking being a

[1:34:21] good steward of the project. Uh open communication

[1:34:26] constantly constantly uh giving feedback uh about the project about its place in

[1:34:35] uh the cost cycle of the project. We plan to do exactly that on this project

[1:34:41] and uh thank you for the opportunity. Look forward to getting started.

[1:34:48] Good morning. My name is Glenn Dver. Uh I have 34 years of experience

[1:34:55] um both as a design lead on the architecture side and construction

[1:34:59] management uh project management. Um most of my work has been for jail on

[1:35:07] jails. I have 24 plus jails and sheriff's offices I've done and been

[1:35:13] involved with. Uh this includes mostly county jails uh and sheriff's offices.

[1:35:19] Uh in that time I've learned a lot of things about detention and corrections.

[1:35:24] Uh probably most importantly for you, I've learned what not to do and I'll be

[1:35:29] working with you on your design and planning review. Thank you.

[1:35:33] » Next slide, please. you saw in our proposal and again on the

[1:35:37] handout we've got on the leave behind our organization chart u a couple of

[1:35:43] couple of names I want to point out on this uh uh Steve mentioned David

[1:35:47] Crabtree David had a pre-planned uh um spring break trip and couldn't be here

[1:35:52] but uh David is my market sector leader here in Fort Worth in this part of Texas

[1:35:58] and look forward to you meeting him and then another gentleman that couldn't be

[1:36:02] with us today Ben Wagner on schedule management We're going to talk some more

[1:36:06] over the next 10 minutes about our best practices, our industry proven best

[1:36:11] practices. We're not a firm that just passes paper between the contractor and

[1:36:15] the owner or the designer and the owner. We dig in and apply industry proven best

[1:36:21] practices. Proactive schedule management being one of them. um just making sure

[1:36:27] that the general contractor or the Seymar has teeth in the specification of

[1:36:32] their contract that forces the schedule to be used as it's intended to be on a

[1:36:37] construction project. We understand the voters history on this uh bond, this

[1:36:44] jail expansion bond. Uh we know the price uh the the value change between

[1:36:50] the 24 election and 25. We also understand the cost to the county of of

[1:36:56] moving inmates outside of the county and and and the the study that y'all did had

[1:37:02] done for the costbenefit analysis and the money that can be saved over time.

[1:37:08] But again, my point being, you know, the the staying within the budget and

[1:37:13] staying on schedule is going to be very very important and we have tools in

[1:37:17] place to ensure or at least mitigate the risk associated with cost and schedule

[1:37:23] growth. Next slide. You ask uh in the in the invitation to

[1:37:30] for the short list to talk about our services relevant experience, cost and

[1:37:34] quality control and then our firm value and differentiators. Uh, next slide.

[1:37:39] Uh, again, uh, Texas firm 25 years, uh, celebration this year. We're the only

[1:37:47] vet hub, uh, in the state of Texas. Vet hub being veteranowned. About 25% of our

[1:37:54] 150 employees, including my 27year career in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps

[1:37:59] and CBS. Um so very take a lot of pride in what we do uh for the state of Texas

[1:38:04] and the we bring that um that mission mindset to our to our owners and uh so

[1:38:12] just very proud very experienced firm average experience 25 years and u uh so

[1:38:19] next slide.

[1:38:29] As I mentioned in my introduction, I'll be reviewing documents. Our team will

[1:38:33] look at things and make sure we identify issues and code compliance and make sure

[1:38:39] it meets standards and all of those things we're going to do. Uh because

[1:38:43] it's so important because you're going to if you're going to save money, you

[1:38:47] want to do it before the dirt's turned. And so that's where we can find savings.

[1:38:51] That's where we can do reviews to make sure those things happen. Uh we'll look

[1:38:55] at at things like uh systems, control systems. Control systems on jails are

[1:39:02] very important. You can't shut down. So it's so important that the people who

[1:39:07] manufacture your controls have texts that are within driving distance and get

[1:39:11] quickly. So those are the kind of things you want to think about. Also, software

[1:39:14] nowadays, the way they get you is by updates. And so you want to find

[1:39:20] something that includes updates that so it'll cut costs. So we're going to be

[1:39:23] looking at those type of things. We're going to be reviewing for issues um and

[1:39:28] try to find uh efficiencies where possible. Um we'll be looking at budget

[1:39:33] management and and Jack will speak more to that later on. And especially we'll

[1:39:37] be looking at the delivery method. Uh we're familiar with writing RFPs and

[1:39:43] you're going to need to get the contractor in as soon as you can. That

[1:39:46] way they can start giving you numbers and you start looking at schedules and

[1:39:49] realities and everything becomes more clear faster. So Jack's going to share

[1:39:54] more with you about this in just a moment. Next slide.

[1:40:00] Um, one of the other things I'd like to just

[1:40:03] hit on is reviews of the schedule. We're is so important that we establish those

[1:40:10] design related schedule elements. so many times are overlooked, but it drives

[1:40:16] the schedule early on. And so we want to make sure we mention that. Jack,

[1:40:24] » thank you. Uh, one of the early things that we would do uh, as estimators would

[1:40:29] come in, verify your budget. Job one, make sure that whatever has been

[1:40:35] established is adequate for building your program. uh in the eventuality the

[1:40:40] value engineering is needed. We would look at every process in every system

[1:40:46] across the the project's life cycle. Uh is this project supposed to be uh

[1:40:52] concrete poured in place? Is it supposed to be pre-cast? Is it supposed to be

[1:40:56] modular steel? We'll look at all of those options, uh present those to you

[1:41:01] as the owners, and allow you to make qualified and uh appropriate choices for

[1:41:07] your program. uh as I said, you know, it's important

[1:41:10] for us to uh get in involved early uh verify that budget that will then uh

[1:41:19] guarantee or come closer to guaranteeing uh quality outcome at the end of the

[1:41:23] project. Thanks. >> Next slide, please. [clears throat]

[1:41:29] So, I will be the uh main point of contact on a daily basis for the project

[1:41:34] itself while under construction. Um, my job is charged to oversee that

[1:41:39] contractor, make sure they're building things per design, per specifications,

[1:41:44] um, following the rules, um, getting the appropriate testing done, um, etc. Um,

[1:41:49] reviewing pay applications, making sure they're appropriate. We're reviewing

[1:41:53] change requests, making sure they're appropriate or not. Um, so it's kind of

[1:41:57] the nuts and bolts of of the project as it's being built in real time, making

[1:42:01] sure that we deliver that um on budget and on schedule.

[1:42:11] » So in both our proposal and the handout you have, we've tried to lay lay out for

[1:42:15] you the not only the work across the state of Texas, specifically in North

[1:42:19] Texas, um, but also the specifics on jail and corrections facilities. We just

[1:42:25] finished up last year for Halum City. We're still on a sheriff's expansion

[1:42:30] expansion project in Rockwell County. Just a ton of experience. I won't repeat

[1:42:36] a lot of that, but just uh just know we've got uh we've got the experience

[1:42:40] that you need to bring those lessons learned and apply those to your project.

[1:42:44] Next slide, please. Jack. Oh, excuse me, Steve. So,

[1:42:50] budgeting and quality control. It feels like this is pretty much the definition

[1:42:53] my of my career over the last three and a half decades. I what I had to do was

[1:42:58] protect that budget just like you did. We built it and we had we had plans and

[1:43:02] then once you get get into it, you have to protect that thing. And so um I think

[1:43:05] that was a big part of what I was familiar with and what what was

[1:43:08] obviously very important to everything we touched. The quality control is also

[1:43:12] very close to my heart. In my career, I've had to maintain over 400 buildings.

[1:43:16] And so if you don't have quality control of your construction, you're not going

[1:43:19] to be able to you're not going to have operational excellence in any program

[1:43:22] that you have or any building that you have. Right? And so I've made every

[1:43:26] mistake you can make. I've seen every every mistake that's been made. I've had

[1:43:29] to come back behind somebody else that built something that I didn't have

[1:43:32] anything to do with and the the mechanical systems upside down and

[1:43:35] sideways and the pan's crooked and all those kinds of things. And so I'm here

[1:43:39] to help make sure that what we what we put down is something that you can be

[1:43:43] proud of and you can maintain for the next several decades. And Jack can talk

[1:43:48] a little bit more about budget. At the risk of sounding like a broken

[1:43:53] record, uh our early involvement as estimators is just hyper critical to

[1:43:57] your project success. Uh early cost alignment will prevent those value

[1:44:02] engineering exercises that could potentially happen uh as the project

[1:44:06] progresses. uh performs uh the early estimating and budget verification uh

[1:44:13] will help with operational uh expense. We can do uh life cycle cost versus s

[1:44:19] first cost analysis and it brought us uh we're unique in that we have we're able

[1:44:25] to do that inhouse and not reach out to the outside market to bring that

[1:44:29] expertise in. So we look forward to doing that.

[1:44:35] » Let me ask you a question. Yes, sir. >> You're here that you have weekly onsite

[1:44:41] representation? >> Yes, sir.

[1:44:43] » What does that mean? Once a week you going to have somebody come out here?

[1:44:47] » No. What we would propose to do, and I was going to address this, your honor,

[1:44:50] uh, at the end of the presentation, but, uh, we were cautious. We we we ask

[1:44:54] ourselves, you know, showing up with five people. We got 150 50 people in the

[1:44:58] organization. I don't want you to think, and this is we've seen this before,

[1:45:03] brought us, you're going to be expensive, send a big team. No, we want

[1:45:05] to sit down with with you and your staff to rightsize our approach to this

[1:45:10] project. Whether it's Brett full-time as a project manager or maybe the answer is

[1:45:16] it's 30 hours a week for Brett with with fractional support from Steve and from

[1:45:21] Jack Judy and from Ben Wagner. It's making sure that we work with your staff

[1:45:26] to rightsize our approach to guarantee or risk mitigate risk related to success

[1:45:34] of the project. Does that answer your question, sir?

[1:45:40] » Kind of. When I was building my house, I had my hand I built out the country so I

[1:45:45] didn't have city ordinances and stuff. >> Yes, sir. And I had one of the hands

[1:45:49] come out with a video camera every day. Even when it was raining, nothing was

[1:45:53] going on. I wanted to see that nothing was going on that day.

[1:45:56] » Yes, sir. >> But when they were doing it from morning

[1:46:00] and twice during the day, I had a video of everything going up at my house. So,

[1:46:05] I almost had daily >> I had daily representation of what was

[1:46:10] going on. Do y'all see that? that's on a job like this to not have a daily

[1:46:16] representative on the project. >> Oh, we absolutely do. And that's what

[1:46:19] Brett is here. Uh that's that's would be Brett's role. Uh especially during the

[1:46:24] construction phase. We think a lot of a lot of times what we've seen is the the

[1:46:29] support of the design phase. You don't want somebody sitting here charging the

[1:46:34] county money to to You can do design management, show up for specific

[1:46:40] milestone meetings in person, but a lot of the design phase management is

[1:46:45] different than the construction phase. >> Sure. Yes.

[1:46:47] » But I'm talking about the actual construction.

[1:46:49] » Oh, yes, sir. Absolutely. >> There'll be somebody on site.

[1:46:52] » Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> That would be Brett.

[1:46:56] » Yes, ma'am. >> And where would he be coming from? Ter

[1:46:59] County.

[1:47:03] So, we've mentioned a couple of times our industry best practices, and it's

[1:47:08] not just words. What I've got on the screen right now is quantifiable

[1:47:13] savings. These projects, this is our top 10.

[1:47:18] This represents 200%

[1:47:21] return on investment to the owner of compared to our fee. In other words,

[1:47:27] we've more than based on our approach, our application of industry best pract

[1:47:32] practices, we've more than paid for our services to 2x on these top 10. Across

[1:47:38] our 100 projects that are active today, about 80% of our in the aggregate, 80%

[1:47:44] of our fee is returned to the owner based on our industry application of our

[1:47:49] industry best practices. So, it's not just academic. It is we've

[1:47:55] got quantifiable savings and we can talk about any of these that you'd like to

[1:47:59] talk about or we could talk about that more detail. Next slide.

[1:48:05] Again, this our last slide. We're just honored to be here this morning.

[1:48:08] Appreciate the opportunity to be shortlisted and have a visit with y'all.

[1:48:12] Um, we feel like we're the right firm for Hood County. We understand the

[1:48:19] market. We understand uh working with local county

[1:48:24] governments, city governments, uh the some of the challenges in the market

[1:48:28] today with with u general contractors, good finding good general contractors

[1:48:34] who are willing to bring resources to Hood County for this project. Um again,

[1:48:40] extensive experience across the state of Texas. Te Texas is our home and we're

[1:48:44] just honored to be here this morning. Now, open it up for any questions that

[1:48:47] you have.

[1:48:51] Have you >> Thank you.

[1:48:52] » Have you um had a situation with one of these

[1:48:57] projects that was a jail where the jail was operational but needed to be add on

[1:49:03] added on to. Can you walk us through how you maintained security and compliance

[1:49:07] during that project? >> And then you want to tackle that?

[1:49:11] » Yeah. >> Um Kamal County is a good example of

[1:49:16] that. occupied jail facility. Um there are several things you do. We don't want

[1:49:22] you to We understand your greatest cost is staff. So we want to make sure you

[1:49:25] don't have to add staff. Um building sometimes it's as simple as building

[1:49:31] fencing and and including that in in the contract. Uh separation of the job site,

[1:49:38] check in, check out of the job site for workers. Uh so there are protocols that

[1:49:43] you put into place. Uh if you're building something, connections usually

[1:49:47] come last. So the jail's functioning, you build the other piece, then you

[1:49:51] build the connector so that you can keep those things separate. So they're

[1:49:55] they're pretty scheduled out tightly uh for that type of situation. Does that

[1:50:00] answer your question? >> Like plumbing and electricity, how do

[1:50:02] you say the connections? >> Usually you usually you rough in

[1:50:06] everything to where it goes and you do the same thing. You have a shutdown very

[1:50:10] brief because shutdowns are are almost impossible. So, uh, you get everything

[1:50:15] ready and then you just plug and play sort of, so to speak.

[1:50:19] » Okay. So, what do you see as the biggest risk to this project in any I'm not

[1:50:24] asking you in particular, just whoever want.

[1:50:26] » Yeah. You know, I just um

[1:50:31] I think cost growth, cost and schedule growth are the two significant, you

[1:50:35] know, when you had the failed election bond election in November 24 and

[1:50:40] essentially went back out a year later at half the at half the value. Um, and

[1:50:46] of course, you know, with your with your what you're paying to send inmates out

[1:50:51] of this county, cost and schedule management are going

[1:50:55] to be the two most critical aspects. And um we've seen, you know, again,

[1:51:02] we've we've we've had success in Tarant County and the surrounding counties uh

[1:51:08] with good contractors, but we've also seen very incompetent contractors that

[1:51:14] get hired by a county or a city and uh you know, can will the are the really

[1:51:20] good contractors willing to either maybe they're here in Hood County already, but

[1:51:24] are they willing to come out if they're not and and and to bring in an A team

[1:51:29] and that's important as we work with your staff and and the design firm uh

[1:51:35] DRG to develop either the general contractor

[1:51:41] RFP or the Seymar RFP to make sure that we put teeth in that regard as I

[1:51:47] mentioned earlier regarding the schedule schedule management but also help you

[1:51:51] find the contractors that have built jails and expanded jails in in the past,

[1:51:57] but also have the the capability to bring those assets to bear here in Hood

[1:52:03] County. >> So, describe how your firm will commit

[1:52:08] to prioritizing Hood County's project in connection with all of your other

[1:52:13] projects. >> It'll be seamless. We don't There's no

[1:52:17] prioritization. I mean, it is Brett will be here full-time. Again, we'll uh work

[1:52:22] with your staff to to to negotiate a fee that's consistent with

[1:52:27] the kind of support that's needed for the project. But all of our support um

[1:52:33] as I mentioned, David Crabtree, Steve, Brett are all here in uh Tarant County

[1:52:38] nearby. From a leadership perspective, our firm,

[1:52:43] we take monthly briefs um and visit the job site as needed. Uh thankfully I've

[1:52:49] got great staff scattered all over the all over the state that that manage that

[1:52:53] effort. But uh at the CEO level, we pay attention to each project across the

[1:52:58] entire company. Uh there's not it's really not a prioritization issue. It

[1:53:02] because that's well we're just dedicated to the job.

[1:53:05] » What would the communication look like back to the commissioner's court? How

[1:53:08] often and what would it be? >> It'll totally be at y'all's request.

[1:53:13] We'll we can communicate daily at at whatever level you want us to

[1:53:16] communicate at. We can communicate at county commissioners spec formal county

[1:53:21] commissioners meetings. We can update your county staff. Again, it's whatever

[1:53:27] the y'all desire in terms of information flow. We don't want to do anything

[1:53:32] without y'all's involvement in approval. >> So, you don't have a standard report

[1:53:36] that you submit? >> We we do, but it varies from client to

[1:53:40] client whether they want to see that on a weekly or a monthly basis.

[1:53:43] » And what would be the key elements in that? Uh again, cost schedule,

[1:53:50] um any type of anticipated delays, essentially just making sure that y'all

[1:53:55] are always aware of any type of issues that would limit success on the project.

[1:54:02] » Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am.

[1:54:12] » Thank y'all very much. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Good to meet

[1:54:15] y'all. >> Yeah. Good. Thank y'all for coming out.

[1:54:18] » Yes, sir. [clears throat] >> Okay, let's take a little break right

[1:54:23] now. You want to go into

[2:07:20] Okay, Commissioner's Court back in session at 11:08.

[2:07:25] I'm here. Any commissioner wish to make a motion? I move that we

[2:07:32] award Ketchel

[2:07:36] as the RFQ 2026-04

[2:07:42] construction manager owner agent. >> Second.

[2:07:48] I second the motion. >> Any further discussion?

[2:07:53] » Yeah, I I want I would like to add this. I would prefer to have some more time to

[2:07:59] um follow up on what we've seen today

[2:08:05] um and make the award at at a future court.

[2:08:09] I know you got a motion on the table to vote on, but that's I'm just putting

[2:08:13] that into the record.

[2:08:17] » I agree with that that we talked about following up with references.

[2:08:23] Haven't really had time to do that.

[2:08:39] taking a couple weeks. Make sure we get this right.

[2:08:51] » My motion. >> Okay. Motion with drawn. I hear a motion

[2:08:54] in the table. >> So, um I'll move that we uh

[2:09:00] reschedu this to have time to review uh what we've seen today.

[2:09:08] » 3:24. That's the next course. >> That's fine. If you want a date certain

[2:09:13] 324 is fine. made by Commissioner Eagle to

[2:09:19] uh to to reschedule a table until March 24, 2020

[2:09:26] six commissioner court meeting. Second by Commissioner Annual Samuelson. Any

[2:09:30] further discussion? >> All those in favor say I.

[2:09:34] » I. >> All those opposed say nay. Motion is

[2:09:38] granted is moves unanimously. Thank you'all all for coming down.

[2:09:42] [clears throat]

[2:09:45] Okay, Glenn,

[2:09:49] you want to come up here and give us a short statement on this

[2:10:00] item is receive presentations from and conduct Q&A with shortlisted vendors in

[2:10:05] response to RFQ202603 P25 radio consultant. The court may

[2:10:10] award an award at this time or at a later date. Yes, sir.

[2:10:14] » Yes. Good morning. Uh so, uh similar to what we just did with the construction

[2:10:19] management, uh we put out an RFQ for P2 P25 radio network consulting services.

[2:10:27] And uh we have four of the four of the firms here today to give you a a

[2:10:31] 15minute presentation one at a time. And uh we'll move forward starting with TUSA

[2:10:37] Consulting Services.

[2:10:42] » Okay.

[2:10:53] Do you have a list of how many different people?

[2:10:56] » Just four. >> Four.

[2:11:00] » Oh, okay. Oh, I see. Yeah.

[2:11:48] Is it still morning or is it's getting close afternoon? Good morning. How you

[2:11:51] doing? [laughter]

[2:11:55] » It did. What amazing what an hour can do for us. Uh my name is Dean Hart um with

[2:12:01] TUSA Consulting. Um please next slide. I've got Norm Fulier with me. Um Jeff

[2:12:10] McN couldn't make it today, but the team you see on the board, two of us are here

[2:12:15] and the third one's there. Between the three of us, we probably got a close to

[2:12:21] 120 years of experience. So, I always jokingly say if anybody knows why I'm

[2:12:26] grumpy, it's because I've been doing this for a long time. So, next slide,

[2:12:29] please. You know, why do we think people should hire TUSA? Uh from my experience,

[2:12:34] I've sat across the room. I've been a customer dealing with what you're

[2:12:39] dealing with today. Uh I've been on the vendor side, having built large

[2:12:43] projects. I've been on the consultant side with a very independent

[2:12:48] perspective. Um you I like to keep the lighter side. Uh if you ever want to

[2:12:52] read a Still Water quote, I was asked by a commissioner one time if I was biased

[2:12:56] and I told him I was. I hate all these vendors equally. So we truly are

[2:13:00] agnostic. Um we're here to serve you and the citizens you serve as well.

[2:13:07] Um, another reason of TUSA is uh, you know, we look at the worst case when

[2:13:12] public safety's having their worst times is typically when something bad has

[2:13:18] happened. And so we focus on power, connectivity, all those things that need

[2:13:23] to work when times are worst in Hood County or anywhere. So I know you guys

[2:13:29] have dealt with a lot of uh, flooding and different things in this state. You

[2:13:33] know, it's it's sad to see that, but we focus on communications working reliably

[2:13:38] when times are bad. Next, please. Um, again, our procurement

[2:13:44] methodologies, we're vendor neutral. We're standardsbased. We're not the

[2:13:48] engineering team that wants to come and reinvent the wheel. Um, we know how the

[2:13:52] world's working out there. We've worked for the vendors. Um, in five years of

[2:13:57] procurement side, we've been challenged five times. The vendors are 0 for five.

[2:14:01] So, you know, the customer wins out on what they want to do. Next, please.

[2:14:08] TUSA started in 1992. Um, uh, TUSA is actually not an acronym. It's a

[2:14:14] gentleman's name. He was a founder, Nick Tusa. Um, he came off of the platforms

[2:14:18] in the Gulf in the, uh, oil industry. Um, he lost a friend on a rig due to

[2:14:25] poor communications. and it really kind of said his mention mission that public

[2:14:29] safety needs to communicate and it needs to be reliable. So that was kind of the

[2:14:34] founding principles. Next please. We're a company of first. I mean um I'm

[2:14:40] leaving the proposal if you guys want to see that. But I mean we've done a lot of

[2:14:44] things in the leading edge. Um uh we feel our competitors follow us in many

[2:14:49] cases. So we're proud of those and mention those. Next please.

[2:14:55] Um, TUSA was recently acquired by a company called ACG and that's literally

[2:15:00] been within the last 30 days. Um, ACG is on the federal side of business. Um,

[2:15:06] they do a lot of commercial work in the airports. They're they're deep into

[2:15:10] Dallas. Um, they're doing a lot of custom uh, uh, border patrol work uh,

[2:15:16] enhancing uh, mission critical communications along the border. Uh,

[2:15:20] they bring a lot of engineering support to us consultants in the background. And

[2:15:25] so we were we were happy with that merger. We're proud of that merger. Um

[2:15:29] we look at them being a proud partner with us. Next, please.

[2:15:35] You know, why is TUSA different specifically in Texas? Um we've worked

[2:15:39] several projects in Texas. Um the recent one being the city of Waco. So Waco had

[2:15:46] started out with their own radio system and then Mlennon County joined in. Um,

[2:15:50] I'm seeing some similar things as I've read through your RFP and and as I read

[2:15:54] through the Avesta report, uh, that we pulled just to get a little bit of

[2:15:58] history of what was going on here and why you guys were looking at a

[2:16:02] consultant. Uh, again, ACG has got a lot of Texas experience, too, to to back us

[2:16:08] up if we need it. Um, I'm pretty sure we can handle this one. Um, next, please.

[2:16:15] You know, I look at what you guys are doing and what I call decision point

[2:16:18] crossroads. Um, you guys are really looking at how you want to handle your

[2:16:23] public safety communication system for the next 15 to 20 years. Um, the life

[2:16:28] cycle of equipment typically goes 15 to 20 years. We like to give you that road

[2:16:33] map uh as part of that decision tree so a board such as this can sit there and

[2:16:40] know what their costs are going to be and plan for that over the long term.

[2:16:44] Um, we can tell you what the capital expense for something new or what

[2:16:48] something's going to happen today, but you've got to plan for the long-term

[2:16:51] sustainment of your radio system. Uh, you don't buy a new firet truck and not

[2:16:55] change the oil. Um, you know, what we're finding out

[2:17:00] anymore with the P25 standards is technology really isn't the primary

[2:17:04] failure point anymore. It really is governance. [snorts] And, uh, so we know

[2:17:09] that that's important. um the ability to make decisions for your public safety

[2:17:15] group as well as potentially having a good partner um for cost savings because

[2:17:20] this stuff is expensive and it has to be maintained and it's really a big IT

[2:17:25] system anymore with radios off the end of it and so we think that that

[2:17:29] governance is important. I mean, as a primary example, uh, Miami, the city of

[2:17:35] Miami, uh, very, very independent, but they've been able to partner with Miami

[2:17:40] Beach and Hyia to create a governance where they're all sharing radio system.

[2:17:44] Now, there's cost savings in that, but there's also governance in that. And as

[2:17:50] there they had a very goodou in place as that administration changed, the

[2:17:54] administration didn't know the history and we're going back in now and helping

[2:17:58] them tweak thatou uh get better pricing as a big regional system instead of a

[2:18:04] bunch of little independent systems and uh we're helping them with an update on

[2:18:08] that. So governance in my mind is a little bit evolutionary. Um it's got to

[2:18:13] be consistently reviewed and maintained and updated as administrations change.

[2:18:19] um to to let people know the history and and keep it carrying keeping that

[2:18:23] partnership carrying forward, you know, and that's and part of that is

[2:18:28] control. So, you know, your decision points from what we read, we we need to

[2:18:33] evaluate the uh Granberry participation and how you guys are a part of that. Um

[2:18:39] governance, authority, and decision-making control should be equal

[2:18:43] partners in that. We want to we want to look through that and and give

[2:18:46] recommendations. Again, life cycle sustainability.

[2:18:50] Your investments got to be maintained. Um what are those long-term obligations

[2:18:56] and really the ability to in so if if somebody's over the core, the ability to

[2:19:01] influence that and make sure that the operations are made for your public

[2:19:04] safety officials as well as anybody else that may be a partner of that system. So

[2:19:10] we've seen this in in counties where multiple agencies are done across

[2:19:14] multiple counties. Some cases the state of Minnesota is probably the the best

[2:19:18] case. Literally that whole state is one big radio system including the

[2:19:23] municipalities. Uh that's taken a long time and and they're they're at a

[2:19:28] crossroads in similar ways you are. So how do we look at that? We

[2:19:33] investigate. Um we interview and we inspect. So we want to see what your

[2:19:37] current system is. We want to interview the operational users and the decision

[2:19:42] makers to know what the goal is. Um look at the current governance and the cost

[2:19:48] and how things were being done through the contracts. I mean that's that's

[2:19:53] that's simple but it's we get into a lot of detail to uh g gather that

[2:19:58] information and make uh recommendations that allow you guys to make informed

[2:20:03] decisions. Next, please. What you will know at the end is we're

[2:20:09] going to look at continuing current participation or do we to modify the

[2:20:13] governance or do we pursue a hybrid model? You know, maybe they still got

[2:20:17] their system and you got your system and they're still tied together and

[2:20:20] everybody can interoperate but your manager and your resources, they're

[2:20:24] managing theirs. opportunities for scale that other counties may be able to do

[2:20:29] this or just transition to a county owned model and then you would proceed

[2:20:34] to a procurement from the recommendations that we look to provide.

[2:20:40] Next, please. So, we view this a 90-day completion. Um, we want to we want to be

[2:20:46] a prioritized engagement. I'm not the fancy suit that comes in and impresses

[2:20:51] you and hands another team. Two of your team members are right here. We welcome

[2:20:56] detailed questions of how we're going to handle your project. Um, so that's

[2:21:01] direct accountability to the team and then uh we'll give clear defensible

[2:21:06] recommendations. I mean they'll be uh we speak it, we speak radio, we speak

[2:21:11] boards. So we can we can sit there and provide that interpretation to you as

[2:21:16] part of this project. Next, please. And uh I'm open for any questions you

[2:21:23] guys may have as part of this

[2:21:29] » last page of your document that you submitted. Um it sounded like you were

[2:21:38] just stopping at the assessment phase. is it says this needs assessment report

[2:21:43] will address system performance and then at the conclusion of that phase

[2:21:49] county will be positioned determine whether to and then it talks about all

[2:21:54] the other steps. >> So ma'am we we look at we we could we

[2:21:59] can provide all that we can easily get you to the next phase where you're

[2:22:03] operational. We like to prove ourselves first and then we sit there and provide

[2:22:09] those next steps as part of that as part of that recommendation in the first

[2:22:14] step. >> But we already did the assessment with a

[2:22:19] you read that report. >> Yes ma'am.

[2:22:22] So we're so you know when I we look at consulting in three phases I call it

[2:22:27] needs assessment, procurement and then implementation. So we're we're still

[2:22:31] coming in to do some level of needs assessment based on the technologies and

[2:22:36] those different things. There will be recommendations and cost that then will

[2:22:41] allow you guys to say I really want to go to option two and here's the

[2:22:46] associated cost with that. At that point then if if you're happy with our

[2:22:51] services which we believe you would be we'll continue on then and give you a

[2:22:54] quote for that next step >> which is what

[2:22:57] » would be the procurement side of it. >> Okay. because that's not what this last

[2:23:01] page says. Or else I'm just reading it wrong.

[2:23:03] » Well, you're you're reading what we're going to give you out of this this first

[2:23:07] phase. >> Okay. What we needed based on the RFQ

[2:23:11] was a full evaluation of the options with pros and cons and costs associated

[2:23:16] with each one of those options. >> And that's that's what you're going to

[2:23:19] get out of this. >> That's not what you're

[2:23:24] that's what we call our needs assessment phase one. We come in and identify what

[2:23:29] potential cost would be estimated cost. Next phase takes it to an RFP

[2:23:35] procurement phase. That's what that means. Phase one, maybe it's not labeled

[2:23:40] correctly. We apologize for that, but that's exactly what you said is what we

[2:23:46] call our phase one. >> So, when we when we present to you at

[2:23:49] the end of this, we're going to tell you what your options are and what those

[2:23:52] costs are >> for each of the options. Yes, ma'am.

[2:23:55] Which are what are the options in your mind?

[2:23:58] um stay the course, um go on your own or or

[2:24:04] potentially a hybrid of that. In my mind, those are really the the three

[2:24:09] main options. >> Go on our own with what?

[2:24:12] » So, you would own your own radio system and manage your own radio system. You

[2:24:16] would not be a a partner with GRRN. >> Okay. And are there sub options within

[2:24:21] there? >> Sure. And as we got we got to gather

[2:24:24] some more data. I mean that's we we got to

[2:24:28] you guys were high level that report gave some good information but that

[2:24:32] report was talking I'm going to say more IT language than radio language and so

[2:24:37] and that report was talking I'm going to say in part this sounds bad but it

[2:24:43] seemed like there was conflict between Granberry and Hood County in that report

[2:24:47] that we read from A Vista. >> So we're going to try to dig into that a

[2:24:51] little bit deeper between Granberry and Hood County. see where, you know, at one

[2:24:56] point it looked like there was technical issues that Hood County didn't even have

[2:25:00] access to the radio system and they were using security and all that. I I don't

[2:25:04] get that because we've got big huge radio systems where every customer has

[2:25:09] view into the network for their particular components that they're

[2:25:13] taking care of. So, I don't know where that's coming from. I don't know if

[2:25:17] that's a vendor trying to make more money to sit there and do other things.

[2:25:21] I I don't know. And that's that's the detail we got to dig into and find out.

[2:25:26] » My understanding of [clears throat] what we're looking for here is exactly

[2:25:32] that. What are our options going forward and and how do we fit into that? what's

[2:25:39] the most bang for best bang for the buck I guess

[2:25:43] they were looking for and um that >> so yeah my my understanding was that you

[2:25:48] would need to do some analysis on on where we are currently with the

[2:25:51] structure and what it would take to if we did break away fill in the gaps

[2:25:57] that that may leave or whatever structurally or systematically to make

[2:26:00] sure that everything still >> right

[2:26:02] » provided the coverage that we needed but then to come in and look at it uh from a

[2:26:07] cost analysis of what each of these steps would take and and what would be

[2:26:12] the pros and cons of those. >> Yes. And that's that's the detailed

[2:26:14] report at the end. Yes, sir. >> Okay.

[2:26:19] » Yeah. I mean, asus are developed with partnerships, you know, we sit there and

[2:26:24] say you're really creating a 15-year marriage, not only with your vendor, but

[2:26:28] with the partners you sign up with. And divorce can be expensive. You need to

[2:26:33] know what that expense is. You need to know what your options are so you can

[2:26:38] continue your mission and support your public safety. We'll give each one of

[2:26:42] those with details and and associated costs and there may be even

[2:26:47] recommendations on the governance side that says if you want to stay the course

[2:26:51] here's are things that you should consider and you know what Granberry you

[2:26:54] should consider that too. Mhm. >> So, you're saying at the end of 90 days,

[2:26:58] we'll have a report that shows three to four to five options with costs

[2:27:05] associated with each one, pros and cons and risks for each one.

[2:27:10] » Yes, ma'am.

[2:27:13] » I would I would like to include the the just to make sure that we have all the

[2:27:19] bases covered. The fourth Fort Worth system isn't far away. What it would

[2:27:23] take to No, we we we we look at those again. We like to give you your options

[2:27:29] and let you make informed decisions again based on governance, partnerships,

[2:27:33] and and associated costs. >> I was asking what the options were

[2:27:38] because they were weren't they outlined in the RFP in the RFQ?

[2:27:43] » Yeah. I mean, we >> some of the options.

[2:27:46] » Yeah. I think there was something in there that said any other viable option

[2:27:51] that may come up >> staying with Granberry

[2:27:55] doing our own core with the current L3 Harris

[2:27:59] » joining North Texas Fort Worth whatever we want to call it

[2:28:03] » or even a competitive model of switching vendors right yes ma'am

[2:28:07] » so any of those >> yeah that's that's the deliverables and

[2:28:10] decision outcomes on that last on section C the very last page I think

[2:28:15] you're referring too. >> Yeah, it just just said completion of

[2:28:20] this work does not. So, I thought that it looked like all you were going to do

[2:28:24] at the this 90 days was the assessment and then

[2:28:28] » we we hope to prove our point and you guys say, "Hey, thank you for great

[2:28:32] recommendations and costs. We've been able to make decisions. What's what's it

[2:28:35] going to be to take the next step >> and and as as part of details, if you

[2:28:40] want pricing and further work on that, um that's that's easy to do. But cost

[2:28:45] estimates, you're going to have to do some kind of pricing to get cost

[2:28:47] estimates. >> Um, we we we know what those costs are.

[2:28:51] » Okay. So, I just want to be clear because this last page of your document

[2:28:55] doesn't conform with what I thought you were

[2:29:01] going to provide. So, you're telling me verbally that you're going to do this,

[2:29:05] and I think Commissioner Andrew said the same thing. What we thought this was is

[2:29:10] a full analysis of all the options which you have to do

[2:29:14] » assessment of our current option but we got current state what are the options

[2:29:18] for future state how much will estimate will each one of those cost what's the

[2:29:22] timeline for each one of those estimates and what are the pros and cons

[2:29:26] » correct >> okay that's

[2:29:27] » and I and I take that for granted so I I see where that's where we're not saying

[2:29:32] that direct as you've said so we we are providing that

[2:29:35] » and that will be all done in 90 days >> yes Okay.

[2:29:42] Oh, didn't even ask asked my questions that

[2:29:46] I was going to ask. Um,

[2:29:53] so I think you answered how you maintain strict independence with your vendors.

[2:29:57] You said you don't like >> I hate I hate them all equally. So

[2:30:01] tongue and cheek. So >> it made the newspaper the next day.

[2:30:04] » Oh, okay. >> Yeah. for for once the newspaper quoted

[2:30:08] somebody correctly. >> Okay. So, give an example of a project

[2:30:11] where you had to navigate potential conflicts of interest. What was the

[2:30:15] situation and how do you did you handle it?

[2:30:17] » So, right now that's currently going on in Miami. Um they had theirou

[2:30:23] administration changed. They got a new fire chief and she did not like um Miami

[2:30:29] was the leader of it. They had the primary core and then Miami Beach and

[2:30:34] Hyalia were off of that core with their RF network. So they were using that

[2:30:39] central core and then they built the the uh radio sites for their coverage,

[2:30:44] excuse me, in their city. So with that new administration,

[2:30:48] um they didn't understand theou. They didn't understand the cost sharing that

[2:30:52] was supposed to be done. And the city of Miami thought that Miami Beach and Hyia

[2:30:57] was supposed to pay for the core. And I said, "No, wait a minute. They're not.

[2:31:01] It's you're supposed to share the cost of that three ways." And so we're now

[2:31:06] updating that for the new administration. We've gotten the vendor,

[2:31:09] which is L3 Harris, by the way, there too, um, to break out what that core

[2:31:14] cost is separate from what their radio systems are. So they they know now what

[2:31:20] that core cost is to maintain and sustain and what their obligation is

[2:31:24] which is they divide it by three instead of one agency paying for all of it.

[2:31:29] » Okay. >> So what is your method for evaluating

[2:31:34] the alternatives? How do you assess advantages and

[2:31:38] disadvantages trade-off risks etc? Uh I mean part of it is is looking to see I'm

[2:31:45] going to say where there may be conflict within the agencies themselves. So

[2:31:48] digging down a little bit deeper into the technical views as well as the

[2:31:52] administrative views. Where's why are we why are we here today? And then looking

[2:31:58] at you know hey here's the way the rest of the world does it. Um, here's here's

[2:32:03] things that you may be able to change in this governance where you can continue

[2:32:07] the course and but here's also ways of cost models where you've got a core.

[2:32:14] Everybody that's on that core should share in that cost and then you should

[2:32:18] have coverage for your areas that you're covering. Obviously Hood County is Hood

[2:32:22] County. Um, Granberry is their city. Um, other agency was that join what would be

[2:32:27] their particular needs. So what is your particular needs? What are you going to

[2:32:32] maintain or sustain as part of a county and what are the shared components? So,

[2:32:37] how should I break out that cost model for that shared component?

[2:32:42] And a Kansas City Mars region is a good example of that. I mean, the the

[2:32:47] Missouri side has four counties, probably about 30 agencies, and Kansas

[2:32:53] City owns the core. And so they use ports off of that core to run their

[2:32:58] radio system and run their 911 center. And that core runs about a half a

[2:33:04] million dollars a year to maintain. But it's divided by 32 because there's 32

[2:33:09] people participating. So instead of one agency eating all that cost is and

[2:33:14] that's what you face if you become standalone, it's they paying 132nd of it

[2:33:19] which is a tremendous cost savings to the taxpayer in the region there. So

[2:33:23] there's another. So we helped show that cost model as well that if you if you

[2:33:28] stay the course and you and you and the partners stay together, here's how we

[2:33:32] think you should share costs and we'll give you examples of that from way other

[2:33:36] people are doing it. Uh we did that similar in Payne County. New radio

[2:33:40] system coming up. the county supporting most of it, but the city of Stillwater

[2:33:45] and Cushing and Perkins and Gleno are all and the rural fires are all sharing

[2:33:51] in that overall cost to maintain the system. So, the county uh put the system

[2:33:57] out there and they said, "Hey, we got to have this for county anyway, but all the

[2:34:01] agencies that now are benefiting from the coverage and the way the system

[2:34:04] works, we want you to help pay for the ongoing service and maintenance of the

[2:34:08] system." And that's part of what we look at in that that 10 to 15 year cost as

[2:34:13] well. >> Where where are your employees located?

[2:34:17] » I'm out of Kansas City. Um Norm is out of Keller, Texas. Um Jeff

[2:34:24] » Yeah, Jeff McN is is also out of Kansas City area. I've got consultants in North

[2:34:29] Carolina and California. Um Missouri, Kansas.

[2:34:34] » Okay. Thank you.

[2:34:38] Um, how will we um be updated on the

[2:34:42] progress? [snorts] >> However you want to be updated.

[2:34:46] » Do you have a standard format that you >> We like to give up we like to give

[2:34:50] weekly updates to the stakeholders. So, whoever you tell me is my point of

[2:34:54] contact, we want to give weekly updates to. Um if there's if we think we're

[2:34:59] making progress somewhere in the middle and the stakeholders believe it's it's

[2:35:03] pertinent to come back to this group um we welcome that. Um we we are very open

[2:35:10] to advising you on what your next steps are and what we view as the issues that

[2:35:16] have gotten to this point. So, do you have a sample of a road map or something

[2:35:21] from past projects that you can share of how you communicated, how you kept us

[2:35:26] informed of status? >> Would you like me to share it with

[2:35:28] » Yes, Kermit? Absolutely. We'll get that. We'll get that to you ASAP.

[2:35:32] » Okay.

[2:35:38] Is this really a like an incremental approach or report periodically or

[2:35:49] trying to see what this looks like on the back end? Don't you just come in and

[2:35:53] say, "Okay, if you choose option A, here's here's your costs, your pros,

[2:35:58] your cons, you know, that kind of thing. Is there somewhere between that makes

[2:36:05] » here's our process. So as part of and we call this a phase one. So we would sit

[2:36:10] there and give whoever's going to be the key stakeholder or the lead that's the

[2:36:14] sheriff. We would give him that hey we want to come in and we want to look at

[2:36:17] all this stuff. We're also going to do an online survey that's going to come

[2:36:21] out and and go out to the participating with a with a key set of questions

[2:36:25] specific to this project. So that usually happens within the first

[2:36:31] month. Um then we look at that when we read through the surveys we come in and

[2:36:36] schedule face toface and uh and again that could be with the board. Um you

[2:36:42] know hey we read this what did you know there may be follow-up questions what

[2:36:45] does this mean? You know, in the meantime, by virtue of we visited the

[2:36:50] sites and we understand the technology and we understand the goals of where

[2:36:54] you're trying to achieve, we start giving that technical side of it of

[2:36:59] here's your options and here's the associated costs. So, we've done the

[2:37:03] site visits, we've done the interviews with the key stakeholders and the

[2:37:06] participants, and that's everybody that's involved. And then in the

[2:37:11] meantime, we've been working on the details of the cost. And then after

[2:37:16] that, after we do the face toface, then we follow up shortly then with a

[2:37:21] detailed report of all the things that we've been talking about.

[2:37:39] » Else have any questions? >> Okay. Thank you very much.

[2:37:42] » Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity. Okay.

[2:37:55] » Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you everybody.

[2:37:57] » Thank you.

[2:38:28] Yes, sir. Come on down.

[2:38:39] » Good morning. >> It's uh

[2:38:44] Okay. Oh, good. Okay. I uh sent in uh emailed

[2:38:50] the presentation. [cough] We received it.

[2:38:53] » Okay. >> Uh Mr. Tilman.

[2:38:57] » Oh, go ahead. >> Yeah. Yeah. I could email I could email

[2:39:01] it again.

[2:39:05] » Oh, sure.

[2:39:15] Oh, I'm sorry. I should have I should have brought in uh

[2:39:20] Okay, let me forward it on

[2:40:04] While the presentation's coming in, I take a minute to introduce myself and uh

[2:40:11] first of all um like to thank the commission for giving me the opportunity

[2:40:15] to come in here. It's an honor and a pleasure to present to you. Uh my name

[2:40:20] is David Ruez. I am the owner of Drewbridge LLC.

[2:40:25] The company is uh headquartered in the New York metropolitan area.

[2:40:31] Uh I've been in business I'm kind of preempting the slide deck, but I figured

[2:40:35] we in the in the essence of time we jump right in. Um we've been in business

[2:40:42] since 2019. We are a young company up and coming. We do uh the majority of our

[2:40:50] business with the New York Police Department,

[2:40:55] uh New York Fire Department and do it. It's been primarily where uh the

[2:41:00] majority of our uh of our work has been done over the last uh several years. Uh

[2:41:06] we uh I personally have been in the communications industry, the public

[2:41:11] safety communications industry for 30 years. I graduated from uh Newark

[2:41:15] College of Engineering uh also known as the New Jersey Institute of Technology

[2:41:20] in 1990 and um since uh then I started uh at um

[2:41:28] engineering career at Motorola Solutions and very fortunate I was able to uh work

[2:41:36] at Motorola Solutions for 30 years. Uh I was involved in a multitude of projects

[2:41:43] uh up and down the coast and across the United States. Uh working on engineering

[2:41:49] efforts uh helping Motorola with maintenance and operations planning

[2:41:54] uh some contract planning uh contractual language changes, change management,

[2:42:00] things of that nature. Um what we'll see here when we pull up the presentation is

[2:42:06] I'd like to step the commission through the basically the the the philosophy and

[2:42:11] the concept of myself and I say myself uh that would be my company because it

[2:42:17] is my company and I am driving the company towards a uh towards a uh

[2:42:24] hopefully a future that'll be reflective of how I view communications and what my

[2:42:30] understanding is of public safety communications. S. So, um, again, to

[2:42:35] preempt the the slide deck, and I'll kind of walk you guys through real quick

[2:42:38] when the slide deck does come up, but just to give you an idea, uh, in my my

[2:42:44] entire career has been spent on public safety communications.

[2:42:50] And, um, I tried getting out a couple of times, but I wasn't no luck. I was

[2:42:56] dragged right back in. um and ultimately ended up in now after my 30th year in

[2:43:02] the business ended up working still on public safety communications of course

[2:43:08] in a different different capacity. Uh currently I'm involved more in a

[2:43:13] consulting and uh financial uh representation of what it is that is

[2:43:18] involved with the P25 networks. But uh nonetheless um as I indicated

[2:43:24] before I I am very fortunate. My career has span uh spanned across uh a

[2:43:30] multitude of different uh um different uh backgrounds if you call it

[2:43:38] for the sake of a better word. But I've been um I was involved for an extended

[2:43:44] amount of time in the design and building of the public safety networks.

[2:43:49] I've got a background also which uh I'm trying very hard to instill on the

[2:43:54] company a background in project management and deployment

[2:43:58] um and uh also in change management which uh if you spend any time with uh

[2:44:05] working on these communication networks what you realize is that it's it's the

[2:44:10] the system is uh really uh when you look at a at a

[2:44:16] P25 network for public safety operations. You've got to consider a not

[2:44:22] only a hardened network, a network that's going to operate under duress,

[2:44:27] but you've got to consider uh the long-term maintenance serviceability of

[2:44:32] the network, what your long-term plans are, and as you move into the future, uh

[2:44:39] that you understand what your financial requirements are with these public

[2:44:42] safety networks. Because one of the shortcomings that I had seen I have seen

[2:44:48] actually throughout my career uh is customers getting into these public

[2:44:53] safety P25 networks these modern technology laden very technology laden

[2:44:59] networks and not understanding that there are issues that have to be

[2:45:04] addressed down the road and these could become very very complicated. The issues

[2:45:10] could range from technology obsolescence in in the sense of your boxes are going

[2:45:18] to have to be replaced on a 3 to 5 year time frame. Uh the communications

[2:45:24] network and and the what we're really looking at here and I'm going to jump

[2:45:29] around a little bit for the sake of time. Oh, it's okay. I'm I'm going

[2:45:32] through the entire presentation anyway. So it it'll give you a the goal here is

[2:45:37] to give you a good idea of basically my presentation was how do I approach this?

[2:45:43] So I'll I'll just verbalize it and lay it out for for the commission.

[2:45:48] um the the long-term s the issue with the comm networks, the the modern public

[2:45:57] safety communications networks is that you're dealing with two components

[2:46:06] where in the past if you bought a radio network for example in 1975 1980 that

[2:46:14] network you could potentially get 20 30 years out of that infrastructure and uh

[2:46:20] because it was a tech technology platform at the time and we didn't have

[2:46:26] the advancements in uh in in networking equipment and all

[2:46:32] the changes in technology. What's happening today is your P25 network and

[2:46:37] and I know that the county operates as part of the the Granberry P25 network.

[2:46:42] your P25 network is very technology intensive. So when

[2:46:49] you analyze a system uh any system that you move into, what you're really

[2:46:56] looking at is a civil infrastructure and this is what really makes radio

[2:47:02] communications challenging and unique. The uniqueness of radio communications

[2:47:08] is that unlike an enterprise network that the county might procure to do its

[2:47:14] file maintenance and its legality and data storage, the radio communications

[2:47:19] network has a civil component associated with it. The civil component has to be

[2:47:26] analyzed and maintained and built in the similar with a similar mindset that you

[2:47:33] would build a you would build, excuse me, the the radio infrastructure. So

[2:47:39] often you go into the design of a radio network and you're thinking, well, I've

[2:47:44] got my sightes taken care of, my coverage is in pretty good shape, and

[2:47:49] I've got good microwave and that's great. That's only one half of the

[2:47:54] story. The other half of the story is what happens to this network over time.

[2:47:59] And the the reason you've got to consider the evolution of the network

[2:48:04] over time is because the RA modern radio communication systems are are are

[2:48:10] basically network platforms. They're enterprise platforms that uh interface

[2:48:17] to an RF world. And that's what you're dealing with. you're dealing with the

[2:48:21] outside world, which is your towers, your generators, your shelters, uh your

[2:48:27] radio, your RF world, communicating out with your deputies and the other county

[2:48:32] employees, and you're dealing with an inside enterprise network. Now, that

[2:48:37] introduces several challenges to the communications owner and to the

[2:48:43] communications companies that actually uh build these networks. So, as a as a

[2:48:50] as an owner of a public safety hardened P25 network, you've got to plan for

[2:49:00] multiple aspects of what I call ob obsolescence.

[2:49:04] There's software maintenance that has to be installed in these networks and it's

[2:49:08] got to be considered. Most vendors today, the two primary vendors obviously

[2:49:13] Motorola Solutions and Harris all uh work on a software

[2:49:19] maintenance platform and and the updates Thank you. the updates could be on a uh

[2:49:26] on a um on a s by annual basis or they could be annually. The other issue you

[2:49:32] have Thank you by the way. The other issue you have uh is that the uh you've

[2:49:40] got to also consider beyond standard software maintenance. You've got to

[2:49:45] consider uh [snorts] technology refresh. Your servers, your switches,

[2:49:51] your uh routers, your security components of the network are all being

[2:49:57] refreshed over time. And that's not a something that the vendors really want

[2:50:03] to do. It's something that industry forces them to do. Technology changes

[2:50:07] and being that the P25 network is so network intensive, the P25 system, I

[2:50:13] should say, is so network intensive, it requires you to keep up with the modern

[2:50:21] uh the modern deployment of of these networks. So, so what what happens is

[2:50:26] over time when you own one of these communication networks, you've got to

[2:50:33] worry about um you've got to consider not only the serviceability, the

[2:50:40] daytoday maintenance of the network, break fix,

[2:50:45] having somebody available when a base station goes down, uh or you you've got

[2:50:50] to replace an antenna, things of that nature. These are the daily requirements

[2:50:54] to a communications network. You also have to plan for your software upgrades.

[2:51:00] You've got to plan for your technology refresh upgrades. And you've got to plan

[2:51:06] I think one of the things that many public safety agencies tend to overlook

[2:51:10] is the human capital associated with the management of these networks. So you've

[2:51:17] got to have a team in house, not necessarily to respond on a 7 by 24

[2:51:23] basis to go out there and fix because there are many service centers uh across

[2:51:28] the country and both Harris and Motorola have service shops that can come in and

[2:51:33] take care of your day-to-day. But management of these networks is

[2:51:38] extremely crucial. And one of the things that you don't want to do is you don't

[2:51:44] want to pass off management to just the communication shop, the local

[2:51:51] communication shop. As good as they are, there's too many things on the customer

[2:51:56] side that have to be addressed. Um, actually the previous slide was a

[2:52:02] probably a good place for me to start. Um, and I think the slide before that

[2:52:08] was uh where our experience is. I I'll take a minute or so and talk through

[2:52:14] what it is we're doing. I deliberately selected these four projects because

[2:52:20] they're all different in their own ways. We just we were awarded it was

[2:52:24] heartbreaking. We were awarded uh the islandwide design for for Puerto Rico.

[2:52:30] It was a Department of Homeland Security grant that was given to the uh company

[2:52:37] we partnered with and we designed the entire communication system uh all the

[2:52:43] the sites uh the coverage for the entire island of Puerto Rico. We ended up with

[2:52:48] a 65 site design uh to provide portable in street coverage over six simoccast

[2:52:55] cells uh redundant core networks. You guys are probably familiar with the

[2:53:00] Granberry having the core uh with redundant core networks and five or six

[2:53:05] dispatch center locations. There was a technicality in that we we

[2:53:11] believed we were able to partner with uh a local uh island engineering firm

[2:53:18] certified civil engineering firm professional. Turned out that we were

[2:53:22] not. It turned out that what they were really looking for was for the

[2:53:26] engineering firm to be the lead on the project. The award was recanted. Uh we

[2:53:33] had to rebid. We we rebid with a very good firm, but uh to no avail. They

[2:53:39] decided to go in another direction. But I wanted to put it up there as uh one of

[2:53:44] our I mean I'm think one of our uh one of our wins for 2025 even though the the

[2:53:52] project was not awarded to us. State of Maryland public safety system. Now this

[2:53:56] one I wanted to put up there as well. Um I was uh primarily responsible on the

[2:54:02] state of Maryland system for designing their maintenance and operations

[2:54:05] program. It was uh designing and laying out. I did not do the work. As a

[2:54:12] Motorolan uh big team comes in, as you guys are probably familiar, similar to

[2:54:16] Harris, they've got project managers, engineers, salespeople.

[2:54:21] My job was to design the 10-year maintenance and operations program. And

[2:54:24] it was a tremendous experience because I was able to really analyze what it took

[2:54:31] to facilitate and maintain uh these networks in the during the uh the second

[2:54:38] half of their existence during maintenance and operations. So I did

[2:54:41] that. Um, the other thing I did which was uh pretty pretty uh educational I

[2:54:50] would say was I ran uh two of Motorola's teams uh the fire department team and uh

[2:54:56] the dick team in New York City. I was lead project manager. I was in charge of

[2:55:00] the teams and uh we engaged in several upgrades, fire and uh do it upgrades and

[2:55:09] uh one of the upgrades uh in particular was uh the P25 upgrade of a citywide of

[2:55:16] the citywide fire department uh system. So PM team under myself uh was actually

[2:55:23] handling the deployment. More recently, the fourth project, the

[2:55:28] base station replacement was when uh kicked off when I started the company

[2:55:33] and uh they contracted us to handle all the project management and um facility

[2:55:41] management on uh in one of their staging facilities in New York City. So, we ran

[2:55:47] this is an extremely large project for the New York Police Department. They

[2:55:51] replaced all of their uh analog infrastructure with P25. Uh it was a

[2:55:57] mild migration. Uh at first the uh uh the the first phase of the project was

[2:56:03] to bring in the P2 the cabinets, install them. Second phase was to do the P25

[2:56:09] upgrade where they would bring the analog up to the digital platform.

[2:56:14] And um so it was was intriguing project. I our team really learned a lot from

[2:56:22] this project. It was uh so we we're very very successful. We had a great outcome

[2:56:27] with this project. So I wanted to put these four up here because each one of

[2:56:31] them uh really indicates a uh a bit of a different skill set that we bring to the

[2:56:37] table. Uh [snorts] next slide. And I know time is of the essence and

[2:56:43] please if I'm overstepping just just let me know and I'll be more than happy to

[2:56:49] accelerate and uh and with all due respect uh okay so

[2:56:57] I think I've spoken to the engineering and network architecture

[2:57:03] aspect of of the company philosophy when you design a radio communication system

[2:57:09] you have to design a hardened network and sometimes you overlook that. Uh it's

[2:57:16] and it's got to be hardened on multiple fronts. And the reason is because public

[2:57:20] safety uh 90% of the time you could have little to no incidents depending on the

[2:57:28] population and how uh busy the the area is. But it's just that one time that

[2:57:35] your radio system falters on you and you've got a big incident. You can have

[2:57:38] a shootout. You're going to have a fire. whatever the case may be. And this is

[2:57:42] the mindset that you've got to have when you go into these P25 networks as a

[2:57:48] design engineer. Uh, and it is challenging because it does at times

[2:57:53] introduce significant cost to the process. But I think overall you've got

[2:57:58] to be thinking reliability and resiliency when you're an engineer, when

[2:58:02] you're doing engineering on these networks from a project management p

[2:58:06] perspective. And I wanted to touch on project management because project

[2:58:11] management as you've I know you've been involved listening to presentations on

[2:58:16] construction on P25 project management is critical as well in the deployment of

[2:58:23] the system because project management with these networks uh introduce has to

[2:58:30] manage the construction of the sites has to manage the regulatory aspect ect of

[2:58:37] what installing a radio tower and a shelter and generators things of that

[2:58:42] nature that all comes from the project management. But there is something that

[2:58:45] I wanted to touch on very briefly here which is uh which is in my opinion

[2:58:53] overlooked often and that is the financial management of these networks.

[2:58:59] Um, I've been very fortunate that the last 3 years I've been consulting for

[2:59:04] Motorola Solutions, specifically for Motorola Solutions in a uh financial

[2:59:10] change management capacity. So, I've been doing all their change orders and

[2:59:15] pricing the change orders. And the one thing that I realized is and the

[2:59:19] Westchester County, it's for Westchester County, New York, by the way, uh, on

[2:59:23] behalf of Motorola. [clears throat] Um,

[2:59:28] time. What can you do about our design system?

[2:59:32] Tell tell us about this about our system here. What give us our options on what

[2:59:39] we're trying to do here on our radio system.

[2:59:42] » I think you look at first of all, let's let's make sure we understand what it is

[2:59:47] that the county has uh the experience they've had with the network. Let's look

[2:59:52] at your system. Let's analyze the configuration.

[2:59:57] Um when you do an analysis of the configuration, then you can come up with

[3:00:02] design alternatives or design improvements.

[3:00:07] Once we develop an improvement to the design, whatever that may be, it could

[3:00:12] be uh adding a second core site. It could be uh it could be scratching the

[3:00:19] existing radio system altogether. We don't know. That would have to be

[3:00:23] analyzed. And what basically as the analysis is being done, you're doing the

[3:00:28] analysis on the behalf of the county the best. Mhm.

[3:00:34] » Happened to take a look at that Abveistice report that was online.

[3:00:38] » We looked at the I believe it was included in the RFP. So we did see that

[3:00:43] there were several shortcomings and issues associated with the existing

[3:00:47] system network. >> How would you be able to leverage that?

[3:00:50] I think the the county has the RF infrastructure in place which is

[3:00:56] promising. That means you don't have to spend money on building towers and uh so

[3:01:02] half of your battle in doing an upgrade if the coverage is acceptable. And I go

[3:01:07] back to the county should analyze whichever consulting firm comes in and

[3:01:12] you select to do business with. You should analyze whether your radio

[3:01:17] coverage is acceptable. Maybe it's acceptable today. Will it be acceptable

[3:01:23] in 5 years and 10 years down the road. So if the existing network that's

[3:01:28] basically how we would analyze it. I don't foresee that it's a complete

[3:01:32] tearown. I think that the existing network if properly handled could be uh

[3:01:39] has the ability to be upgraded and provide the county what it is that the

[3:01:43] countyy's looking for. Um so it would be a matter of looking at what looking at

[3:01:49] the current configuration and uh coming up with a viable solution cost effective

[3:01:54] solution and technically competent solution that would be acceptable to the

[3:01:59] county. Are there any other options >> you you could pull the depending on on

[3:02:05] the my opinion is in and it always has been that you've got to look at all your

[3:02:10] possibilities you you have to look at multiple vendors in a situ in your

[3:02:16] current situation I think you would be happy 5 years from now if you did a

[3:02:21] complete analysis and said here's where we sit with the Harris system here's

[3:02:26] what Harris is proposing to bring the network up to where we think it should

[3:02:32] be and address the issues that we feel we have to be addressed. But let's look

[3:02:37] at the competitor as well because you never know there might be in a nutshell

[3:02:43] you might have as much work upgrading the existing system as you do to totally

[3:02:49] swapping the existing system and going to a new network. It's something that

[3:02:53] needs to be analyzed. It's something that the vendors would have to uh

[3:02:58] discuss with the county. >> Okay.

[3:02:59] » And where are your employees located? >> We are primarily located in the New York

[3:03:03] area. I myself call home uh South Florida. I live in Boca Raton, Florida.

[3:03:09] Uh my son who runs the company for us is out of he's just bought a house in

[3:03:13] Denver. And uh my my chief engineer my uh my primary engineer is in New Jersey.

[3:03:21] New Jersey, excuse me. So when you look at in the early on in your present

[3:03:27] document that you submitted um 3.3 says understanding the project and it's got

[3:03:33] some things listed there but I'm not hearing you describe the things.

[3:03:37] Apologies. I I tried to verbalize everything that was uh

[3:03:40] » well, we were we were looking for a total um

[3:03:45] and report that would give us all the options, cost benefits or pros and cons,

[3:03:52] costs of each time frame, and I don't I don't see that in your

[3:03:56] » Yeah, the the report uh would come after we have the ability to analyze the

[3:04:04] situation at this point or where Uh our response was really based on the

[3:04:08] information in the RFP. >> Okay.

[3:04:10] » Mhm. >> All right.

[3:04:12] » So it's certainly something that is doable. There's no doubt about it. We we

[3:04:16] have the ability to analyze the existing system, report back to you what would be

[3:04:20] the better of the options both from a technical, financial, long-term

[3:04:24] sustainability perspective. >> Have you done any similar public sector

[3:04:29] projects in Texas? >> The no nothing in Texas. This is my

[3:04:32] first uh my first stab at at working in Texas.

[3:04:37] » Okay.

[3:04:45] » Question. >> Yeah. Have you done any any kind of work

[3:04:48] where there's multiple jurisdictions involved trying to get everything?

[3:04:52] » Actually, yes. So, uh like this regional network for example. Yeah. My

[3:04:59] understanding from what I can see in the RFP the

[3:05:03] uh my understanding I should say is that Banberry runs the network. They run the

[3:05:08] core >> basically. Uh you've got four sites

[3:05:12] inside the county that uh for it's it's a foresight simoccast system P25 that

[3:05:19] you utilize inside the county. Um interoperability with P25 is is not a

[3:05:25] big issue. It's it's the the network is quite flexible and allows for uh for

[3:05:33] tying in outside agencies expansion within the network. So uh it's it's what

[3:05:40] you're trying to achieve I'm fairly confident can be achieved in one

[3:05:44] capacity or the other. You just have to look at all your options. You've got to

[3:05:50] lay them on the table and determine what is the uh what is the

[3:05:56] best option of all for the county financially and technically and down the

[3:06:01] road. Very important. >> Got to consider how long how how is this

[3:06:06] going to play itself out 5 10 years from now and how much is all of that going to

[3:06:11] cost you. Total cost of ownership with these networks is very important. It's

[3:06:17] something that needs to be considered uh as much as how you're going to maintain

[3:06:22] the network today because the county does not want to find itself in a tough

[3:06:27] situation trying to fund something that it did not plan for.

[3:06:41] » Any other questions? >> Good. Well, it was a pleasure and an

[3:06:46] honor and uh whether we are awarded, as I stated before, we're a young company.

[3:06:52] Uh I am in uh it's something I've always wanted to do consulting all my life.

[3:06:57] I've been able to do multitude of other work at Motorola. We are very successful

[3:07:02] in the New York area. We managed to pay the rent. We managed to keep the lights

[3:07:06] on. But uh this is something that I definitely uh endeavor to do over the

[3:07:12] long haul. on having the opportunity to come here and present to the com the

[3:07:16] commission is is again it's it's an honor and whether TrueBridge is awarded

[3:07:22] the project or not I thank you from the bottom of my heart sincerely and I wish

[3:07:26] you the best with whatever direction you take we are always there you have my

[3:07:33] number uh you're uh yeah you can reach out to us at any given time with that

[3:07:40] thank you and uh have a Good day. >> Thank you.

[3:07:43] » Bye-bye.

[3:08:22] Good morning. >> Hey, good morning.

[3:08:24] » Good. >> Yeah. Good afternoon. How you doing?

[3:08:57] Please introduce yourself. We're ready. Are you ready, Christine?

[3:09:03] I'll introduce myself in the meantime. Good afternoon. Uh my name is Rejit

[3:09:07] Javer. I'm associate vice president with federal engineering. Uh I've been with

[3:09:12] federal engineering for 18 years now. Uh various roles. Uh I was a a lead

[3:09:19] consultant, uh project manager, director, and then my current role. So

[3:09:23] I've been involved with the public safety radio communication space um

[3:09:26] during that entire time. Um, prior to that I worked for a major vendor for

[3:09:32] about eight years in the public safety, radio communication space as well. So,

[3:09:36] my career in the space is my entire career of 25 plus years. Um, so excited

[3:09:41] to be here today and thank you for this opportunity. I'm going to introduce uh

[3:09:45] Greg uh to introduce himself. >> Hi,

[3:09:50] » Greg Center. Um, I've been with uh federal engineering for four years as a

[3:09:55] consultant. I've had a 30-year career in the wireless industry. Uh my background

[3:10:01] is I've got a bachelor's in electrical engineering from Oklahoma Christian and

[3:10:05] an MBA from UT Austin and um a project management professional. That's really

[3:10:11] where my career is focused on project management specialty. Uh about half my

[3:10:16] career was at Texas Instruments making wireless chips for cell phones and then

[3:10:20] the other half has been working on uh public safety, public radio

[3:10:24] communication systems. um working for various vendors uh different vendors

[3:10:30] along the way. I was a director of PMO for one of them until I moved to federal

[3:10:35] engineering. I've worked about 20 projects for federal engineering uh

[3:10:39] since I joined. Uh I'm working alongside another couple individuals who aren't

[3:10:45] with us today. Lewis Camaro, he is uh he like myself is also from from Texas. I'm

[3:10:51] from the DFW area. Lewis is from the Houston area and then he's he's been

[3:10:57] with Federal probably 18 years. He's worked over a hundred projects or so for

[3:11:02] for Federal. And we've also got Julian Duran. He's our RF coverage specialist.

[3:11:07] He's uh got specialties in coverage propagation and also backall engineering

[3:11:13] microwave. So with that, I'll turn it back to you.

[3:11:15] » Thank you, Greg. Uh next slide, please.

[3:11:21] So, uh, wanted to go over, uh, what our proposed services are here. Um, also

[3:11:26] wanted to say that, you know, we as federal engineering are prepared, uh, if

[3:11:30] we're so, um, honored to to have this opportunity, uh, we we are prepared to

[3:11:35] start right away. We have a a planning tool that um we all get together and

[3:11:41] plan every week and continually update that looks out 12 months, 18 months to

[3:11:46] make sure that um our our personnel and resources are are are staffed on the

[3:11:51] project. So, we we definitely have the uh bandwidth for uh taking on a project

[3:11:55] of this size and scope. Um so, I wanted to let you know that. Also, we're

[3:11:59] assuming a six-month schedule, but we'll work with you. Um, if there's some time

[3:12:03] dates and times that need to be met that are critical for the county, we're we're

[3:12:08] more than happy to work with you to, you know, compress the schedule uh however

[3:12:12] best we can to make it work for you and your needs.

[3:12:16] Um, so as far as the project uh initiation phase, oh, I'm sorry. So,

[3:12:22] uh, as um, can you go back one? Sorry. Sorry. Um as far as the project

[3:12:25] initiation phase, um what we'll first do is we'll send out a request for

[3:12:29] information to uh the participants from the county to receive some documentation

[3:12:33] just to get a uh understanding of what uh your system uh has different uh

[3:12:38] aspects of it, whether it's the the frequency licensing, the actual uh

[3:12:42] equipment components, uh the maintenance, uh all those types of

[3:12:45] things. Um and then we'll we'll review that um in preparation for the project

[3:12:50] initiation meeting. helps us to get a better understanding of of where um Hood

[3:12:54] County is at. And uh at the project initiation meeting, we will um basically

[3:13:01] baseline what the scope of the project is, go through some critical dates, um

[3:13:06] go through how the project communications will take place, and

[3:13:09] we're very flexible. We'll do whatever's in the county's interest of how how

[3:13:13] often to have those calls and meetings. We understand um you know county staff

[3:13:18] are busy and we don't want to overly burden them but we also make sure want

[3:13:22] to make sure the communication flow is is is good and adequate to your needs.

[3:13:26] Um and then we'll conduct stakeholder interviews. This is a really important

[3:13:29] part of the process because we will really gain an understanding of what the

[3:13:33] first responders uh find is working well with the current radio communications

[3:13:37] network and what's not. And and we want to be able to identify that. So that

[3:13:42] will help us identify those gaps and and mitigate that when we're coming together

[3:13:46] um on these next phases of the project. So with that we'll have a deliverable uh

[3:13:50] which is a project plan and schedule as well as interview notes from the uh

[3:13:54] stakeholder interviews. Next slide please.

[3:14:00] So the next uh set of the next phase is the alternatives identification and

[3:14:05] analysis. So, we understand, you know, it's Hood County's goal for an informed,

[3:14:11] transparent, unbiased, and defensible decision um of which way the your radio

[3:14:16] communications path should proceed. Um, and so it's our our job as federal

[3:14:20] engineering to identify the alternatives. Uh, whether that be

[3:14:24] continued participation in the Granberry regional radio network, whether you want

[3:14:29] to build and operate and maintain your own system or whether you want to join

[3:14:33] another regional um system that could be on a different uh technology platform.

[3:14:38] That that's that's what we're here for. We're this is what we do. Um, this is

[3:14:43] this is what we do all the time for uh counties of similar size. Um, and so how

[3:14:48] do we do that? Right, we we go through the radio coverage. We see each of the

[3:14:52] alternatives and we identify, okay, how how does staying with the current system

[3:14:56] or building your own system or joining another system, how does the radio

[3:15:00] coverage meet the first responders needs and we'll identify any potential

[3:15:04] deficiencies or what needs to be improved in order to meet the needs. So

[3:15:07] we'll we'll we'll take that into account. There's also the actual um

[3:15:12] system configuration. you know, is where where is that technology in its life

[3:15:17] cycle? Um, are you if you're currently part of a system, how old is that system

[3:15:21] and and when is it due for replacement? If you're building your own system, of

[3:15:25] course, warranty and what that life cycle looks like. So, we'll look at all

[3:15:28] these uh different aspects um as part of our comparison when we're looking at the

[3:15:33] different alternatives. Uh, another big thing is governance. Um, obviously, how

[3:15:38] big a say does Hood County have in the operation of the system? So whether

[3:15:42] you're part of a network and what what you can um do there as far as having

[3:15:47] your input and and voice heard versus operating and owning and operating your

[3:15:51] own system um and having other perhaps uh uh participants on your system. We

[3:15:57] will we'll work through different governance models and things that have

[3:16:00] worked in the past for other clients but of course take your input and customize

[3:16:04] it. Other key thing um this is public safety radio communications we're

[3:16:08] talking about here. So system res redundancy and reliability is so

[3:16:13] important. Um we, you know, first responders, whether law enforcement,

[3:16:17] fire personnel, they need this system up and running all the time. So we take

[3:16:21] into account redundancy when we're evaluating um the different alternatives

[3:16:26] uh that Hood County could pursue. Interoperability, of course, the ability

[3:16:30] to communicate with one another, not only uh agencies within the county, but

[3:16:34] neighboring agencies in the event of a of some type of incident. So evaluating

[3:16:39] how interoperability plays with each of these alternatives is very important as

[3:16:43] well. And then of course uh cyber security. Unfortunately we've all heard

[3:16:46] of ransomware attacks. Uh we've heard of the physical security issues where

[3:16:51] there's vandalism at radio sites or even unfortunately copper or other types of

[3:16:56] physical equipment stolen. So so how to secure that um to protect Hood County's

[3:17:01] assets. That that's really key. And then taking into all of this is budgetary

[3:17:05] cost estimate. what what is the best value for the county? Um what are the

[3:17:10] costs of these alternatives? What value do they deliver? And really providing

[3:17:14] that type of evaluation is is what we want to uh do. Uh next slide please.

[3:17:22] So um this all culminates in a recommendations and uh report with and

[3:17:26] then we'll present the findings. So what we do is we come up with a prioritized

[3:17:30] recommendations based on what what which of these alternatives delivers the best

[3:17:34] value for the county. Um and we're looking again at all those aspects I

[3:17:38] just talked about and we based on our um professional opinion we'll provide that

[3:17:42] recommendation and of course have that discussion. Um so we'll provide a

[3:17:46] roadmap. So how do you get there from here? It's important to understand and

[3:17:50] take your inputs as you know is this something that has to be phased due to

[3:17:54] budgetary uh needs. Is it something obviously also from an operability

[3:17:58] standpoint you know do we have all law enforcement move to it first and then

[3:18:02] fire? So there's a multitude of different things that have to be taken

[3:18:05] into account when we look at that. But again, we'll take the input from the

[3:18:09] county participants and come up with that roadmap that makes sense and is

[3:18:13] achievable. Uh and then uh we'll deliver the report um and we'll review it with

[3:18:19] the stakeholders, make sure it it it meets all the needs. If there's any

[3:18:23] input, we're happy to take that back and solidify that in a final report and then

[3:18:27] of course do a presentation um to the county uh to to present those the final

[3:18:33] outcome of that. So that all that culminates in our radio system analysis

[3:18:37] and recommendations report. Next slide, please.

[3:18:42] So I wanted to just give you a snapshot of uh we we've done over 3,500 uh

[3:18:47] projects as a company. you know, I'll go into a little bit more detail on that

[3:18:50] but in the next slide. But as far as just a sampling of of some of the um

[3:18:55] efforts we've undertaken here in the state of Texas um and also um some some

[3:19:00] other uh similarsized counties um around the country. One thing I wanted to say

[3:19:05] is, you know, federal engineering brings all our knowledge and best practices to

[3:19:09] this project. So everything we've learned from all those 3,500 other

[3:19:13] projects, you know, best practices, um, intricacies of the projects, knowledge

[3:19:18] of the of the vendors, um, I we bring all of that here. Um, also wanted to

[3:19:24] point out for for example, in the case of El Paso, you know, our

[3:19:27] recommendations are practical and implementable. Um, and we implement it

[3:19:31] with a minimum of risk. We want to minimize risk for our clients and for

[3:19:35] the county. So in in the El Paso's case, we did everything from needs assessment

[3:19:40] to the alternatives analysis we're discussing here today. But in that case,

[3:19:44] we went all the way through and implemented their system. We we helped

[3:19:47] them with the procurement. We helped them implement the the actual system

[3:19:52] with minimal amount of risk and they have a fully functioning uh P25 radio

[3:19:56] communication system today. Um, and it was a it was it was a project that took

[3:20:00] uh several years uh right from the I call it cradle to grave, but it it it

[3:20:05] worked well. And so that's kind of some of the relevance uh wanted to point out

[3:20:09] for Hood County. Um we are also vendor neutral. We have

[3:20:14] never done work for equipment vendor in the past. We have no plans to do so in

[3:20:18] the future. So we're truly unbiased um and independent consulting firm. uh and

[3:20:24] that's important in these cases where for example uh Tilimo County uh we we've

[3:20:29] just are completed the procurement we again did needs assessment alternative

[3:20:34] analysis and so forth for them but uh we're right now they're in the

[3:20:38] finalization of a contract with a vendor and again we we provided our our

[3:20:41] feedback but um it is their decision and we we just look at everything

[3:20:46] objectively and that's that's the way we operate.

[3:20:50] Uh we have experience with all the major LMR radio vendors whether it be Motorola

[3:20:55] um Harris, Tate, uh EF Johnson or JBC Kenwood. So we we are very wellversed

[3:21:02] with all the different vendors um and so have and have uh good working

[3:21:06] relationships with them and um our costbenefit analysis yields

[3:21:11] recommendations that are justifiable. So in each of these cases we've when we've

[3:21:15] provided alternatives um they've been implemented and and and u come at a at a

[3:21:20] cost that is make sense to each of our uh a agency um that we work with. Um

[3:21:27] next slide please.

[3:21:31] All right so I wanted to kind of wrap things up with why federal engineering.

[3:21:35] So we've been in the business 43 years. Um Ron Bosow our our founder and CEO is

[3:21:41] still our CEO. So, we've have had consistent leadership uh throughout the

[3:21:45] 43 years we've been in the public safety business. Um, again, we're truly

[3:21:51] independent. As I just mentioned, we have a very deep bench. We have over 50

[3:21:55] subject matter experts, but important to that is we have a team here based here

[3:22:01] in Texas to provide support to Hood County that the the project manager, the

[3:22:05] technical lead, they're right here um in Texas. one's in the DFW area, one's in

[3:22:10] Houston, and then they have a lot of other expertise to lean on within the

[3:22:14] firm. Um, and we've done a lot of projects of this size and scope. Um, we

[3:22:20] actually have our own small community consulting practice that really focuses

[3:22:24] on comm community communities that might have a more limited population, but

[3:22:28] large geographic area, a lot of volunteer uh first responders. Um, and

[3:22:33] so we've we've dealt with uh different aspects. We understand every client's

[3:22:38] unique and that's what uh makes us really focus on the needs uh for each

[3:22:43] client. Um and we've had an excellent project performance. I I'm I'm very

[3:22:48] proud to say that all our projects have always ended up a success. None none

[3:22:52] have been a failed project. Uh we really take everything we do very seriously uh

[3:22:57] given uh you know this is what we do for a living.

[3:23:01] And um with that said, I I don't have much uh else to add. So, I'm gonna leave

[3:23:07] it open to questions. >> Greg is in in DFW. You're in Fort Worth

[3:23:13] or >> Dallas area.

[3:23:18] » And you would be who would be on site doing our interviews and things. That

[3:23:23] would be Greg. >> It would be myself and Lewis who's also

[3:23:27] Texas-based. >> And that's the person that's in Houston.

[3:23:30] » Yes.

[3:23:34] » So, you Um, did you read the A Vistus report?

[3:23:39] » Did I read the >> We had a an assessment done a few months

[3:23:43] ago from I don't know if it's Avestus or A Vistus, but

[3:23:46] » Oh. Oh, the the report I I I I took a look at it. Yes.

[3:23:50] » Okay. What was your major takeaway from that?

[3:23:52] » Um, you know what? I from what I recall, honestly, I I I I can't recall the

[3:24:00] details to be honest.

[3:24:04] Did you read that by any chance? >> No.

[3:24:07] » Okay. >> No, but I I get a sense that uh the city

[3:24:11] and >> Could you in the mic?

[3:24:13] » Oh, I'm sorry. I I get a sense that the city and county entered into an

[3:24:16] arrangement together that is now proving not to be not to not to be what you had

[3:24:22] originally anticipated. >> Yeah. Do you know what the major

[3:24:26] factors are in that or? I I assume there's some u fac Yeah, I I

[3:24:33] I don't know. I I assume there's some political factors at play.

[3:24:39] » We're So, one of the examples that that Rejie brought up was with uh Santa Fe.

[3:24:46] Uh it's it's a good example. It's a project I'm it's a client I'm working

[3:24:49] with now. We've been working with them since I think at least 2016 17.

[3:24:53] » Yeah. >> It was city and county. Um we we did an

[3:24:58] assessment for both of them at the same time and then they they kind of diverged

[3:25:02] in where they wanted to head. Um the city immediately decided they wanted to

[3:25:07] join the statewide network and the county wanted to take the take a look at

[3:25:12] doing their own independent system and we we continued supporting their diver

[3:25:16] their diverged interests and then the county eventually a few years uh uh you

[3:25:21] know a ago decided they they wanted to rejoin the state state system but each

[3:25:26] of them are independent and we've we looked at them independently through

[3:25:30] their needs assessment. So things that applied to the city didn't necessarily

[3:25:34] apply to the county, but we looked at how how each of those could could take

[3:25:38] advantage of the opportunities and a shared regional communication system and

[3:25:44] um shared dispatch uh and uh and interoperability.

[3:25:51] » So could you go over again? I think you did this close to the beginning, but

[3:25:54] just to make sure I understand what what is your vision of what the final report

[3:26:00] looks like? Sure. >> So, the the vision of the final report

[3:26:05] um and of course we'll work with the uh county if this is not exactly what

[3:26:09] you're thinking, but the vision is going to be looking at different alternatives.

[3:26:13] the the alternatives that we've seen based on the RF uh Q that was sent out

[3:26:18] was staying with your existing uh radio network which is the Granbury regional

[3:26:22] radio network and and how to enhance that participation going and building

[3:26:26] your own system and operating it and also joining another regional uh partner

[3:26:31] potentially and and how that uh looks and so the report will have these

[3:26:35] different alternatives identified. It'll have coverage maps for each of the

[3:26:40] different alternatives. It'll have um a key breakdown of what that configuration

[3:26:45] looks like, what the benefits for each of the uh alternatives are, what are the

[3:26:49] cons. We'll also have a a cost uh analysis for each of the alternatives.

[3:26:54] So you can look at the pros and cons of joining or or or conduct or building out

[3:26:58] that system plus have the cost uh that it entails. Um and then based on that we

[3:27:05] would provide that and then come up with our prioritized recommendations based on

[3:27:09] what is the best uh costbenefit analysis for Hood County. We would then

[3:27:15] prioritize those recommendations and and submit it as part of that report. So it

[3:27:19] would have essentially and of course as with all the reports there would be an

[3:27:23] executive summary so you don't have to read all 100 plus pages and you can kind

[3:27:28] of get the synopsis um in probably four or five pages of you know what the key

[3:27:33] criteria was what are the different uh differences between the different

[3:27:36] alternatives and what our prioritized recommendations look like and

[3:27:40] » so is the cost just the implementation cost or is there another cost?

[3:27:45] » Yeah, so we factor in um different types of cost. So we have the implementation

[3:27:49] costs which is obviously very important but if you're of course joining a system

[3:27:53] or something like that there's going to be perhaps some ongoing costs right and

[3:27:57] then even uh if you own your own system there's the overall maintenance cost so

[3:28:02] we'll factor all that in we like to call it total cost of ownership and we look

[3:28:05] at that total cost of ownership for all all the different alternatives whether

[3:28:10] it's joining a a system staying on the system you're currently sharing or

[3:28:14] having your own system we we'll look at all those aspects so you can make

[3:28:18] informed decision based on uh not just that upfront cost which I mean we know

[3:28:22] with a building out your own system can be substantial but that overall total

[3:28:26] cost of ownership and you can compare that to see okay maybe the upfront cost

[3:28:30] for joining a system is less but then the total cost of ownership might not be

[3:28:34] as as beneficial because the the ongoing cost of of being a part of that. So

[3:28:39] we'll look at all that stuff to make sure

[3:28:41] » we take that out 10 years, 15 years. >> We can do it we normally do it to 10

[3:28:45] years, but we can do it to 15 years if if that's what you desire. That's

[3:28:49] there's no hard and fast rule on that. >> So of one of the projects that's similar

[3:28:54] to what we're doing, do you have a road map or a project plan or something that

[3:28:59] you can share with us that can give us an idea? I mean, you could send it to

[3:29:04] Glenn. I mean, not right this minute. >> Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. Absolutely.

[3:29:08] the El Paso or Santa Fe or a different one that you didn't highlight, but it's

[3:29:12] very similar to >> Sure.

[3:29:14] » what we're doing to get an idea of your >> road map and or your project plan, how

[3:29:20] you went about it. >> Absolutely.

[3:29:29] I was just point out one of the one of the benefits that that I think federal

[3:29:34] engineering has is having done so many projects and and the continual breadth

[3:29:40] is that we've developed um we've we've leveraged a lot of uh cost models. So,

[3:29:45] as we're looking out through our our budgeting cycle and looking longterm,

[3:29:49] we've really honed in our our cost models to be able to help you budget um

[3:29:55] accurately. So, you're not left you're not left, you know, too too much or too

[3:30:01] too uh little for uh looking out. And we've had very successful engagements.

[3:30:06] Most of our clients that we do assessments for uh enjoy the experience

[3:30:11] so much that they tend to keep us on to help them through the implementation

[3:30:14] phase like we are with Santa Fe County. >> Okay.

[3:30:18] » Yeah. And the strategic roadmap uh like you were mentioning u we can work with

[3:30:22] you to figure out based on the budget cycles and so forth how to phase that in

[3:30:26] too. You know there's there's not always just one way to get from point A to

[3:30:30] point B. And so we're very cognizant of hey maybe we move a certain set of first

[3:30:35] responders first or dispatch centers or you know there's different ways to um to

[3:30:40] basically come up with it. All depends on what the alternative and the

[3:30:43] recommended solution ends up being. But we'll definitely work with you to make

[3:30:47] sure that there's a strategic um uh roadmap that makes sense to the county.

[3:30:52] » Thank you.

[3:30:56] » Thank you all very much. Good presentation.

[3:30:59] » Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Appreciate it.

[3:31:25] » I actually didn't even notice.

[3:31:37] Come on down.

[3:31:44] » Had it to there, please.

[3:32:02] Thank you, sir.

[3:32:52] Well, thank you very much. Um, we're with Trot Communications Group. I'm

[3:32:56] Barry Black. This is Tom Murphy. Thank you for the opportunity to come

[3:33:02] and uh speak this afternoon. Guess we'll go ahead and get started.

[3:33:07] Um, so a little bit about Trot Communications Group. We're a radio

[3:33:12] frequency engineering consulting firm. We've been in business for almost 50

[3:33:16] years, about 48 years now. We're located in Irving, Texas, so we're not too far

[3:33:21] away. And we we are a minority owned business. We're owned by um

[3:33:28] » womanown. Yes. [laughter]

[3:33:32] Um but we are independent of all equipment manufacturers. We are not

[3:33:37] associated with any certain radio vendor like Motorola, L3, Harris. We work on

[3:33:41] projects for all those companies and uh we are completely independent of not

[3:33:47] only those equipment manufacturers but also installers, distributors and

[3:33:52] integrators. So we're not associated with any of those. Our main customers

[3:33:58] are in the public safety industry. We do do a lot of projects for transportation

[3:34:03] and utilities uh education as well and then also private radio systems as well.

[3:34:10] Um we have a lot of experience with P25 phase 1 and phase 2 systems and we have

[3:34:19] over the years we've managed well over 300 critical radio system projects.

[3:34:30] So, we uh as far as our qualifications go, thank you. Um we have experience

[3:34:36] with P25 as I just stated, but we've also have projects that are digital

[3:34:41] mobile radio projects, DMR it's called. Um some of the older systems,

[3:34:46] conventional systems, um Simocast radio systems, multi-sight

[3:34:51] systems. These are different types of uh ways that the tower sites transmit these

[3:34:57] signals if you will and then of course trunking as well. Uh we have experience

[3:35:03] as I stated earlier with all the major manufacturers Motorola, L3 Harris and EF

[3:35:09] Johnson. Those are the main three P25 vendors. We uh we've worked on small

[3:35:15] systems, basic systems and more complex systems. Um, an example of a basic

[3:35:21] system would be maybe like a three-sight conventional P25 system, three tower

[3:35:25] sites. Um, but a more complex system would be one

[3:35:30] that would be multiple counties that are connected. um maybe multiple Simocast

[3:35:37] cells, 20 plus sites with 20 channels per site and a very complex microwave

[3:35:44] back hall that connects all the sites and provides all the data to the sites

[3:35:48] for the retransmission out to the users um the first responders.

[3:35:54] Some of the recent projects we've worked on um have included things like

[3:35:59] redundancy. It's very important for a public safety radio system. uh IP back

[3:36:04] haul using not only microwave but also fiber and um a lot of the projects

[3:36:10] include encryption uh GPS on the PTT smartphone gateways LTE and Wi-Fi

[3:36:18] connectivity and interoperability and of course um you know new consoles that

[3:36:24] have backup radios in case there's a loss of the system and you can transmit

[3:36:28] over the air and still be connected.

[3:36:34] Thank you. So, all of our projects, we always have kind of a mission or a

[3:36:41] project mission in mind and we're always committed to supporting the customer

[3:36:47] without bias. Um, you know, we're always acting in the best interest of the

[3:36:53] county or the customer or the city, whoever we're working for. and we feel

[3:36:59] like we're uniquely qualified and knowledgeable and locally available with

[3:37:04] a full range of of evaluations for what the county is looking to explore in this

[3:37:11] situation. Um, we wanted to point out we we we have a lot of experience locally

[3:37:17] here. Um, but our past efforts with the city of Granberry

[3:37:22] is not going to be a conflict of interest at all in this situation. If

[3:37:26] y'all decide to go with us, we we uh we we are currently working on other

[3:37:33] projects in the area as well, including uh Tom's working on county and

[3:37:38] Somersville County right now as well. And I actually worked on the city of

[3:37:42] Granberry system day one. Um Tom, you also worked on Stevenville, city of

[3:37:48] Stevenville when when they were joining the GRRN as well.

[3:37:53] » Let me let me just clarify that. Do you current are you currently contracting

[3:37:57] with the city of Granberry? >> No, we are not. We do not have a

[3:38:01] purchase order at all with them. >> Okay. So, no statements of work in

[3:38:04] progress or >> No, ma'am. I I will say that they they

[3:38:09] have been ones that um after the project was over and the system was accepted uh

[3:38:15] which kind of ended the project let's say for a consulting role like we were

[3:38:20] providing they've had some small projects that have come up where they

[3:38:24] need some additional help and they have contracted us to do something really

[3:38:28] small u but right now we have nothing with them.

[3:38:33] So, if you were selected for this project, would you see that as a

[3:38:39] conflict to accept additional work or We wouldn't. We would not because we

[3:38:44] would be working in in your best interest with with your goals in mind.

[3:38:49] And um if if they approached us to ask us to do something because we are

[3:38:56] working for y'all, we would we would vet that with you guys first. If we think

[3:39:00] it's a conflict of interest, we would stand down on that. We're not going to

[3:39:04] start a project and then have something come up that would potentially create a

[3:39:10] conflict of interest. Um, but at this point, we don't see it being a conflict

[3:39:14] of interest because we don't have an open project with them. And clearly your

[3:39:20] you know the the help that you need um is is u you know we would move forward

[3:39:28] on that project considering what you need and not consider anything from the

[3:39:33] past really uh from from them or radio system.

[3:39:42] So I I was pointing out a little bit earlier that we do have a lot of

[3:39:45] experience with all the the major manufacturers of P25 equipment. Um these

[3:39:51] are examples of L3 Harris um projects that are currently

[3:39:57] uh some of them have been completed but some of them are currently underway. Uh

[3:40:02] one in particular the city of uh Lach Texas that's an L3 Harris project.

[3:40:07] Somerville County and RAF County. Those are currently underway. Uh Vanzant

[3:40:12] County and Hunt County, Texas are both L3 Harris systems. Those are both in

[3:40:17] progress, almost wrapped up on both of those. And then of course, uh Granberry

[3:40:24] there you see and Stevenville. Um and then we also did a project for Corpus

[3:40:29] Christi and Rock Wall, Texas. Um all L3 hair systems. And I just wanted to point

[3:40:36] out the L3 Harris since y'all have L3 Harris infrastructure at your sites and

[3:40:41] » but you also have experience with Motorola.

[3:40:44] » Yes, ma'am. Yes, we have a we have Motorola projects going on right now. Um

[3:40:49] and then one EF Johnson project with DFW airport.

[3:40:54] » Yeah, the bas.

[3:41:01] » Yeah.

[3:41:04] Yes. >> Ector.

[3:41:06] » No. >> Was it Ector County?

[3:41:09] » My superior. Okay. It's the one to the west.

[3:41:14] » It's Midland County for sure. >> Yes.

[3:41:16] » Yeah.

[3:41:22] » Okay. I'm gonna throw this to Tom. Tom's going to give you some feedback on a

[3:41:27] project that we think is very similar to what what you guys are kind of looking

[3:41:31] at. That's what I call case study. So, >> yes. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Short guy. Uh, so

[3:41:37] Davis County, Kentucky, uh, was a system I worked on. It ended up being Motorola,

[3:41:42] but um, so that was a case where they were a VHF conventional looking to go

[3:41:47] P25. Their county seat, the city of Owensboro, already had a P25 Motorola

[3:41:52] system with a core. We actually helped them with the RFP, the selection, the

[3:41:58] implementation, but we actually wrote that RFP such that all the vendors had

[3:42:02] to reply that they were going to build out an independent system, but

[3:42:06] recognizing that this existing system was there, they could supply an

[3:42:10] alternate solution along with that primary solution. Well, the alternate

[3:42:14] solution did end up getting picked because of financial reasons. And so the

[3:42:18] county which already shared dispatch operations with the city ended up

[3:42:23] building out a three-sight simocast the city sites data multiccast kind of like

[3:42:27] chalk mountain is for uh hood and shared core continued shared dispatch and that

[3:42:34] got implemented up and running great but again kind of you know politics happened

[3:42:39] and uh Davis wanted to explore separating

[3:42:44] whether it be a full divorce or a separate divorce and so we did a study

[3:42:47] for them budgetary uh what would it take budgetary to kind of three scenarios

[3:42:54] just split dispatch split dispatch and all their RF sites

[3:42:58] and core and in that case state of Kentucky has an existing Motorola system

[3:43:03] as well so they also looked at maybe joining instead of purchasing their own

[3:43:07] core joining to the state system to see if there's any savings there so um they

[3:43:13] you know we did that whole study for them they ended up uh they have not

[3:43:16] split off that they are still building a public safety facility separate with a

[3:43:20] nicer dispatch. So, you know, who knows? But currently, they end up staying. But

[3:43:26] it was an interesting study that I thought had a lot of similar

[3:43:28] ramifications that you guys are kind of exploring here.

[3:43:34] » Thanks, Tom.

[3:43:40] » Okay.

[3:43:44] So, as far as Trot's knowledge and then some of the project challenges that we

[3:43:49] have wanted to kind of um outline here, we have a very good understanding of the

[3:43:55] current Granberry Regional Radio Network because we worked on it from day one. Um

[3:44:01] that was not one where we wrote an RFP uh to help the city. the city was was

[3:44:07] interested in L3 Harris and we reviewed a proposal from L3 Harris and helped the

[3:44:14] city get that into one that really met their needs and requirements and then

[3:44:19] then the project moved forward. Um, and then we helped them with implementation.

[3:44:26] We also helped them with uh the close out and the testing to make sure

[3:44:30] everything worked right. And um so that was kind of that project with with

[3:44:36] Granberry. Um we feel that our knowledge will result

[3:44:42] in a more efficient process of evaluating potential changes uh for the

[3:44:46] county. We really understand everything. We won't need to start from scratch. Um,

[3:44:52] there are numerous challenges that will require substantial consideration and

[3:44:56] planning and design efforts for the county to break away from the GRRN. And

[3:45:03] some of those things we wanted to kind of list here just to kind of put them

[3:45:06] out there. One thing is coverage, RF coverage. And anytime you're changing

[3:45:11] coverage, you you also have to update your FCC licensing. So, there's FCC

[3:45:16] licensing considerations as well. Um, and then that gets into site

[3:45:21] acquisition. You've got to either build towers or you need to lease some towers

[3:45:25] to put your equipment on. So that and site upgrades, bringing in generators

[3:45:30] and shelters and things like that, uh, are another challenge. um the back hall

[3:45:36] which is what connects all the sites together through microwave typically or

[3:45:40] fiber that will have to be reconfigured uh in most cases and and then that

[3:45:45] relates or goes into FCC licensing for the microwave system. Um

[3:45:51] interoperability replacement due to a loss of talk groups. Um, when you're

[3:45:57] part of a regional radio system, um, your interoperability with others that

[3:46:01] are on that system is purely through talk groups that are designed for

[3:46:06] interoperability. When when you if you broke away from a

[3:46:11] radio system and have your own system, then you've got to replace that

[3:46:16] interoperability somehow uh so that you can have mutual aid and and and

[3:46:20] assistance by other agencies. And so you can do that by different means. There's

[3:46:25] different ways to do that. And that's what I'm kind of talking about here.

[3:46:28] You'll have to, you know, decide who do you need to interoperate with and decide

[3:46:33] and figure out a way to do that going forward because you won't do that just

[3:46:38] on the radio. Um, unless you have your your talk group, your unit IDs

[3:46:44] programmed into both systems. You can use interops to do that or you

[3:46:49] can use something called ISSI to do that as well.

[3:46:53] um cut over planning will be a challenge u because you have a live radio system

[3:46:58] now you're not moving from a conventional system to a P25 system

[3:47:01] you're moving from a P25 system possibly to your own P25 system so cut over

[3:47:07] becomes tricky because you've got users on it and it's live um training also

[3:47:14] becomes important there will be another level of training if you purchase your

[3:47:18] own cores there's training that will need to be provided

[3:47:22] so that uh the people that maintain the radio system for the county understand

[3:47:27] all the new equipment they're having to get um and understand how to use the

[3:47:32] network management tools to be able to to monitor the system and u its health

[3:47:38] and and operations and things like that. Um

[3:47:44] there'll also need to probably be an update to the maintenance service

[3:47:47] agreement if there's an existing maintenance service agreement in place.

[3:47:51] It's typically for this set of equipment. If you expand your equipment,

[3:47:56] you've kind of expanded that maintenance agreement uh so that your equipment's

[3:48:00] covered and you're getting the the proper updates for cyber,

[3:48:04] excuse me, [clears throat] cyber security and and uh various u updates

[3:48:09] that are needed along the way. Critical spares are kind of the same thing. If

[3:48:14] you've got more equipment now, then you may need a bigger set of critical

[3:48:17] spares. And then the last thing of course that's that's a not necessarily a

[3:48:22] challenge but in a project like this you've always got to look at the

[3:48:26] associated costs. So there'll be a substantial cost analysis as Tom

[3:48:30] mentioned was done for Davis County that we thought was a very similar project to

[3:48:35] what you are looking at here. That would be important.

[3:48:39] » Oh yeah. Gosh. Yes. Okay. Next slide. Okay,

[3:48:43] » so this is just a layout of the GRRN and it shows Hood County and it and and

[3:48:49] really it's just to show that there's four Simoccast sites there and two of

[3:48:54] them are the cities and two of them are the counties and then of course Chalk

[3:48:57] Mountain down here. So that's just that you can go to the next slide.

[3:49:03] Okay, our advantages, we're we're local. We're only an hour and a half away. So,

[3:49:08] we're here for um you know, short notice meetings and

[3:49:12] things like that at minimal cost. We have a thorough understanding of the

[3:49:16] GRRN. Our past experience analyzing client separation from a regional radio

[3:49:22] network to achieve autonomy is what Tom talked about. We are currently working

[3:49:27] four projects in Texas that are L3 Harris and two of them are right here in

[3:49:34] neighbors of y'all and Somerville. And we have a really good working

[3:49:38] relationship with L3 Harris, their sales team, their implementation and warranty

[3:49:42] and maintenance service teams because of all these relationships that we've built

[3:49:46] with them. And so we feel like we have that's a that's a plus that we kind of

[3:49:52] know the people um that are associated with those projects.

[3:49:58] » And that I believe that's the last one. Any questions?

[3:50:01] » Yes. So in your own um kind of your own words I guess for

[3:50:07] lack of better words could give me an concise explanation of what our problem

[3:50:13] statement is. >> So it's it's our understanding that

[3:50:20] y'all are part of a regional radio network now and maybe things aren't

[3:50:26] exactly the way you thought they were going to be.

[3:50:30] um you you rely on others to manage that radio system and they make decisions

[3:50:37] possibly and I know that there's associated costs with being on that

[3:50:41] system that maybe >> have changed

[3:50:44] » have changed. Yeah. And um so our role with with the city of Granberry on on

[3:50:52] all that was purely a mathematical um component.

[3:50:57] » Maybe I wasn't clear. >> Yeah. What is it that we're our problem

[3:51:02] today and what is your vision for your deliverable and how it would address

[3:51:08] that pro problem? What is your vision for what your final deliverable would

[3:51:13] look like and how it would address that problem?

[3:51:15] » Sure. Sure. So, I think what you've got to look at first is you we probably need

[3:51:19] to sit down with stakeholders and make sure that we're all on the same page as

[3:51:23] far as what exactly your needs and requirements

[3:51:28] are um versus what they are, you know, what's going on today. So, we would come

[3:51:33] up with a plan on what it takes to separate yourself from what you're

[3:51:39] connected to today with the Granberry system. And we would lay that out and

[3:51:43] say, you know, to maintain your coverage, you need to do this. To

[3:51:48] maintain your back haul, you would have to do this. If you don't want to connect

[3:51:51] through their tower sites anymore, then you'd have to do this. And so, we would

[3:51:55] come up with a detailed plan that says you need to do X, Y, and Z, and here's

[3:52:01] the associated cost. And there could be multiple options here. There's the

[3:52:05] situation of, you know, and I'm not sure y'all are interested in this, but

[3:52:09] there's there's a system in Fort Worth that you could potentially join.

[3:52:13] But if y'all want to own your own core, be in complete control of your radio

[3:52:19] system, then the path I see forward is that's an L3 Harris system with your own

[3:52:26] core here locally, and y'all manage it and take care of it. And if somebody

[3:52:31] else wants to join y'all's system, then y'all could potentially talk about that.

[3:52:35] But now you're in control. And our deliverable would be that plan with

[3:52:40] associated costs and a an estimated timeline that it would take you all to

[3:52:45] get there. That's what I would anticipate our deliverable to be.

[3:52:50] » Okay. And is the cost the implementation cost or

[3:52:54] » the so the cost we we could provide typically we do this all the time is

[3:52:59] they would be budgetary costs for the equipment the implementation

[3:53:04] um and we could do long-term maintenance as well like ownership for 15 years

[3:53:09] let's say um

[3:53:14] » kind of like now opportunity to work out with some Uh they kind of

[3:53:20] » come to the mic, please. >> I'm sorry. Uh possible recoup cost by

[3:53:26] just similar what Granberry is doing. If you can work out agreements with

[3:53:30] Somerville, IRAP, who else knows in the future to they join your core and now

[3:53:35] you have an ILA with them, you know. >> Well, that that [clears throat] got my

[3:53:38] attention on your last page. Uh so you are working with and Somerville.

[3:53:44] » Yes, sir. cuz I've talked to both judges in both in Beach County and u very um

[3:53:52] let's say receptive to working something out.

[3:53:56] » Yes. >> Yes. And I know and I kind of know that

[3:54:00] working with them obviously they uh with the new ILA pricing they I think were in

[3:54:05] a very similar boat to you guys and weren't necessarily happy with that. So,

[3:54:12] » so clearly our deliverable could include um you know additional

[3:54:18] looking at some scenarios like that if if if they were something that they were

[3:54:22] looking at too >> check out the aistus report that we had

[3:54:27] you read that >> what can you get

[3:54:30] » what was your major takeaway from that report

[3:54:34] » I it it totally made sense from my understanding what's been going down in

[3:54:38] the GR and I didn't have any uh any I didn't think there was anything wrong

[3:54:43] with it there. You know, they correctly pointed out how,

[3:54:48] you know, you your options are going to be like we did with Davis K. Your

[3:54:51] options are going to be essentially acquire your own core. Uh price it out.

[3:54:58] Price out what it would take to join a Motorola core as Barry mentioned in Fort

[3:55:02] Worth. you know, there's cost costs there because uh the infrastructure is

[3:55:06] going to have to be changed, but you price it. You need to, you know, you're

[3:55:09] the customer and to make an informed decision, you just need to know what

[3:55:13] those pricing costs are. Uh, you know, so

[3:55:17] » yeah. Well, that that's what we were looking for is what the RFP said is,

[3:55:22] » yeah, >> list the alternatives, list the pros and

[3:55:24] cons, list all the costs, >> and you know, so we can make and I

[3:55:29] didn't hear you say that. >> Oh, go ahead. Sorry about that. You said

[3:55:33] it sounds like you need to go to this and

[3:55:35] » no hair system and we're gonna tell you how to get to hair system and no not at

[3:55:40] all. >> Well, no. Clearly,

[3:55:42] » one of the options would be to look at what it would cost to join a Motorola

[3:55:46] core uh as an example or the No, the state doesn't really So, you know, but

[3:55:52] we would just look around. Yeah. And give you as many options as possible so

[3:55:56] as a customer you make an informed decision. So, would you like to restate

[3:55:59] what your vision of the what the final report would look like?

[3:56:02] » I thought you were asking my opinion on what the best path and the easiest path

[3:56:06] would be. >> Well, then I mean then you're going to

[3:56:08] be biased if you already think of that's the best path.

[3:56:11] » Well, it's only because you've made a substantial uh investment in L3 Harris

[3:56:16] equipment at some sites. That's why we're saying that. The question is,

[3:56:19] according to our RFQ, >> what is your vision of the final report

[3:56:24] » options for you to evaluate and determine what's the best option for the

[3:56:29] county? Um, and that can that can be really broad. If you're interested in in

[3:56:36] joining another system, like I said, Fort Worth, then that could be part of

[3:56:40] it as well. Or it could be purely that you're wanting to look at having your

[3:56:45] own core and running your own system. And then we could look at different

[3:56:49] options for all the care all the all the providers. You know, what would that be

[3:56:55] for um Motorola? What would that be for L3 Harris? What would that be for EF

[3:56:59] Johnson if if you want to go that far? >> Talk about what is your time frame

[3:57:05] » for getting this completely done? >> Well, I I guess it depends on how

[3:57:10] quickly we get a contract and and work out all that, but I would say probably

[3:57:15] it just depends on that scope. If you want to go the Fort Worth route and all

[3:57:19] that too, >> um probably four to six months.

[3:57:23] » Yeah, sounds great. We didn't really go in there. I will say this, we we just

[3:57:29] worked on a needs assessment study for a county project that's 10 sites, 20

[3:57:35] channels per site simoc cast in another state and we talked to two major

[3:57:42] manufacturers because they were really the main options here. Um, and so that

[3:57:49] took probably about 4 months to get that pricing, meet with them, talk to them,

[3:57:55] get because they have to go back and and crank some numbers and bring back some

[3:58:00] information. They they don't just do it overnight. They even though you would

[3:58:04] think that they would do it quicker than they do, but to get all that

[3:58:08] information, ask the questions, look at the information. And sometimes you got

[3:58:11] to go back and forth with them and figure out, you know, what what they

[3:58:15] exactly mean. But to come to a final product that would be deliverable to the

[3:58:20] county, I would say four to six months. >> So you didn't I know I went back to your

[3:58:26] your response and I had a question mark. What's the timeline? because there

[3:58:30] wasn't anything in here that um on your it just said that you would you would

[3:58:36] achieve our timeline goals but you didn't I mean this is you're you have a

[3:58:41] lot of experience doing this you did this with Davies County so

[3:58:45] » sure >> um I was just didn't understand why you

[3:58:48] didn't put in a timeline >> timeline

[3:58:50] » apologize

[3:58:56] that's not

[3:59:01] It's it's clearly >> four months.

[3:59:04] » Yeah, >> four to six months.

[3:59:11] » I think boy, I should have thought to say this earlier, but I think that it's

[3:59:16] important that that we understand that this is not an us against them

[3:59:20] situation. Granberry is in Hood County. Those are

[3:59:24] our taxpayers also. and we need to find the best solution for everybody. I

[3:59:30] think, you know, just just to re-emphasize that that it's it's, you

[3:59:34] know, we need to we need to come up with the best for the whole county. So,

[3:59:39] completely agree.

[3:59:44] » Thank you'all very much. >> Oh, thank you very much.

[3:59:46] » All right. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Well, at straight up one o'clock,

[3:59:52] that concludes this question. Do we >> do we need to call everybody back in and

[3:59:58] and do something similar with what we did earlier?

[4:00:02] » Well, it >> Yeah, I would like what I think we

[4:00:06] should have done on the last one is just narrow it down to two or something like

[4:00:09] that uh to go forward and wait that decision.

[4:00:16] » Well, yeah. Do we want everybody to come back

[4:00:19] in or >> tell them to all come back in?

[4:00:58] question.

[4:01:10] I'll make a motion to uh table the decision until um 3:24 court

[4:01:19] » made by Commissioner Samson to table the decision regarding RFQ 20263P25

[4:01:26] radio network consulting services till the next commissioner's court on March

[4:01:32] 24, 2026. Second by >> Commissioner Andrews. Any further

[4:01:38] [clears throat] discussion? Not. All those in favor say I.

[4:01:43] » I. >> All oppose say nay. It's unanimous. We

[4:01:46] will make a decision at that time. Gentlemen, thank y'all all for coming

[4:01:50] down. Appreciate all your work. Thank you'all. Appreciate it.

Commissioner's Court March 9, 2026 Special Called Meeting

Transcript