Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday,
August 25th at 9:00 am and this
regularly called session of the Kendall
County Commissioner Court is now called
to order. Uh we'll begin by calling a
role. Mr. McCall
>> present.
>> Commissioner Oian
>> present.
>> Commissioner Chapman
>> here.
>> Commissioner Carpenter
>> here and I'm present. We have a quorum
consisting of all five members of the
court. I'm just going to make a general
uh a couple general announcements before
I hand over to my colleagues,
Commissioner McCll and Commissioner
Ouija for announcements of our prayer
and pledge. First, we're pulling item 26
from the agenda today.
Uh number two, we are going to be doing
service awards after our um declaration
of conflict of interest.
Next, uh I know we have some uh very uh
community
sensitive issues on the agenda today.
uh particularly the flock camera debate.
So I just remind you this is a courtroom
and so I remind you to uh there's going
to be no applause. Keep your if you have
comments save them for afterwards. Uh
we're just going to engage in educated
debate today. So be respectful of
opposing viewpoints and we're going to
limit everyone's comments. We have so
many people that are interested in this
issue in order to get through everybody.
Everyone's going to have two minutes
today, those four and against. And that
will give the court enough time to
thoroughly vet this issue and give
everyone the full opportunity to speak
today. And so with that, we're going to
begin with our prayer and pledge.
>> Good morning, everyone. I wanted to
welcome you. I'd like to welcome Pastor
Neil Vanderbush from Messiah Lutheran
Church to open us in prayer.
» I invite you to join with me in prayer
this evening. Our gracious heavenly
father, we thank you and praise you for
this good day. And we thank you for this
place that we call home in the county.
We ask you, oh Lord, that you would
guide us this day with wisdom and
discretion that as a community, oh Lord,
we are all concerned at uh all the
business every day. But Lord, there are
certain things that are especially on
our mind. So give us also peace. We
would communicate clearly, that we would
hear, that we would listen, discern. But
especially for these commissioners, we
pray that you would bless them, oh Lord,
with wisdom, discernment, discretion,
fortitude. The truth would be known.
That your people, oh Lord, would be
blessed. Thank you for their service to
us in this community. Lord, we also
thank you, oh Lord, for the beautiful
land, for its dry. So we pray, oh Lord,
for rain, but we also pray for all those
that deal with emergencies that come at
this time of year. We pray with great
thanksgiving for all of our emergency
service personnel that you would bless
them and their families so that they can
be about the tasks of caring for us
especially in times of need. We thank
you also for our infrastructure and we
pray Lord that our infrastructure would
be blessed not only for this generation
but generations to come and that
decisions that are made today oh Lord
would bless the growth that's happening
here but Lord as people come we know
Lord it also brings change. So help us
to be the best neighbors that we can be.
We thank you, oh Lord, that for the love
that you have given many of us for you.
But we pray that we would also be that
love poured out for our neighbors.
It is in your precious name, our savior
Jesus, that we pray, knowing that live
that you live and reign with the father,
the holy spirit, one God now and
forever. Amen.
>> Amen.
>> Thank you.
At this time, I'd like to welcome
Preston Hill, who lead the pledges, and
he's a member of the Voss Eagle football
team. Will
>> Preston
to the flag of the United States of
America, and to the republic for which
it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
Texas flag. I pledge algiance to the
Texas one state under God one and
indivisible.
uh this opportunity for to announce
declarations of conflict of interest.
Anything from you ladies today? Yeah.
Nothing gentlemen. Anything from you?
>> Nothing from me.
>> And now we'll move to our
awards.
» We have two uh folks that are not here
today that were to receive awards.
First, Brenda Falcone with our district
clerk 10 years of service. and then also
Jesus minares uh recycling 15 years. Uh
so we'll start with uh Dalton Hurst with
our sheriff's office 5 years. Dalton,
are you here? Yes, sir.
» Appreciate your service to talk. Yes,
sir. Thank you.
>> Would you like to say anything?
Thanks, everybody.
All
right, next up, Tammy Coward.
10 years of service.
» Congratulations.
I enjoy being part of the community. I'm
proud to say I work for family.
Congratulations
Uh, next up, Deanna Gomeberg, tax
office. 10 years.
» You're welcome.
» Thank you, Dan.
>> Congratulations.
Uh, next up, Heidi Justice, Auditor's
Office, another 10 years.
» Congratulations.
>> Would you like to say anything?
>> Yes. It has been a wild ride.
Uh, another 10 years. Linda Wilkey.
» I know you have something to say.
» Um, thank you everyone. I love working
for the county. It's an amazing job. So,
>> thank you all.
And last but not least, Dennis Rusk with
Roden Bridge. 35 years.
Thank you for joining us.
Would you like to say anything after all
your years of time here?
» Thank you for coming.
>> But I do have a request. Just can you
get a picture with his family?
>> 100%. I didn't know your family.
A
perfect.
» So cute.
>> Doug,
>> you going to get in there?
>> Sure.
» Don't worry, he won't bite.
All right.
Now, we're going to get back
on on order here. Uh we're going to
start with comments from the bench.
Commissioner McCall, would you like to
say anything today?
>> Yes. Uh I wanted to say that I
appreciate all the emails, messages,
phone calls regarding the agenda today.
This is how local government should
operate. Constituents having access to
and engaging with their elected
officials. Through your outreach, you
have provided me with tre a tremendous
amount of information and perspective
that I otherwise may not have had. Your
input has been invaluable in helping me
better understand the issues and
considerations surrounding decisions
today. Thank you for taking the time to
be involved and for being part of the
decisionmaking process in commissioner's
court today. Public participation and
engagement are essential to good
government and I appreciate everyone who
reached out and shared their views.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Region.
>> Thank you, Judge. Good morning,
everyone. So, some good news. Kindle
County has been selected as one of 10
counties statewide to receive a 2026
Texas Association of Counties Best
Practices Award. This award recognizes
the pro program that we developed with
the Birkheim volunteer fire department
to address gaps in emergency response
when volunteers are not available. The
goal was to have personnel at the
Burkheim station 24 hours a day while
keeping the volunteer model and that's
what Burkheim has accomplished. So in
addition to the county, this award
belongs to Burheim to the men and women
who've made it work. So TAC will be here
in October to formally present the award
and we'll have u those men and women in
with us. But I just wanted to let
everybody know that today.
>> Great. Thank you, Commissioner Region.
Commissioner Chapman, anything from me?
>> Uh, no. Judge, I'm gonna let you cover
that.
>> All right. Thank you.
» Commissioner Carpenter, you're up.
>> Okay. Uh, so couple things just to make
an announcement. Uh, coming up Friday,
October 9th, 2026,
uh, at 6:30 at Singing Waters Vineyard
in Comfort, Texas. Uh there's going to
be the Kendall County Friends of the
Night Sky hosting a star party. And so
that's going to be an opportunity to uh
get educated about stars and see the
stars through telescopes. It's going to
be a fun night for kids and families. Uh
and then there's a a group of local
youngsters that have put together a
pamphlet to help protect the night. Uh
it's furtherance of protecting against
light pollution. And so they're they've
created a flyer. It's going to be put
out throughout the community. They're
going to be at the Kendall County Fair
in a booth. Uh I encourage you to go
visit them and you'll get this little
packet they they created all by
themselves. They're working for their uh
what's the equivalent of the Girl Scout
equivalent of the Eagle Scout badge. And
so try to visit them. you get a chance
to win a Friends of the Dark Sky placard
for if you sign up to um be part of
their list. And so I just wanted to make
that announcement on their behalf. So,
thank you.
>> And one other piggyback on that. There
will also be a uh $100 gift certificate
awarded there at uh one of the local
hardware stores donated generously a
$100 gift certificate to actually
support Dark Skies. And so he was our
Ace Hardware
>> distributor here in in town. And so I
would like to thank him for and all of
his team for donating that for the dark
skies.
>> I think we have one of their team
members here today. Would you stand up?
» So thank you for your family support of
this initiative.
All right. Not to put you on the spot,
but I did.
>> Um All right. So next up, accounts
payable claims. So consideration and
possible action on approval of accounts
payable claims for purchase services or
vendors.
» So what's the total on today's uh 22
pages of uh
>> judge and commissioners today claims are
in the amount of $946,810.31.
» Does anyone have any issues with any of
the claims? If not, I'll entertain a
motion at this time. Judge, I move to
approve accounts payable claims for
purchases, services, and vendors in the
amount of $946,810.31
cents.
>> Thank you for that motion. Commissioner
Legion. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any
further discussion? If not, Teresa,
please call call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Legion.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I.
>> Judge Delisac.
>> I. Motion carries five to zero.
>> Judge, can I go ahead and test these
out? Yes, ma'am.
Okay, next up, uh, request for
Commissioner's Court to recognize Pete
MSAS, paramedic, RCN, RN, and Jennifer
Harris, paramedic, for their efforts in
the care and exceptional EMS services to
our community.
Brian,
>> morning, judge. Good morning,
commissioners.
>> Morning.
Um these two individuals were dispatched
to our courthouse for a uh individual
that had a medical episode. Patient was
a special needs individual adult. Uh
with the help of them and our local law
enforcement sheriff's office, they
helped deescalate the situation, get the
patient treated and transported to the
appropriate facilities. Uh they showed
compassion and professionalism
above and beyond normal call of duty and
they need to be recognized for that.
>> And and I can concur to this because it
was my court proceeding where this
happened and um what I observed was
outstanding because this was a
individual in high distress and with
extreme mental needs. Uh and they just
stepped up. And so I'd like to read the recognition uh for everyone.
Well, first of all, can Peter and
Jennifer come up?
» Thank you.
>> Yeah, you can just stand right in front
here.
Peter and Jennifer, it's with great
appreciation and pride that I recognize
you both for the outstanding care,
compassion, and profession
professionalism you recently
demonstrated while caring for an
autistic patient who experienced a
seizure and required transport to the
hospital. Every day, EMS professionals
are called upon to provide medical care
during some of the most difficult
moments in a person's life. What sets
exceptional providers apart is their
ability to combine clinical excel
excellence with genuine compassion. The
care you both provided exemplified
exactly that. Pete, as a dedicated
member of Kendall County EMS for the
past 5 years, you have consistently
demonstrated a commitment to serving
others with professionalism and
integrity.
Jennifer, although newly hired to our
organization, you brought over two
decades of experience to this call and
immediately demonstrated the qualities
that define an exceptional EMS
professional. The patience,
understanding, empathy, and reassurance
you both showed to the patient and those
involved in his care reflected the very
best of our profession. Your countless
hours of training, education, and
experience were evident not only in the
medical treatment you provided, but also
in the compassion and dignity with which
you treated the patient. The calm and
caring manner you displayed help create
a safe and supportive environment during
a stressful event. The actions you
demonstrated are reminder that EMS is
about more than medical interventions.
It's about serving others with humility,
kindness, and respect. Your commitment
to providing patient centered care
serves as an example for all of us and
reflects the highest standards of
Kendall County EMS. Thank you both for
your dedication, professionalism, and
servant-hearted approach to caring for
our community. Your efforts do not go
unnoticed and are deeply appreciated.
So, let's give these both both these.
» Thank you. Thank you again.
Thank you.
>> And it wasn't just the EMS. Our
dedicated law enforcement uh officers in
this building, Mark Diamond, Obie, Gabe,
and others stepped up at at this moment
of crisis as well and showed exceptional uh service to this
community. So, let's give them a round
of applause.
All right. Uh, next up, our burn band.
There's Brady here. one
consideration and possible action uh
regarding order number 0-20260825-1
» uh regarding the burn ban. So let's see.
So I know that conditions have worsened,
>> correct?
>> What what can you tell us today, Juan?
>> Uh so the KBDI is up uh to 576.
The trends in grass fires have also uh
went up.
>> Um we are just seeing uh conditions
deteriorate. We have some precipitation
in the forecast, but very minimal.
Nothing that will sustain or saturate
the county uh this week. So, uh, it's
our recommendation with the support of
all, uh, fire chiefs that we reinstate
the matter.
>> Okay.
>> Brady is doing well. He is back in the
office, but he had followup, but
>> Okay,
>> perfect. And so, it looks like the KBDI
range is near the like the minimum 537 the it's towards the
high end. So, this is not a this is a
more serious condition that we're in
right now.
>> Correct.
>> All right. So, um I move to
um
reinstate the burn ban for a period of
up to 90 days in the unincorporated
areas of the county due to the existence
of conditions that have created a public
safety hazard that would be exaper
exacerbated by outdoor burning pursuant
to order 0-20260825-1.
Do I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Motion by the judge, second by
Commissioner Chapman. Uh any further
discussion?
>> If not, Teresa, please call the vote.
Commissioner McCall.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner We.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I
motion carries.
>> Thank you, Juan.
Uh, next up, consideration possible
action regarding resolution
R-20260825-1.
A resolution expressing support for text
dots transportation proposed
improvements to State Highway 46 River
Road at Hurf Road Esser Road endorsing a
design alternative one as county's
preferred alternative and urging
acceleration of the project.
Commissioner Region.
>> Thank you, Judge. Good morning again,
everyone. And Mary Ellen, thanks for
being up here. Our county engineer is
going to also speak to this. So, this is
a project we've been working on for
quite some time and I'm pleased to see
the pieces finally coming together. So,
Texot submitted the state highway 46
Herf Esser improvements to AMPO for
funding and now we have a commitment of
federal funding with Kendall County
committing $1 million to the project.
So, we're going to look at alternative
one. There were two choices and this
gives us some improvements to the
intersection while preserving the big
cypress trees that are in the the
rideway in the middle of uh Hurf and
providing a separate pedestrian bridge
and that rideway is being given by the
Cibilo Center for Conservation. So, we
appreciate them doing that and they and
the city of Bernie are supporting this
plan. So, does this solve every problem
on 46? No. But it's a real improvement
and it is funded and we can move
forward. Transportation dollars are very
limited. they're going to be more
limited in the future, I can tell you.
So, when we have the opportunity to
improve safety and traffic flow, I think
we take it and we keep working on the
longer term solution. So, if an
opportunity becomes available for AMPO
to slot this project in earlier than the
committed 2032 letting date, then we
want to be ready to take advantage of
that because there'll be projects in San
Antonio and Bear County that won't be
ready to let and we'll be able to slide
in and get this done earlier. So with
that, I'll turn it over to Mary Ellen to
take us through anything you'd like to
discuss. And I think we do have um some
slides as well.
>> Yes. So um Tex's plan is to add turn
lanes to improve the efficiency of the
intersection. Um there is a right turn
lane off of Hurf onto 46 East. Um that
would improve, as you know, right now
you kind of get stuck at the light
waiting for your chance to turn. This
would make it a free right turn. um
allowing that movement to continue and
get people through the intersection
faster. Um and then creating a dual left
turn from 46 onto Hurf, which is one of
the main movements. Making that dual
left will get more people through the
intersection. And then extending the
turn lane capacity um from River Road
onto Herf as well, right turn, it would
just add a little bit more length
instead of having, you know, one car at
that um intersection uh and and having
to wait for the light. So, this will get
more people through the intersection.
Alternative one and alternative two
create the same end solution, but it's
how do we get there? Alternative one is
um the Sablo Center for Conservation um
would provide easement um dedicated to
the city of Bernie for construction of a
trail that would um get pedestrians um a
nicer path through the trees through the
Cibilo's property uh civil center for
conservation's property um and and
better trail access and then would
connect um to the trail that's already
there and over to the Cibau nature
center and um soccer fields.
Um the alternative uh or the benefits of
this is um for the public using that
trail. Um it allows for faster
construction and um less expensive
construction. The essentially the the
bridge that's there now would just be uh
shifted over in the lanes but
construction on the actual bridge would
not need would not be needed. In
alternative two, um the cypress trees in
the center of the two bridges would be
taken out and the bridge would be
widened which costs more um has the
impact to the trees that are important
to the community and uh construction
would take much longer. So I think
meeting with the civil center for
conservation and the city of Bernie um
and text dot um this community's um
support has been to proceed with
alternative one as a a better benefit to
the community.
>> Okay. Uh
I'll entertain a motion at this time.
>> Okay, judge. I'd be happy to do that.
Judge, I move to uh adopt resolution
number R2060825-1,
a resolution expressing support for the
Texas Department of Transportation's
proposed improvements to State Highway
46 River Road at Hurf Road, Esser Road,
endorsing design alternative one as the
county's preferred alternative and
urging acceleration of the project. U
motion made by Commissioner Legion,
seconded by the judge. Any further
discussion?
>> I did want to say um that it's
encouraging to see the dedicated work of
the Kendall County Fair Oaks
Transportation Committee um I'm sorry,
Kendall County Bernie Fairs
Transportation Committee reflected in a
plan that now has advanced to fruition.
Um there are members that of that
committee that are here today. Um, in
2024, the committee may not have
anticipated that its diligent efforts
would contribute to a preferred plan
within such a short time frame. I
support this design as the county's
preferred plan, which is also supported
by the city of Bernie and Ciblo Center
for Conservation. Just wanted to point
that out.
>> Anything else? Not please call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall,
>> I.
>> Commissioner,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I.
>> Judge,
>> I motion carries 5 to zero. Thank you.
Marielen.
>> Okay. Uh, next up, consideration and
possible action regarding resolution
R20260825-2,
a resolution accepting a grant from the
US Department of Justice in the amount
of 9 thou $915,961
through the Office of Justice Programs
OJP FY2026 special attorneys program
round three grants to fund a position
for a special US attorney with the US
attorney's office. This is coming back
because last court it was approved but
we didn't have a resolution and so this
is just to approve the resolution that
was submitted. Um so at this time I'll
entertain a motion as to approval of the
resolution.
Judge, I'd like to make motion to adopt
resolution number R-2026.
Excuse me.
Resolution 2026
0825-2
resolution accepting a grant from the US
Department of Justice in the amount of
9115,961
through the office of the justice
program OJ fiscal year 2028
special attorneys program round three
grant to fund a position for special
assistant US attorney within the US
attorney's office.
>> Thank you. Motion made by Commissioner
Chapman. Is there a second?
>> Second by Commissioner Carpenter. Uh any
further discussion?
>> I just wanted to say one thing. Um my
concern about this grant is that the
county would be expected to assume
substantial responsibility for
administering and supporting this grant
while realizing little to no tangible
benefit. Given the workload, ongoing
obligations, and limited value to our
taxpayers, I'm not in favor of pursuing
this grant opportunity.
>> Okay. Thank you. Any other uh
discussion? If not, uh, Teresa, please
call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall,
>> nay.
>> Commissioner We
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I
abstain because of my last uh
abstensions on the last two rounds. So,
with that, a motion passes three to one
with one abstension. So, commissioners
from precincts two, three, and four in
favor. Commissioner
one opposed and the judge abstained.
Next up, agenda item 12. Is this one
still on the agenda? General counsel.
I didn't get any um resolution of the
question that I had, but I think that
this should be pulled. I'm told that
another taxing entity has already
objected to the method and therefore a
vote on this today is not necessary.
>> Okay. So, we'll be taking no action on
agenda item 12 because it's
attorney
Okay.
Now, the next three are flock items. I
just want to clarify that.
The vote on number 13 has no impact on
for agenda items 14 or 15 because agenda
item 13 relates to a prior year's
contract. So it's an obligation that the
county already incurred. So don't take
our vote as an indication on anything
about 14 and 15. So I just want to make
that clear uh before we begin this one.
So agenda item 13,
consideration and possible action on an
agreement with flock safety group to
participate in the flock safety platform
and for necessary flock safety
professional services and installation
fees with the term beginning on August
15, 2025 ending on September 30th, 2026
with the cost being reduced from $258,35
to $212,68.14
of which 80% will be paid by the grant
awarded through the motor vehicle crime
prevention authority. So,
and general counsel, you reviewed the
proposed contract and it meets all your
standards.
>> It does.
>> Okay. I will hand it over to Lieutenant
Clariner or
>> One thing I have to add to this one. The
reason for the reduction um and the
total rate is due to the delay with the
text permits and um the first part of
the grant we only had 13 cameras
installed. Um and then starting first
second week of July once we got the
state permits they started installing
the rest of the cameras. Um, so since
majority of this year we only had 13 in
the ground, I asked Flock if they would
do a prorate or discount and they agreed
um to give us I think it was 46 or
$48,000 discount. Uh so that's the
difference in in the total
for this year's contract.
Um I'll open it up for any conversation
or discussion.
>> Gentlemen, anything from you?
>> I do, Judge. So, I do appreciate what
discount we got. But if you consider 13
cameras,
even if they were done on day one, which
I know they weren't, that's 22%
of the contract was fulfilled.
And I believe most of the remaining
cameras were being installed within the
last 30, if not 60 days. And so
I mean I know I went to a small school
but uh the math just doesn't add up
there.
>> Yes sir.
>> Paying for what we actually
received. So that's my comment.
>> Yes sir.
>> Anything from you ladies?
>> Uh so has this contract been fulfilled?
Do we have all of the cameras in the
ground right now? Today
>> they have two remaining cameras to be
installed this week and then we'll be at
100%.
>> And then our 100% will be how many?
>> 56.
» Okay.
So I had understood that we were at 80%
a couple weeks ago when I asked you. So
you
>> Yes, they've had they've had several the
last couple weeks and so
>> Okay.
>> Yes, ma'am. So, general counsel, would
you consider this company in breach of
this contract?
>> Commissioner, the part of the reason why
they given us the discount is because
they were not able to install everything
in the timeline in which the parties
both expected and part of that was a
delay due to conditions outside of their
control. For example, the text stop
permits to enter right ofway to install
cameras. Um, because of that, them
offering this what I consider to be a a
pretty substantial discount. Um, my math
may not be as good as Commissioner
Chapman's, but um, it's not common for a
contractor to offer us a discount when
there has been a performance issue. I
just want to acknowledge I think that
was a good faith effort on the part of
Flock to try to make it more right. Um,
the grant, we also did speak with them,
Lieutenant Clariner did, um, to make
sure this wouldn't have any impact on
the grant, and it won't. will still
receive the 80% coverage um from the
NVCPA to cover um this reduced amount
and the county's portion will also be
reduced accordingly. Please note that
this contract does end in about a month.
Um so the next item will discuss whether
the court wants to continue beginning
after the end of this current fiscal
year or not. But um I would consider
this to be at least substantial
compliance with the duties that were
required in the contract. And to me the
discount offered um again is to me quite
a concession and and so it's up to the
court toi to decide what to do. I would
ask you to approve the contract today
with this reduced amount because the
parties have performed substantially um
for almost an entire year already. So, I
would ask that you approve this today.
>> All right. Thank you. Sounds like you
did the best you could on getting that
concession.
>> Um, Lieutenant Cler um handled that. So,
I just like to acknowledge him for
asking for that on behalf of the county.
>> I I tend to agree with Commissioner
Chapman on this, but in the grand scheme
of things, I don't think it's worth
>> getting into substantial compliance and
all the nitpicking of this when the true
is part of the issue is the next two
issues and that's going to be decide the
fate of this contract. So I think we
just my recommendation is to support
general counsel in this and approve this
and get to the real real debate. So I
move to approve
uh
the
in I guess the participation in flock
safety platform for the necessary flock
safety professional services and
installation fees with the term
beginning in August 15, 2025 and ending
on September 30th, 2026.
cost reduced from 258305
to 212608.14
of which 80% will be paid by a grant
awarded through the motor vehicle crime
prevention authority. Do I have a
second?
>> Second.
>> Motion by the judge. Second by
Commissioner Chapman. Any further
discussion? There being none, Teresa,
could you please call the vote?
>> Commissioner McCall?
>> Nay.
>> Commissioner Legion.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I.
>> Judge Sticker.
>> I. Motion carries 4 to one with uh
commissioners from precinct 2, three,
four, and the judge in favor
and precinct one opposed.
Right.
So, I'm going to read the agenda item
and then I'm going to call up uh
constituents to come sit at either you
can sit at either table. I re I'll call
two at a time so we can kind of speed
this along. One sits on one side, one
sits on the other. Once someone finishes
uh or once the two finish, I'll call up
two more and we'll just go through that
and you'll have two minutes. You'll see
uh on the screen to your right uh
there'll be a little timer that shows up
and it'll have a little bell. Once you
announce who you are and where you're
from, your countdown will begin. So, you
go through your speech. Once you hear
the bell go off, kind of wrap up your
sentence succinctly and then we'll let
the next person begin and we'll go from
there until we get through everybody.
Okay. So
agenda item 14, consideration and
possible action on agreement with Flock
Safety Group, Inc. to continue to
particate in the flock safety platform
and for necessary flock safety
professional services and installation
fees be beginning on October 1, 2026 and
ending on September 30th, 2027 for a
cost not to exceed $198,550
of which 80% will be paid by a grant
awarded through the Motor Vehicle Crime
Prevention Authority subject to review
and approval by general counsel and
authorize the county judge to execute
necessary documents.
Before I begin, uh, Miss McCarthy, you submit a form. You're going to go
back the normal comments. Okay. Just
want to confirm. All right. First, uh, Mr. Fields and Steven Belts.
Morning,
gentlemen.
>> Thank you to this court. Um, good
morning everyone. My name is Steven
Belt. I uh represent the Kindle County
District Attorney's Office. I'm a felony
prosecutor. I've been here currently
about a year. Uh, before that, I was a
prosecutor in Harris County in Houston.
I was also a federal prosecutor down in
Macallen. I am here uh to show the court
that we are very much for the flock
system in multiple ways. I can tell you
that at least in my experience in
Houston, the flock system with the
largest county in the state of Texas was
extremely valuable. uh we have uh solved
and brought to trial and got guilty
verdicts uh at least on two that I've
done that were primarily found this
suspect using the flock camera system. I
will also say in my time here uh at
Kendall County uh a recent manslaughter
case that we worked on uh the flock
system was vital in understanding the
timeline in which the defendant uh
started uh his night before the fatal
crash that ended on Highway 46. So I
have seen positive outcomes there as
well as a current evading arrest for a
motorcycle that got away from law
enforcement. the LPRs that we use, we're
able to track his movements. We able to
get search warrants and we are moving
forward with prosecution on that
defendant. So, I have seen a substantial
benefit from the flock system. Uh I live
in Fair Oaks Ranch. When I see those
LPRs, I feel uh safer. I will say that
Kendall County is a rapidly growing 662
square mile uh county. Uh this will save
money for the county uh because it takes
time to uh identify a suspect when we
have an LPR with a license plate. We
know where they are. We know where
they're going. That's going to save
money uh for law enforcement that would
take for, you know, talking to witnesses
and getting other evidence together. So,
I will say that the policy protections
that are in place are valid. They're
only last for 30 days. and I believe
that we should uh continue this
relationship with Flock. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Good morning.
>> Morning.
>> Um y'all know me. I'm Andrew Fields. I
am the special victims prosecutor here
in Kendall County. Um I've been a
prosecutor for almost 16 years in in San
Antonio and here in Kendall. I uh
exclusively work on the crime the felony
crimes against women and children.
Arguably some of the most vile and
disgusting things that we have in our
county. Um, I can tell you that uh when
I saw this um holaloo building up on
Facebook about block cameras, the thing
that came to my mind is what in the
George Soros is going on here? Why are
they trying to take this evidence from
us? And I can tell you in the last two
years, I've had five cases directly
solved, sex offenders directly solved
with flock camera information. and the
sheriff's going to speak on one of them,
but um it for whatever reason some
people come to our county, maybe because
it's rural, maybe because they're trying
to get away from the city, but um we've
had five sex offender cases solved
directly with that flot camera
information. Um
one was a kidnapping case out of Florida
and they came here. One was a man who
was doing terrible things to his own
children out of Dallas and he came here
and we caught him using the flot
cameras. Um, another one was a sex
offender who was failing to register
here in our county and had moved to uh,
Aranis County and was living in a
trailer park with a playground and
children nearby. Uh, we were able to
find him and find that he was evading
our registration here in this county.
And we have two other cases that are
actively pending that um, I'm not going
to speak on, but we are tracking them
down with cameras. Um, in addition to my
time in San Antonio, I can say that I've
had flock cameras directly lead to
solving aggravated robberies with guns
stuck in people's faces and a murder.
Uh, where, uh, flock camera information
was extremely valuable in apprehending
that defendant. Um, my fear in the
taking down these cameras is that one
day uh and I heaven forbid this ever
happened, but one day we're going to
have an abduction or a murder and I'm
going to get the case and people are
going to say I saw a black SUV leaving
the neighborhood and we're not going to
be able to do anything with that. But if
there's flot cameras, we can say this
black SUV was going down Main Street at
this time and then we picked it up on I
10 at this time and we suspect that
they're going here and we'll have a
license plate number which will lead us
back to somebody's house and hopefully
we can save child or solve a murder and
in that situation I would say these
flock cameras are invaluable and I know
that the parents of a child in that
situation would say that that's
invaluable and I pray that that never
happens in this county but I fear that
one day with the county growing the way
it is we will deal with that. Um
>> and your time time's up. I'm sorry. Um,
that's okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Next up, Crystal Reer and Nicole Bishop.
And if Emily Hamburg,
I I can't read your writing. If you want
to come to this next table and get
queued up, you're good.
in the slideshow.
» Okay. So, good morning. My name is
Crystal Reer. I am a crime analyst
investigator with the Kindle County DA's
office. I use Flock. I'm probably one of
the most used Flock user. Um, I must to
conduct a search, you have to um
document an offense type, case number,
investigative reason, vehicle
information, location, and a time frame.
And every search conducted is audited,
and all the LPR data is automatically
deleted after 30 days of flock. And what
I put up there is exactly what flock the
parameters I have to put in. Um, so
between 2023 and 2025, Kendall County
experienced 256 burglary of a motor
vehicle incidents. Only 20 of those
resulted in filed charges. Many
investigations lacked sufficient in
suspect information. The highest
concentrations occurred along the I 10
corridor, Regent Park, city parks, and
Old San Antonio Road. Um, and then you
can see up there the heat maps of where
all these uh burglary motor vehicles
occurred within 2023 and 2025 prior to
Flock. Um,
looking specifically at the burglary
motor vehicle trends uh this year in
2026, they have decreased by 77%
from the peak of 2025 to the current
period. Um, this reduction is also
reflected at the neighborhood level.
Regent Park alone in 2024 had six
incidents. In 2025, they had seven
incidents. And since they had a fire uh
a flock installed, they've had zero
incidents.
Um in Kendall County case number 10180,
three vehicles were berized at the
Northrup Park. A camera captured the
suspect vehicle, but there was no
readable license plate. Using only the
vehicle's make, model color, and a time
frame, I was able to locate the vehicle
using flock data. The suspect was
located and arrested and was determined
to be associated with the felony lane
gang, a national criminal organization
known for coming to the rural areas and
committing financial crimes just like
this. Without flock, investigators would
have never had enough information to
identify this suspect vehicle.
>> Thank you, Miss Bishop.
» Part of the reason I became a prosecutor
is to also protect Fourth Amendment
rights for people. Um, I had
encountered individuals, prosecutors who
would file cases even though a Fourth
Amendment violation had occurred because
they thought, well, let's see if the
defense attorney catches it. That's not
something that we do in my office. In my
office, we protect everybody's rights,
even criminals, if the their Fourth
Amendment right to unreasonable against
unreasonable search and seizure is
violated.
this again
are picking up vehicles in a public
place. Um we can uh should and do have
strong policies governing retention,
access, auditing and misuse. Um but
rejecting a proven investigative tool
because it could be misused is not the
answer. The answer is strong oversight
and responsible use. When properly
regulated, flot cameras give law
enforcement another set of eyes and give
victims a better chance of getting
answers. When we cannot afford to have
resources to have an officer on every
corner 24/7, these cameras stand in
their place. Please do not take away a
law enforcement tool. By doing so, you
will send the message that Kendall
County's open season for criminals. I
would rather explain to a voter why I
supported a tool designed to catch
criminals than explain to a victim why I
voted to take it away.
I ask you to to ask yourself that
question.
What will you say to a parent whose
child has been abduct abducted and we no
longer have a tool to find a vehicle
that that child was abducted in?
And I think that that's very important
to ask yourself that question. Our
law-abiding citizens should feel safe
driving into Kendall County. The people
who should be uncomfortable crossing
that county line are people coming here
to commit crimes. I have seen firsthand
where smugglers and human traffickers
avoid towns and roads that have LPRs and
these flock cameras because they know
about it. I have seen like in Regent
Park where people they've targeted. As
soon as we get those cameras in, they do
not target it anymore. This is a
protective measure for our county. This
protects the bubble around our county.
Please do not allow the crime to rise in
this county because
again, these cameras are in a public
place. This is not a Fourth Amendment
violation.
>> Thank you. All right. And Miss
Oakenberg, if you can come to the other
table and you may begin.
>> Thank you. Good morning. My name is
Emily Hamby Irvine, a Kendall County
resident, and I'm asking you to vote no
on items 14 and 15 and end Kendall
County's involvement with flock safety.
I'm not asking for a modification of
this program. I'm asking you to defund
it and discontinue it. Flock creates a
searchable record of the movements of
ordinary citizens who are not suspected
of committing a crime. Vehicles are
photographed, timestamped, location
stamped, stored, and searched simply
because they passed a camera. And we
already know the consequences when these
systems fail. Earlier this month in
Wisconsin, two innocent people were
pulled from their vehicle at gunpoint
after a flock alert connected to their
SUV um to a homicide. The vehicle had
already been cleared. An error in a
database became a gundrawn police
encounter in Colorado. An innocent woman
who was summoned for theft after Flock
placed her vehicle near a package theft.
She proved her innocence only because
she had her own cameras showing where
she actually was. What happens to the
innocent person who cannot prove where
they are? And misuse is not
hypothetical. A national investigation
has identified dozens of law enforcement
officials accused, charged, or convicted
of abusing license plate reader systems,
including officers allegedly using them
to track wives, girlfriends, and
ex-girlfriends. Now, Kendall County is
being asked to spend approximately
$200,000 every year on this system. We
do not own the equipment, and grant
money is still taxpayer money. We should
not pay a private corporation to build a
searchable record of the movements of
law-abiding Kendall County residents.
This is not limited government. This is
not privacy and this is not
infrastructure I want to normalize in
Kendall County. Please give flock no
more years, no more dollars, and no more
opportunity to expand. Vote no on items
14 and 15. Thank you.
>> Thank you. And Miss Leah begs, if you
can come to this table, then Lenor.
>> My name is Lenor Oakberg. I'm a Kendo
County resident. I'm here today to
strongly oppose the county's continued
use of expansion of flock cameras. I'm
frankly appalled that our elected
officials would consider the level of
surveillance to ordinary citizens, an
acceptable trade-off for the possibility
of assisting law enforcement in solving
some crimes. These cameras don't just
photograph criminals. They photograph
all of us. the overwhelming majority of
us who are suspect suspected of
absolutely nothing. There will always be
technology that can help law
enforcement's job to be easier. But
making law enforcement's job easier
cannot be the standard by which we
decide how much privacy citizens must
surrender. I respect our law enforcement
officers and the difficult job they
voluntarily take on. But the difficulty
of that job does not give government
unlimited authority to monitor
law-abiding citizens simply because the
technology now makes it possible. And
the evidence does not justify
threatening this treating this
technology as an overwhelming public
safety necessity. Research on license
plates readers has shown mixed results.
There may be benefits in recovering
stolen vehicles or investigating certain
crimes, but those benefits must be
weighed against creating a system
capable of documenting the movements of
thousands of innocent citizens. We're
looking at more than 200,000 for the
current term and nearly 2,000 for the
following. Yes, 80% of that may come
from a grant, but grant money is
taxpayer money. More importantly, our
privacy should not suddenly become
negotiable because someone else is
paying 80% of the bill. Once the infra
infrastructure becomes normalized, where
does it end? Today we're told it's
stolen vehicles and catalytic
converters. But what happens tomorrow
when the same technology can be used to
identify who attended a pro pe peaceful
protest, a political meeting, or an
event challenging the government itself?
That's where surveillance begins to
threaten more than privacy. It can chill
free speech and lawful assembly. We
should not build that infrastructure and
simply trust that the government will
never misuse it. Kendall County, not
Houston, is a place where people value
individual liberty, limited government,
and personal privacy.
>> Thank you. And uh one last call for Leah
Begs.
She online. Okay. So, I'm going to call
James Oxford and Sean O'Connell.
And you may start, sir.
>> Okay. Sure. Hello, I'm Sean Oonnell. Um,
I'm a resident of Kendall County and um,
I just wanted to speak about the flot
camera issues. So, uh, I want to argue
that privacy is directly related to
security, especially in the cyber
security world. Um, and it's about
preventing people from getting
privileged access to your data or
privileged information about you such as
your whereabouts and other things about
your your behavior that you don't want
to necessarily share with everybody. Um
a couple of and I just feel like this uh
surveillance in our lives is becoming
like an increasing uh phenomenon. So
like one example is I'll just give two
examples. So like one example is the
iPhone. I think it was in like 2018
um suddenly like all of our photos were
like automatically analyzed by AI and
for like objects like text and like
facial recognition and stuff and they
didn't ask like any permission to do
that. it's it's just like on all our
iPhones enabled by default. And so um
like you know that that assumes a lot of
trust in the company that that we didn't
really grant them. And then the second
thing is uh a good thing is the
transition from HTTP to HTTPS on the
internet. Uh in the last like 10 years
it's gone from 30% to 95% and that like
completely prevents eavesdropping on the
internet. um like all the traffic is not
seeable by like a man-in-the-middle
attack. And so I think if we use that as
a like a model, I think um like I hope
that we move in that direction instead
of the other direction where it's like
this slip in of um surveillance. So uh
another thing is I uh well actually
those are my main points. Um but yeah,
I'm just hoping that you vote no on 14
and 15. Um, and yeah, thank you.
>> All right, thank you for your comments
and then we're going to call Suanne Pile
over here. All right, and you may begin.
>> Hi. Um, my first concern is about Flock
Safety itself. Privately owned company
founded in 2017. Um, since less than 10
years, it's got 120,000 cameras across
the United States.
>> He didn't identify himself. Could you
please
>> James Oxford?
>> Okay. And are you a Kendall County
resident?
>> I am.
>> Okay.
um
120,000 cameras across the United
States. Um the result is a system
capable of tracking movements of
ordinary people who never consented to
being monitored and have no meaningful
way of opting out of the system. Um a
private company elected by no one
accountable to no one um who has erected
a surveillance system that we don't have
any real option about. Um, you know,
George Orwell wrote in 1984, "Big
Brothers Watching, this is all happening
right in front of our eyes." Um, what is
also not talked about is the misuse of
these systems. It's already happening.
Um, in California, a former Riverside
County deputy was convicted of using
flock to stalk his ex- fiance. In
Pasadena, Texas, a police sergeant
resigned after allegations of him
misusing flock systems. in Georgia. Um,
a police chief chief, not an officer, a
chief, um, searched Flock hundreds of
times to track his former girlfriend and
her teenage daughter. Same thing
happened in Kansas. Another police chief
reportedly used the system 200 times to
track his his uh his ex-girlfriend.
Um, so these these are systems or these
are incidents that have already
occurred. It's not a what if, it's, you
know, who has access to these things and
how will they misuse them.
Um, you know, Lord Actton famously said,
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute
power corrupts absolutely." Today, it
can be rephrased, "Absolute surveillance
will surveil you absolutely." Um, and I
want to be clear that I'm not an enemy
of law enforcement or the elected
officials sitting in this room. You guys
have difficult jobs. Um, and I'm sure
the system helps you in certain ways,
but where does it end?
um you know big government shouldn't
have the authority to sit here and
surveil us without any you know real
promises of you know pulling back you
know so
>> take that into consideration
>> thank you for your time all right Huff
if you can come up next from Suanne
you're
>> my name is Suanne Pile I am a Kendall
County resident and
I am a retired social studies teacher
and I taught government
civics many years and I am very worried
about the continual
encroachment of our liberties. I do
believe contrary to what the um somebody
said earlier that this is a fourth
amendment right. I believe that we have
a right to privacy.
I understand that that law enforcement
has a hard job and they need to do their
job with the best tools they can, but I
do not think that
surveilling
the entire county,
every person in it
is
what we want to have. Uh we do not want
to become a a a surveillance state. We
do not want to become
as somebody said somewhere where they
track our every move and start saying
things about where we go and like I said
going to a protest that is we have the
right to gather and and if that we start
being targeted because of the places
that we go to that should not be
happening here. Um, so
from a constitutional viewpoint, I do
not believe that these flock cameras
should be used on ordinary citizens.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, ma'am.
Uh, next up over here is going to be
Steven Riggs and floor is yours, sir.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the
commission. My name is Brody Huff and I
am here to represent myself. I am a
resident of Comfort Texas and Kimell
County and I stand in firm opposition of
any renewed contract with Flock Safety
Group between them and Kimmel County.
Not because of the cost of any new
contract and not because of how ugly
they are on the sides of our beautiful
roads, but because they because safety
can never overweigh liberty.
All of you on this commission are
Republicans, so I'm sure that all of you
are familiar with the age-old argument
that if we just get rid of guns, our
communities will be safer. This same
argument is being used to push flock
cameras. If we just put these cameras
up, our communities will be safer. I am
asking that you don't put a band-aid on
an arterial ble bleed. Stop treating the
symptoms. Start treating the problems.
Try to urge your community to heal and
perhaps these crimes will not happen as
often.
I'm sure that some of you are aware of
it, but just in case you were not, we
were warned about people who would give
up liberty for safety in 1755 when
Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would
give up essential liberty deserve
neither liberty essential liberty to
purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty or safety." I
see none of you as enemies. Miss Wish, I
know you. Mr. Carpenter, I know you. Mr.
Chapman, I am aware of your voting
record and commend you for voting the
correct way the past two times and that
this was brought in front of the court.
I myself and I'm sure that a few of us
in the crowd are willing to give you the
benefit of the doubt when it comes to
how the vote went the first two times
because the information and the
controversy around these cameras was not
present, but it is now. So, please take
it into account as the vote on this item
comes forward. Thank you for your time
and I yield the rest of mine.
>> Thank you. All right. Uh, next up at
this table is going to be Emily Hamby.
Oh, sorry. I already got her. Clayton
Patton over here.
All right, the floor is yours, sir.
Judge and commissioners, my name is
Steven Riggs. Uh, I'm a longtime
resident of Kendall County. I'm speaking
today to oppose the Fox mass
surveillance system.
As rural residents and taxpayers, we
value our personal privacy and
constitutional liberties. The deployment
of automated surveillance that logs,
tracks, and stores the travel patterns
of innocent law-abiding citizens creates
a dragnet system without reasonable
suspicion or probable cause. This level
of mass data collection represents
unnecessary government overreach and
carries a substantial recurring fiscal
burden for our county taxpayers.
Furthermore, serious questions remain
regarding third-party data sharing,
long-term retention policies, and public
oversight. I urge the court to
prioritize citizen privacy, exercise the
termination clause in the county
agreement with flock safety, or at
minimum pause the program until a
dedicated, transparent public hearing is
held to allow residents a formal voice
on this surveillance infrastructure.
Thank you for your time and commit and
commitment.
>> Thank you.
Uh, next up over here is
going to be Lisa Alban.
Floor is yours, sir.
>> My name is Clayton Patton. I'm a
resident of Precinct 4 outside of
Comfort. I'll tell you, I do not want to
be here today, but it's an important
issue that needs to be discussed and
debated. I think these cameras are a
great surveillance tool. That being
said, they belong at the rim or west of
downtown San Antonio. I do not think
they should be on rural roads in Ken
County.
I want to talk a little bit about facts
and math that I've done to try to
prepare for today. I'll tell you, I only
have one way left to get to my house or
from my house to comfort without being
under surveillance of one of these
cameras. I live 7 miles outside of town.
There's plenty of back roads by my
house.
I think the goal of Flock and probably
in law enforcement is to not allow me or
other people in this county to use any
kind of connecting road without being
seen by a camera. I don't think they're
harmless.
As far as costs, sure it's a grant, but
think about the cost benefit analysis of
what we're using here. I believe it's I
know we're getting discounts and there's
been some other numbers thrown out
today, but it seems like they cost about
$5,000 a year for one camera. I have two
cameras on 1621 near my house or y'all
have them really. Everybody has them
now. Uh and there are two more on
welfare and wearing road. So, what did
we get with that? Are we finding two to
three possible stolen vehicles every
year? We're not finding. We're just
seeing them on a camera and know which
way they went. Or maybe every two to
three years. So, almost the entire cost
of my property tax bill is going to pay
for just one of these cameras for one
year. I don't know if there's really
benefit with that.
So, what cost will be cut to pay for
them? There is a grant. It's at the
state. But how many law enforcement
personnel have to be laid off to pay for
them? Or how many prosecutors, if the
job is made so much easier, it's an
invaluable tool. There's got to be a
costbenefit trade-off.
I don't know where that is, but I ask
y'all to think about that as you vote.
So, uh, these cameras operate via
National Software Network.
>> Your time is up, sir. Thank you. Uh,
next up over on this side is going to be
David's Storyly. And ma'am, your Lord's
yours. I'm so thirsty.
>> Oh, good morning.
>> Good morning.
>> Excuse me. My name is Lisa Alban. I am a
citizen of Kendall County. And I've
heard a lot this morning about the flock
cameras and the LPRs, the license plate
readers. But on the agenda item, it
doesn't say you are looking to continue
to participate in an LPR system or a
camera system. says that we are here to
consider uh to participate in the flock
safety platform. So I was like what is
the flock safety platform? So I went on
to the flock safety platform website and
it just says the cameras are just the
beginning and I was like well what does
that mean? I couldn't find anything on
the flock safety platform on the flock
safety platform website. So I looked up
their patent. So when you look up a
patent you find out a lot about what
this technology actually is. And it's
really interesting from the patent. I
learned all about it. The name of the
title of this patent from Flock Safety
Platform is a system and method for
object-based query of video content
captured by a dynamic surveillance
network. And here's what everybody in
this room needs to know. The Flock
Safety Platform's patent explicitly
describes not searching for license
plates, but searching for people. what
they're talking about in the objects in
that title. They're talking about human
beings. I'm not characterizing it this
way. This is in their patent. The patent
specifically describes that it's
classifying and identifying people with
their characteristics, sex, race,
clothing, height, weight, and facial
recognition. The patent is not just
about searching for cars and license
plates. It also describes searching for
historical surveillance and creating
maps and timelines. block safety
platform's patent, not me, but their
patent says that one of those timelines
may quote may then create probable cause
for questioning the driver.
Create probable cause. Probable cause
should not be created. It should grow
out of evidence for uh pointing towards
someone. Now, investigating a crime
backwards or a missing person backwards,
that is good police work. But this model
that's not what's happening. The patent
is providing surveillance on everyone
and stores it before anything bad
happens. Suspicion gets created later.
That's backwards and that is
fundamentally different relationship
between citizens and government. The
agenda today doesn't ask us to approve
license plates. They're asking us to
approve this platform and I don't
consent.
>> Thank you for your words.
>> Thank you.
All right. Uh we're going to
call Robert Okonnell up next and floor
is yours, sir. Good morning, court. My
name is David Stoley. I'm a resident of
precinct 3 in Kendall County.
I'm here today to talk about flock
safety. It could just as well be
numerous other surveillance systems, but
I'm using flock as a generic term here.
I'm not here to disparrage the
technology as there's no disputing that
when used properly, these systems can
help solve crimes. It's also shown in
too many instances that in the wrong
hands it can be used nefariously. One of
Flock's strongest selling points is
solving, may I say, not preventing child
abductions. This is a bit misleading.
Child abduction by strangers is an
extremely uncommon crime in the United
States, happening only about a hundred
times annually. Make no mistake,
protecting children is one of the most
important charges of our society. But at
what cost? Should society relinquish all
rights to privacy? Is this
proportionally equal to the problem?
The data collected falls into the wrong
hands, which it invariably does. What
can be done with it? Track people at
church, Planned Parenthood, gun store,
bar, psychiatrist, or cannabis
dispensary. It's really quite
frightening, no matter where you are on
the political spectrum. I believe there
are enough cameras out there that we
don't need taxpayer subsidized cameras.
I'm here to address what tax dollars are
being used for. I do not want the
government bodies responsible for
managing our communities spending tax
dollars on our movements. What happens
when Austin decides they no longer are
sponsoring these grants? I would like to
know if these grants given under the
opices of preventing catalytic converter
thefts have saved one converter.
Furthermore, I'd like to know how many
converters were stolen in Kendall County
last year. My redneck logic says that
what was spent on surveillance in the
county could have paid for every stolen
converter and still had money left over.
I asked the commissioner's court to
approve item 13, which you did, as
that's already been received. I also ask
that the court vote no on items 14 and
15 and end the surveillance in Kendall
County. Please do what is morally right
and end the program now. Ultimately, I
believe the Supreme Court will strike
this down, but it'll be years away. And
as has been mentioned before, I was
going to quote Benjamin Franklin and I I
will save the time for later.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Next up on this side is going
to be Gavin Nash and then floor is
yours.
>> My name is Robert Okonnell. I'm a
Kendall County resident and I oppose the
flock safety funding. The fourth
amendment states the right of the people
to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects. I suspect a car is
in effect against unreasonable searches
and seizures shall not be violated and
no warrants shall issue upon prob but
upon probable cause supported by oath or
affirmation and particularly describing
the place to be searched and the persons
or things to be seized. The fourth
amendment protects citizens from
unreasonable searches and seizures by
government. Warrants must be issued only
with probable cause and specify both the
place and place to be searched and the
things or persons to be seized. So
questions arise respecting flock safety
surveillance in the fourth amendment.
One does a noble purpose become a
perverse incentive?
We don't want that happening though the purpose may be noble. Two, since
government is expressly prohibited from
unwarranted
surveillance of citizens, is government
thus prohibited from hiring private
agencies to perform such surveillance on
their behalf?
Third, does government funded
surveillance intrude on a reasonable
expectation of privacy?
Three. Long-term multilocation tracking.
Prolonged or comprehensive monitoring
may constitute unlawful search. The
Supreme Court has already ruled on uh
similar uh methods. Extended GPS and
cell location tracking. This fits into
that general categorization.
So, I came to ask the commissioner's
court to vote no on items 14 and 15 in
perpetuity.
uh and uh to and uh also to decline the
MVCPA
grant intended to fund flock cameras.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> All right. Last call for Gavin Nash.
Okay. So, we're going to call Adam Lang
over here and Josh Person over here.
Is Josh
person here?
If not, we're gonna call Dustin Heber.
All right, floor is yours.
>> Great. Well, thank you. Uh, my name is
Adam Lang. I am a Kendall County
resident. Uh, first I'd like to thank
Dustin for pulling together that
petition and bringing all citizens
together. And I'd like to uh thank
Commissioner Chapman for responding to
that petition and and thank you all for
giving us the time to uh talk to you. I
was going to make some points about the
Constitution and all that. Uh, but I I
want to really just talk about
I understand where you and the law
enforcement folks are coming from and
wanting to protect the citizens of our
county, right? And I but I think that
the technology is just I don't think we
understand it well enough yet to know
where this is going. And unfortunately,
having been in the military and uh
served, you know, in units that are
associated with u the intel community,
we have this history of us violating
these things. We all get annual intel
oversight training that tells us about
how we use these military grade
technologies back in the 70s to violate
the rights of many of the civil rights
movements folks. We did that and it's in
the training that we now have to put
guard rails and controls in at the
federal level. We talked earlier, the
first few folks that talked about this,
I understand why they want this and they
promise that they're going to put guard
rails in.
The truth is that they just don't have
those and they don't know how to do
that. I don't expect the law enforcement
agencies in Kennel County, Far Ranch,
our local communities are going to
probably do anything to violate this.
But Harris County, Dallas, Ohio, New
York, they are going to and the the
company, I don't trust them at all. And
I I think that we need to understand
more about the private organization
that's maintaining this data over who
knows how long and who they're selling
that data to, your data, our data. And
so I I'll just close by saying like I I
know that you heard the the the points
made by law enforcement and I think that
the the voters here are making better
points. So thank you for your time.
>> Thank you.
>> And over here we're going to call Jason
Carroll. All right. Floor is yours. Good
morning. Dustin Avery, Kendall County
resident. We all want to save community,
but there are moments when government
has to choose between more power and
more liberty. And when that choice is
close, liberty should win. I had 1500
people signed the petition in about 2
weeks. Um 900 of them live in this
county. We're at over 1,800 and over a
thousand today. Do these cameras help
solve crimes? Absolutely. Those stories
that were mentioned early earlier
matter. But public safety cannot come
become a blank check for mass
surveillance. As of this morning, in the
last 30 days, uh according to the Flock
Kendall County portal, uh the cameras
have photographed 545,000 unique
vehicles. We only have 47,000 people
that live here. That's not just
criminals. That's everybody living their
lives. No warrant, no probable cause, no
suspicion. Just collect it all. And look
at the business model. The county's own
paperwork calls this a lease agreement.
So, us taxpayers are funding it. The
private company owns the equipment. Um,
and we're generating the data. It's a
hell of a business model, but it's not
one for Kimmel County. The bigger
question is this. Does safety
automatically outweigh privacy every
time somebody invents a new technology?
There will always be another crime that
might be solved um that another camera
could help, another piece of technology
can help.
Constitution was designed to protect the
people from government power before the
power was abused, not provide a remedy
afterward. I don't believe anybody in
this room wants a surveillance state.
That's not the point.
Our constitutional system was not
designed around the intentions of the
people in power today. It's about the
people that's come in power tomorrow.
And this is how the power grows. one
camera, one grant, another database
until surveillance becomes the price of
leaving your driveway. So, let's draw
the line here. We don't need citizens
cutting cameras off polls like it has in
surrounding counties. We need elected
officials willing to take them down.
Vote no in this year's uh next year's
agreement. Vote no on the grant. And
when we're out, stay out. Don't bring it
back under anything else.
>> Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. And last but not least,
you're up.
>> Judge commissioners. My name is Jason
Carroll, a resident of Kendall County. I
have founded multiple AI companies and I
serve as an AI adviser for multiple
organizations. So, I'm not here as
someone scared of technology. I'm here
as someone who knows exactly what it can
do and where it can break. In fact, a
few weeks ago, I was issued a citation
for something I didn't do in a
California city that I've never been to.
Uh, it took hours before a human would
ever even look at the footage. I got a
ticket, but as we've heard today from
constituents, others are getting far
worse. We heard earlier that flock usage
is audited as if that's supposed to give
us comfort. But the number of these
types of stories
uh uh that we've heard already and of
abuse are growing rapidly. And when the
machine is wrong, the burden doesn't
disappear. It shifts to the innocent
person. And that's backwards, isn't it?
Here's why that matters for Kendall
County. I don't walk my bike up at the
gym. My very attractive wife walks at
night without looking over her shoulder.
We're a safe town with no signs of that
changing. And that safety didn't come
from cameras. It came from our wonderful
law enforcement officers. It came from
our neighbors. And once we decide that a
camera can do that job, we're quietly
inviting our neighbors to stop doing it.
So, here's my ask. Don't renew this
contract. Follow Bandaraa County, Hood
County, Hayes County, and the dozens of
jurisdictions nationwide that have
canceled or rejected these contracts
since January.
Earlier, we heard that one day something
might happen and that without flock,
it's open season for criminals. But that
is not our current reality. We can
always add cameras back later. In fact,
you could probably hire me to build a
more creative, safe solution here in the
county.
But we cannot add back the kind of town
that never needed these cameras to begin
with.
>> Thank you.
for those comments.
>> I want to commend you all for the
spirited yet respectful debate. Did you
submit a comment? You All right. Last,
Could you just announce your name and
>> Thank you, chairman. Thank you,
commissioners. Good morning. My name is
Heather Vessie. I'm a Kendall County
taxpayer. I am asking that you vote no
on items 14 and 15. I do not consent. I
do want to let you know that I
absolutely support and respect our law
enforcement. Block cameras threaten our
right to privacy. This technology is
tracking our movement without our
knowledge and consent. These are
promoted as tools for our safety.
But what it really is doing is giving
the government and law enforcement the
ability to monitor innocent people's
movement on such a huge scale. This
creates serious concerns on how that
information should be stored, shared or
misused. We shouldn't be we should be
able to live our lives without creating
a permanent record of our daily lives.
In my opinion, this is government
overreach and this violates our civil
liberties. Safety is absolutely
important, but not at the cost of our
privacy and our freedoms. For this, I
ask that you vote no on renewing the
Kendall County flock contract. Thank
you.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Did I miss anyone that would
like to speak?
Okay. All right. Again, I'd like to
thank you all for your spirited yet
respectful debate. That's all what this
um this court's about. So, I'll kick us
out kick us off. I'm going to be short
and sweet. So, my background includes
serving as a military prosecutor for 10
years. So, I know the value of
technology and solving crimes. However,
Flock has lost the faith and trust of
communities across the country and
including, in my opinion, Kendall
County. And so, as a result, I can no
longer support Flock's presence in
Kendall County until that trust is
restored. So, with that, I'm going to
hand it over to my colleagues.
Commissioner Re,
>> I'd love to jump in. Okay. Thank you
everyone for being here and your time
this morning. So,
think about walking outside and your car
is gone or you're a parent and your
daughter hasn't come home and you're
scared to death and every minute feels
like an hour. And so, in those moments,
you want law enforcement to have the
very best tools available. And we've
heard from the sheriff's office and the
district attorney that it works, that
these cameras help catch bad guys and
recover stolen property and find missing
people. And those results matter to me.
I wanted to support this technology from
the beginning, but I believe that
something this powerful needed
guardrails. And so I asked the sheriff's
office for a written policy governing
the use and to make that public on the
website. And they did. And I thank the
sheriff and the and his staff for taking
those concerns seriously. But the more
I've learned, the more I've come to
consider three things: trust, control,
and liberty. And I trust our sheriff.
But our policy ends where our authority
ends. Flock isn't just a camera besides
the road reading a license plate. That
information becomes much part a bigger
part of a larger network. That's what
makes Flock so useful. And that's also
what concerns me. We can control our
sheriff's office, but we cannot control
every outside user, every future
decision by a private company or
everyone who may try to get into that
system. and independent security
researchers have already documented
these security exposures in flocks own
cameras and they do see more than just a
license plate. And then there's Liberty.
Yes, cameras are everywhere. Amazon
trucks have them, tow trucks have them,
Walmart has them, but there's a
difference. I choose to walk into
Walmart and Walmart bought those cameras
with Walmart's money. Here, government
is collecting information and even when
we're using grant money, grant money is
taxpayer money. So, of course, someone
standing beside the highway can see your
car go by, but there's a difference
between being seen and being tracked.
Technology will only get faster,
smarter, and more connected. Technology
doesn't have a conscience, but we do.
The question isn't whether flock works.
It does. The question is how much
information government should collect
about people who haven't done anything
wrong and how much risk we're willing to
create by collecting that information.
Because most people passing these
cameras aren't criminals. They're the
mom taking her child to school, the
rancher checking a gate, your neighbor
driving to town. It's you. You shouldn't
have to worry who might someday might be
able to find out where you've been.
Government should be responsible for
making sure that information is
protected. I don't think that we can.
And for me, that's where the balance
tips.
>> And Commissioner McConn.
>> Yes, ma'am. We actually didn't allow the
sheriff's the sheriff or the sheriff's
department to finish speaking um before
they only thing they talked about was
the grant for the first contract.
>> Okay. I'm going to give them an
opportunity.
>> I was I was wondering if the
commissioners would like to hear them
before they share their thoughts in case
the sheriff's comments might change
their mind.
>> Okay. All right. Uh
sure.
>> Thank you, judge. Thank you court. Thank
you councel for for that little bit
there.
So,
I'm going to take some time here and I
want to look at this holistically
and I hope that you will be open-minded
and hear what I have to say and then
make a well
um
educated understanding and a decision
based on the whole picture of what I'm
about to present to you. First of all, I
want to say this. I don't consider this
a threat against law enforcement.
I just say I hear you
and I agree with you
almost everything that you say.
But hear me out. Give me my opportunity
as well, please.
That's all I ask. Fairness.
Because I'm going to address pretty much
everything that's been stated.
Let me say something else about
everybody here.
I brag about you everywhere I go.
This community
second to none.
And I am proud and I'm honored to serve
in the capacity of what I do.
And I know this is not a personal attack
on me and I appreciate that. I have had
great conversation with many of you.
I haven't changed your mind.
You haven't changed my mind. And I'm
fixing to express why you haven't
changed my mind. Allow me the
opportunity, please.
It's going to take a minute,
but I think it's deserved.
So, thank you. and thank you for the
type of people that you are because you
are what makes this community what it
is. Thank you.
I have a presentation slide
presentation.
Um
» can I say something real brief?
>> Yes. the the the grant that that we're
talking about was from the sheriff's office and this
is his item. So, he has an opportunity
to talk more than just three minutes.
>> Thank you.
>> Are you Are you ready?
>> I am ready.
>> Okay.
>> Are y'all ready,
>> James? Are you ready?
>> I need slide number one, please.
Okay. This is going to be about the
automated license plate readers, the
ALPRs.
Presentation of this presentation
is about what the technology actually
does,
what the law actually says,
and what limits should be used to govern
its uses.
Slide number two, please.
I want to address the concerns being
raised regarding automatic license plate
readers or the ALPRS.
This discussion deserves facts rather
than fear from either my side or the
opposing side. It needs to be based on
truth and facts.
I believe strongly in public safety.
I also believe strongly in the fourth
amendment,
individual liberty, limited government,
and accountability for law enforcement.
Those principles are not mutually
exclusive.
Slide three, please.
These are questions as a court you need
to ask yourself
and I hope you take these seriously.
Is it lawful?
Does it serve a legitimate public safety
purpose?
What does it collect?
What safeguards govern it? And what
happens when somebody abuses it? Those
questions are more than useful than
treating technology itself as either
automatically good or automatically bad.
Next slide, please. Slide four.
This is larger
than flock safety.
ALPR
technology. Slide five, please.
Hope everybody has a chance to read some
of these.
ALPR technology
predates Flock and has been used for
years, decades by federal, state, and
local law enforcement through fixed
cameras, mobile systems, and public
private camera networks. Block is one
vendor.
The underlying technology is about
automated license plate recognition.
There are several other vendors that are
used throughout the country.
So that you know that this is nothing
new. This technology has been around for
decades, almost 50 years. It was brought
to the United States about 20ome years
ago and it's now being used in in in a
way that's being used in law
enforcement. So it's been given a lot of
recognition and a lot of concern,
rightful concern.
Next slide, please.
Go back one slide, please.
What the ALPR automates.
At the most basic level, the ALPR
automates what an officer could
historically observe with his or eyes on
a public roadway, a vehicle, its
publicly displayed plates and exterior,
where it was seen, when it was seen, and
whether the plate matched the legitimate
law enforcement information. Technology
simply makes this process substantially
faster.
Next slide, please. The distinction
matters.
The speed and searchability
or the operational difference a human
officer, a patrol officer cannot stand
at a dozen different roadways around the
clock and later remember every vehicle
that passed by.
That increased capability is why is why
both public safety value and the
safeguards deserve serious attention.
Next slide.
What does a flock camera actually
collect? Next slide.
It's been mentioned here about the
technology and I'm telling you all that
technology already exists.
A flock ALPR
license plate reader is not a cell phone
tracker.
It does not extract drivers cell phone
information, texts, calls, contacts, or
internet activity. The ALPR product does
not use facial recognition to identify
motorists.
Flock's published LPR data definition
does not include Bluetooth identifiers,
Wi-Fi identifiers, and intercepted radio
frequency communication.
I spoke with a local business person
about a couple of weeks ago. They have a
system that does exactly all of that.
Why does he have that? He has it for the
same reason Walmarts have them. The Home
Depots have them, themies have them, why
big markets have them, so that so that
they can know how to market their
products better and increase their
profit margins. It's for the commercial
aspect of things. It exists. There is
technology you can drive by and it will
take everything in your car, your
smartwatch,
your Wi-Fi you might be using, whatever
tablet you have activated, your cell
phone, your infotainment system in your
vehicle,
all that data can be retrieved.
It exists.
The Flock ALPR camera is not capable of
any of that.
Next slide, please.
A typical AOPR
record can include the license plate
image, a vehicle image, a plate number,
the state, physical vehicle cir uh uh
characteristics such as the make and
color, the date and time, and the camera
location. That's it.
at that point in time. That's what it
records.
This is a vehicle centered information.
It is not a person identification
record.
Slide please.
Still images are not continuous
surveillance video. The ALPR system
takes still vehicle images rather than
continuously recording traditional
surveillance video. Software converts
the web uh the physical vehicle
information into searchable data. The
system uh the system's value is in those
discrete timestamped observations.
One of the things where AI is used in
these cameras is to not only identify
the make color model which is captured
on a photo but um excuse me.
It can take down characteristics for
those circumstances of which there may
not be an a license plate available when
somebody needs to search those certain
characteristics
as mentioned earlier uh by somebody. It
was a partial license plate or is a dark
SUV or a pickup truck, a white Ford
pickup of truck. You might be able to
use those things to try to identify a
vehicle that might have uh went through
that camera system or that camera
location.
Next slide, please.
The cellular transmission is not cell
phone collection. Let's make clear that
the system does not collect any cell
phone data. The camera may use a
cellular network to transmit its own
captured record to cloud storage, but
not that's not the same as harvesting
cellular signals or electronic
information from passing motorists.
It is photographing what is visually
exposed on a roadway and adding the time
and location of that observation.
Next slide.
It photographs everyone.
That's correct. It does.
The criticism that the camera captures
vehicles regardless of whether they are
uh already suspects or substanti is
substantially correct. It does. There's
no denying that
everybody is photographed when you go by
the camera.
The important distinction is what
follows.
Vehicle direction is not suspect. Stop
is not suspect or stop. Uh an the the information is not an accusation.
It's not an arrest. It's for human
investigation
to assist law enforcement. Most
detections are never acted on. Of those
thousands that are already on record,
probably 90% of them have never even
been looked at. Nobody even knows they
exist. And they will be deleted in the
proper timeline. Then they're gone. They
don't stay around forever.
Our
public page states that the lo local
data currently is retained 30 days.
That's our policy right now. As we talk
about policy and how this thing should
be guided and regulated, that's going to
change.
Now, is it going to stay 30? I don't
know. But I can tell you things are
going to change as we continue through
this discussion because things have
happened.
A large volume of observations, those
photos, those still photos and
everything that it captures makes
retention, access, sharing, and auditing
more important. It does not convert
every passing driver into a suspect.
Next slide, please.
An ALPR is an investigative tool. It's
not a police force.
Law enforcement is equipped with many
tools.
All of which can be misused
against the public.
The car we drive, the weapon systems we
carry, the tasers we carry,
the camera system we carry.
So many things that we do can be misused
and have been misused. There's no
denying that.
Next slide, please.
An ALPR does not arrest anybody.
It does not search a house. It does not
issue a warrant. It does not convict
anybody. It does not establish guilt. It
does not eliminate reasonable suspicion.
It eliminate it does not eliminate
probable cause or eliminate
constitutional requirements for
detention or uh uh detection, search,
arrest or prosecution.
The legal authority for police action
still comes from the Constitution,
statutes, warrants, probable cause,
reasonable suspicion, and the facts of
the case,
not from a camera.
Next slide.
The camera produces information.
It produces information. Sometimes that
means a stolen vehicle or wanted person
alert. Sometimes it assists with a
missing child, endangered adults, Amber
Alert, Silver Alert. Sometimes it's
simple as a lead about a vehicle near a
crime.
Our current public page specifically
identifies real time alerts
tied to stolen vehicles, missing person
cases, and wanted suspects.
A couple of stories. I don't need to go
into these. They're all over the
internet.
For every bad story, you can find a good
story. For every good story, you can
find a bad story.
Every bad story has got human error
connected to it. Every good story has
got good police work connected to it.
Next slide, please.
The ALPR system court is a force
multiplier.
I've been in law enforcement almost 40
years. I've seen the technology change.
There are many that will say that this
technology is right now the most
advantageous
and best technology
available to law enforcement in modern
times.
A force multiplier
and an investigation lead generation
tool. That's what this is.
This does not do police work.
Next slide, please.
» The value after a crime. You've heard
today that some people believe that the
block system
will help deter crime.
And you can go to some communities and
some towns and they will validate that
to tell you that that's the truth.
Then you can go to the home office of
where Flock is in Atlanta, Georgia,
where they have I don't know how many
cameras around town and they have had no
significant drop in crime.
An ALR program system
does not prove that it prevents crimes.
Prevention is not necessarily its
primary function.
What's the primary value or the primary
value is not always prevention.
Although some will tell you it does an
outstanding job in preventing preventing
or deterring crime.
An ALR program does not have to prove
that a prevent that prevented a crime
every time and have value. Prevention is
not necessarily a primary function. Its
strongest use can be after a crime or an
emergency when investigators need to
reconstruct vehicle activity quickly.
The force multiplier this year, this
month,
a multi- agency working paper by Scott
M. More goes and INT Adams published
through the University of South Carolina
examined the staggered deployment of
flocked ALPR cameras across 216
US law enforcement agencies using FBI
neighbors data from 2017 to 20 uh 23. If
you don't know what libraries is, that's
the information that every law
enforcement agency is required by law to
forward to their state agency and then
it's forwarded to the FBI and they're
the ones that collect all the data and
put all that data together uh to to talk
about crime statistics. Right now, what
you're hearing nationwide crime is down.
Is that because of the flock camera
system? I wouldn't say that it is. Could
it have contributed to it? I would say
it certainly could have contributed to
it.
This 2026 study, this multi- agency
analysis of the 216 US law enforcement
agencies found that deployment of flock
fixed license plate readers was
associated with a 15.9% increase in
motor vehicle theft arrest clearances.
The same study also reported an 11%
decline in motor vehicle theft after
deployment. Does that mean that can
happen everywhere? No.
But it's it's a statistic from a neutral
party at a university that looked at 216
different law enforcement agencies and
that's the data that they come up with.
Is that a good tool? You need to decide.
In the city of Columbus, Missouri or
Columbia, Missouri, excuse me.
They published and they do a publish a a annual surveillance technology. They
did that for last year. Their report
after beginning flock implementation in
March of 2025,
Colombia tracked 217 case outcomes
directly associated with flock alerts.
Of those 217 track cases, 89 were
cleared, 69 by arrest, 20 by other
means. Another 52 generated
investigative leads.
Colombia's report states that more than
55% of its track flock associated cases
resulted in either arrest or
actionable investigative leads.
The force multiplier point.
These figures do not mean a camera
replaces a deputy or solves a case by
itself.
This shows how fixed ALPR can
continuously generate vehicle
observations and leads that let the same
investigators and patrol resources work
more efficiently when a vehicle is a is
relevant to a case.
Next slide please.
Every investigation
usually starts with fragments.
I don't know where you're at, sir. We
should be on slide 20.
>> You're on fragments now.
>> Okay. Thank you.
Investigators routine Investigations
routinely begin with incomplete
information.
It was a white pickup. No, it was a dark
SUV. Uh, the license plate was a B C. I
don't remember the rest.
I don't know. But the truck had a roof
rack on it, a bumper sticker, some kind
of identifying mark that sets it apart
from everything else that stuck out in
their mind.
That's normal investigative work.
ALPR to make those fragments searchable.
Next slide.
What flock can do with those fragments?
An AOPR can compress work that otherwise
may take hours, days, or weeks
by helping investigators identify
vehicle uh vehicles warranty further
examination. The technology does not
prove who committed the crime. It
narrows where the investigators should
look. Now,
next slide.
AOPRs
do not solve crimes.
Investigators solve crimes.
The AOPR helps the investigators
determine where to look.
A hit of an LPR is not an automatic
proof, probable cause, or guilt.
Next slide.
So, some documented Keno County
outcomes.
These are some local examples of how
flock has been used locally.
Some of these might be on the website.
Theft of property construction
equipment.
was stolen
from a property off 1376. LPRs captured
the vehicle traveling with the stolen
equipment as well as the license plate
of the vehicle that was hauling the
equipment. Property was recovered and
suspect arrested.
They got that information off an LPR
because of the characteristics. They
didn't have a license plate. They put
the characteristics of a timeline of
what kind of vehicle might have had that
stolen equipment on it. That's how that
case was solved.
Had that fly camera not been there, that
equipment would still be missing today.
More than likely,
burglar of a building, a commercial
business. Two vehicles park at a local
business and burglarize it. The business
captured the license plate of one
vehicle and the unique identifiers of
the second vehicle with their security
cameras.
Knowing the first vehicle's license
plate, the LPRs were used to identify
the second vehicle that was traveling
with it. The license plate was obtained
for the second vehicle. The driver of
the second vehicle was identified and
the first vehicle license plates were
found to be stolen.
It was also found that shortly after the
burglary, the vehicle was involved in a
major hit and run accident in San
Antonio.
The the suspect fled and the truck was
impounded. Items contained uh containing
potential DNA were collected and sent
out for testing and San Antonio PD later
arrested the suspect without standing
warrants.
A hit and run. A victim of a hit-and-
run accident was able to take a picture
of the suspect vehicle, but the license
plate was not legible.
Knowing the date and time of the
incident, LPRs were utilized and a
vehicle matching the picture the victim
took was located with the license plate.
The driver of the vehicle was identified
and the insurance information was
exchanged. So, the damage of the
victim's vehicle could be repaired,
that's not a big deal. But if that was
your vehicle and the guy got away and
you never got found out that who that
person was, it was through the flock
system that we're able to identify that
person under a timely manner. For that
person who got hit, it's a big deal.
Mail theft, stolen property, a jet ski
out of Gonzalez County. Multiple Kendall
County residents were victims of mail
theft.
One of the victims captured a suspect
vehicle, but no license plate on
security cameras. The vehicle was
identified using LPRs. The vehicle's
owner was identified, and changes were
and charges were filed. Uh the LPR
images also showed the vehicle hauling a
stolen jet ski that had previously uh uh
recovered abandoned in a field here in
Kendall County.
The jet ski was returned to the owner
and all the suspect information was
forwarded to Gonzalez County. So,
those are property crimes.
That's stuff people take damage to our
vehicle.
Some of them seem kind of small
like police should work harder to solve
those things.
Find people's property.
Next slide, please.
But the use of LPR is not only for
property crimes.
Let me tell you how else this has been
used locally.
Investigators received a cyber tip of an
individual viewing child pornography.
IP results indicated the suspect lived
in Kendall County, but other data bases
uh indicated he may have another address
outside of Kendall County. A vehicle
registered to the suspect was identified
and was seen repeatedly on LPR cameras
in Bernie near the Kendall County
address. During further investigation,
investigators were able to place that
vehicle at the address in Kendall
County. A search warrant was executed
and approximately 900 images of child
pornography were located. Charges filed.
That's here in your backyard.
This one was mentioned earlier.
You may not know this, but um sex
offenders have a lot of rules they got
to go by. There was a
and this come from our our analyst.
She conducted and and through the DA's
office a random sex offender check on
one of our offenders because it was they
were never home. One of the requirements
is they got to be home. They got to stay
home. They can't be gone any more than
48 hours. I believe offenders must check
in if you're going to be away from home
more than 48 hours. When Defender's LP
was run through flock, it was found that
he was in port A.
As mentioned earlier, in port A, living
and staying within three miles of four
different elementary schools.
After further investigating this, it was
found that he violated his terms
for registry of a sex offender. He was
convicted again
for not complying.
This guy was coming back and forth and
every once in a while he come back here
and the reason he came back to Kendall
County is because his doctor was here
and he had to go see his doctor
but he actually lived in poor day
amongst children.
Here's another one that happened
recently. While a deputy was on patrol,
he received an alert for an attempt to
locate a person interested in mur in a
murder out of Georgetown.
The deputy ran the vehicle information
into Flock and received a hit,
meaning he was in our county, one of our
cameras. The deputy was unable to catch
up with the vehicle,
but he forwarded the information to Kerr
County.
where they located the vehicle and under
and and ultimately took him uh uh and
arrested him. He had murdered his wife
in Georgetown. He was loaded down,
headed to Mexico.
Here's a good one.
This is a nice one.
A deputy assisted Bernie PD in locating
an elderly woman. She was at the bowling
alley with dementia.
made the wrong turn, not supposed to be
driving at night.
She gets turned around and according to
her husband,
so the deputy used the flock system was
able to start tracking her. Yes,
tracking her, not surveilling her.
There's a big difference and we'll talk
about that. Surveillance is constant, a
constant flow of where that person is.
We don't know where that person went
between the different camera locations.
Ultimately, the story ends nicely. She's
found in Ualdi
where her husband went down and picked
her up.
This last weekend,
my deputies are out routine patrol. A
car goes by at 90 miles an hour,
makes a routine traffic stop for
speeding.
Turns out there's three people in the
car.
The end result is
they all go to jail for possession of
marijuana.
A little bit of marijuana. That's one
thing about Kendall County. You may not
agree with that either. Not off topic.
In San Antonio, they probably wouldn't
have messed with it.
These guys went to jail. They're from
Houston. What are they doing here at
night? Driving fast.
Nothing out of the ordinary. However, in
speaking with the deputy that made stop,
these guys are young guys.
They had no concern, respect, or any
what am I trying to say here?
Reaction
to Hodong Kendall County Sheriff's
Office. These guys were professional
crooks.
There's just no walk in the park for
these guys. No big deal. They go to
jail. Good job, guys.
We get an email the next morning from
Flugerville.
Hey, I see that um
this vehicle with this license plate was
on the back of a wrecker that went by an
LPR.
And we're interested in this vehicle
because it has been involved in numerous
crimes in the Austin, Flugerville,
Georgetown area.
Now,
did these three guys commit crimes? I
don't know. That's where the police work
comes in.
But Flugerville didn't have any idea.
And guess what? Flugerville was working
a catalytic converter theft.
These guys are bad. They're out of
Houston.
They're in our backyard.
We did a routine stop on him, put him in
jail.
The point to that is there's no telling
what that investigator can do with that
information from that date and time in
that camera.
This weekend,
one of my deputies goes to the
I think he went to the board. He looked
up some of the most wanted people
locally.
He uses flock system. He gets an alert.
Saturday morning, I believe it was. I
may be wrong on that. There's been
several.
They arrest this guy for a felony
warrant. That felony warrant was for an
assault on one of your peace officers
with Bernie PD right here in your
backyard.
Could we eventually catch that guy? The
answer is yes. But how long eventually?
I don't know.
But the same that he put him in the
flat camera is the day that he was
arrested.
Timely
got him off the street.
He's a bad dude
and he's here in the backyard.
And finally, this past weekend, we
recovered another stolen vehicle.
Elderly woman, believe it or not, stole
a vehicle and she's in our gym.
Vehicle recovered. Happy vehicle owner.
I don't know how long she had that
vehicle, but she hadn't had it very
long.
Those are some local stories. So, it's
not only just property crime. This
includes crime against people,
your neighbors, your friends, your
co-workers. Here,
let's get into some good stuff.
Let's talk about what everybody's
concerned about. Next slide, please.
Your Fourth Amendment rights.
Let's talk about that. Let's have an
open, honest conversation about your
Fourth Amendment rights.
What does the Fourth Amendment say about
ALPRs? Next slide, please.
As already stated by the DA and many of
you here, the Fourth Amendment protects
against unreasonable searches and
seizures.
If you've ever studied the Constitution
and know where some of this stuff comes
from, I would recommend that you look
into a thing called the genealogy of the
US Constitution. Why does that even
exist? The founding fathers were
brilliant people. I think the
Constitution is one of the most
magnificent pieces of literature ever
written. And if you ask me, my opinion,
this is Al Oxer speaking, I think it was
divinely inspired as well. Maybe not
inspired by by voices of God, but
divinely inspired with the interjections
of what God allowed these people to
think, the historic application of
everything that that document represents
and has created the greatest country on
this earth.
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans
against unreasonable searches and
seizures. I support that protection
without any hesitation or qualification.
Supporting the Fourth Amendment also
means accurately describing
what courts have held, not claiming more
than the cases actually decide. I had
this conversation with council and and
lawyers and our legal and
they assured me that it is not a fourth
amendment violation. I'm going to talk
about that here in more detail.
Slide. Next slide please.
What the Supreme Court has not decided.
The US Supreme Court has not yet decided
a case specifically holding that
ordinary fixed camera ALPR systems are
universally constitutional
nor are they unconstitutional.
They are neither.
And we're going to talk about why.
This is a good starting point
to talk about our rights and our civil
liberties.
If you take the premise of what so many
believe that taking a photo
of a governmentissued license plate on a
governmentissued road is a violation of
your Fourth Amendment right, then I'm
here to tell you I am so guilty in my
law enforcement career. I have violated
so many people's Fourth Amendment rights
that you can't even keep track of it.
There's this thing called the rolly 28.
What does that mean? Before computers in
the day where you had to rely on
dispatch,
you might have a vehicle that goes by or
see it in a parking lot or whatever the
circumstances are. I don't know, you
name it. The rolling 28 means you're
moving.
So, you're on the interstate, which I
patrolled a lot. I'm on the slow lane. A
car goes by me in the fast lane. I see a
license plate. Do I have to have any
reasonable suspicion or any probable
cause to run that license plate?
The answer is no. I've done it probably,
I don't know, thousands and thousands of
times.
Based on the premise, if you think that is a violation, then every police
officer in the country has violated
everybody's rights.
Sometimes that rolling 28 now you don't
you do rolling 28s today but it's not
via dispatch. You don't have to call it
anymore because we got the technology.
We have computers right there. We just
type in the license plate and that
information comes back to us. In the
state of Texas, all you get back is the
vehicle registration information, the
owner. And today most of the time you
get back whether they have insurance or
not. But the idea is is registration
current.
A lot of people forget and it's not
well it's forgotten because we take it
for granted.
Operating a motor vehicle on a public
roadway in the state of Texas is not a
right.
It never has been. It is a privilege.
You can't just
find a vehicle, get in a car, and drive.
You better have a driver's license. That
vehicle better be registered. All the
equipment on that vehicle better be in
working order. You better have
insurance.
Next slide, please.
legal told me to be careful about this.
I'm not an attorney. I'm not a legal
scholar, but I can read
and I can express to you what I've read
in writing.
One of the things
about the Fourth Amendment and about
ALPRs.
The developing case laws, the things
people like to site, you hear it a lot.
So much of this stuff on social media is
just
I mean, we even heard some of it here
today. A lot of it here today that's
being regurgitated from what's being
said on social media.
A lot of it is concerning concerning for
me as well.
But the developing case laws generally
distinguishes limited discrete public
road vehicles vehicle observations from
comprehensive location histories that
reveal the whole of a person's movement.
What does that mean?
Surveillance is watching you throughout
whatever duration of time from start to
finish. I know every single move you've
made.
The cases are fact dependent. Camera
density. How many cameras
retention? The time the information and
data is kept.
The duration, the network reach
aggregation, all the components put
together and how the search was used can
matter.
Multiple federal and state courts have
rejected
the Fourth Amendment challenges to
particular limited ALPR uses
while warning
that a more pervasive system could
present different constitutional
questions. Glock says they've been
challenged 40 times in court over fourth
amendment violations or rights. I found
that there are about 30. I don't know.
Let's talk. Next slide.
United States vers Yang.
The Ninth Circuit Court. This is a 2020
case affirmed denial of suppression of
evidence,
but the majority expressly did not
decide the broader Fourth Amendment
question about warrantless ALPR database
use. It concluded Yang lacked a
reasonable expectation of privacy in the
overdue rental vehicles historical
location data under the facts of that
case.
I don't know the details. Apparently, he
owed or needed to return a rental
vehicle and had looked for him through
flock systems and whatever whatever the
charges were and I don't have details so
I can't really speculate. The important
thing is the evidence was not
suppressed.
The judge, Judge B, concurring
separately,
would have reached the merits, reasoning
that the database search did not reveal
the whole of Yang's physical movements.
So you really need to define what
surveillance is.
United States versus Jackson. This is a
2025 case
out of Kansas.
After an evidentiary hearing with five
witnesses regarding the flock system,
the federal district court denied
suppression.
That data was allowed to be used in
court.
Jackson found that the specific use the
nine points on a target vehicle during 1
day 4hour search period with a 30-day
retention
was far less intrusive than the
Carpenter Jones cases
style of pervasive tracking. The court
expressly warned that aggregation and
searchability
could reach a constitutional threshold
in the future.
» Next slide, please.
>> And sheriff, we have 30 30 more items
after to get through today. I want to be
respectful of your time. Can you kind of move on to some other
key points you want to raise other than
case law so we can kind of make sure we
get the vote while all these citizens
are here on this. I'm sure they're
anxious to hear what the court members
have to say, but I'm trying to balance
this out to try to be fair to everybody
and I don't want to be disrespectful and
cut you off, but I'm trying to be make
sure we get the whole agenda done today.
So, if you can kind of start hitting
your high points, that would be
appreciated.
They're all high points, judge. These
are all points that everybody has been
brought up. The fourth amendment is a
big one.
>> I think we kind of I think we got kind
of a nutshell on fourth amendment.
>> I respect your request and I'll I'll try
to limit this and cut it down as much as
I can.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> Okay.
» I just think this needs to be aired out
honestly and openly with all the
information, not parts of the
information. But
>> from a legal perspective, I think the
Fourth Amendment's
been clear vetted pretty good on from my
perspective here for the citizens and I
see headshake in that fourth amendment.
They feel good about it.
So to sum it up, the constitutionally
depends on the actual use of the system,
how it is used, how it is set up, all
the components of it.
Uh
next slide.
Where you going now?
Okay.
These are cases that are brought up
because of very recent cases. I'm just
going to tell you these are based on
cell phone information, not LPR data. So
when somebody tries to encompass things
like the geo fencing issues and the
things about how data is retrieved
through the LPR system versus how it is
accumulated and what cell phone data
gives you, it's two totally different
things. That's what these cases are
about. People are going to try to wrap
these cases up into the since they're so
recent, they're going to wrap it up and
say now OPR is going to be f found to be
in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
And that's not going to be the case. I'm
not saying it's not ever going to, don't
get me wrong. I'm saying based on these
cases, it's not. Maybe there will be a
case in the near future. I don't know.
The fact of the matter is, uh, next
slide.
The difference between the two.
A cell phone can accurately
A cell phone can accompany a person into
home, church, doctor's office,
attorney's office, bedroom, and other
private locations. Cell phone location
data can reveal intimate patterns about
a person about the person carrying it. A
fixed LPR observation is materially
different.
It states something like at 2:17 p.m.
this publicly displayed plate and this
vehicle pass this camera at this public
roadway. That's all it does.
Different does not mean constitutional
irrelevance.
It means the factual record is different
and the courts analyze the scope and
comprehensiveness of the information
actually obtained. Next slide.
So what's relevant and what's important?
Scale matters.
Retention matters. Aggregation matters.
Next slide. Responsible
law enforcement should acknowledge that
possibly rather than uh possibly rather
uh they claim that constitutional law is
frozen in time, things could change.
» Next slide. Uh Texas tracking. Let's
talk a little bit about that. That's
important to Texas.
the tracking in Texas. A fixed LPR is
not a tracker.
People think that we're going to be able
to follow you around with these LPRs. We
cannot. It's a still shot of a location
in time of the vehicle passing that uh
field of view.
Next slide.
Again, that's all this thing does.
qualification. Uh the qualifying remains
the qualification remains that the
constitutional analysis can change
technology
scale retention and use changes. Next
slide.
Data sharing contract.
Does Flock sell customer ALPR? I've
heard it said here that they do. I don't
know if they have any proof to say that
they do, but nobody yet, no journalist
anywhere in the country has found
anywhere that fly camera law enforcement
data has been sold to anybody. If you
have proof of that, please show me. I
would like to see it. If you know
somebody that that's happened to, please
let me know. Now, if you get it off the
internet, I would be very careful about
what you find on the internet.
block currently their policy states that
their that customer LPR data is owned by
the customer. We are the customer and
that Flock will not sell, publish,
exchange or disclose customer LPR data
for commercial purposes.
That's contractual.
How many contracts do you sign in faith
believing that the other person is going
to do what they do?
Next slide.
While we're here talking about selling,
another big thing is about hacking. A
12-year-old can hack into these things.
And you're right,
not the not the ALPRs.
But the video cameras that they supply
have been hacked. So have others.
You've seen it on YouTube. The guy gets
on say, "See how easy it is to hack this
camera up there? That flop camera. I get
on my tablet here. I get on my phone. I
put in whatever information he does. I'm
not a tech person. I don't know." And he
watches himself cross the intersection.
Yes, he has compromised that system.
But the ALPR system has not been hacked.
It has not been compromised. How do I
know that?
Because it's integrated with the state
system. TCIC, NCIC, that's where all
stolen vehicles are entered for national
data and Texas data. Stolen vehicles,
missing persons, the the Amber Alerts,
all that stuff is in that system.
If the flock system is hacked through
the ALPR system, that whole system goes
down.
It has never been compromised.
If you know that it has, I don't know
how you know that, but it has not been
compromised.
Even in that system, it is not a perfect
world.
I can tell you I have put people in jail
that probably didn't deserve to go to
jail.
because it was misidentifiers.
People make mistakes. There are houses
that have been broken in not broken into
but uh law enforcement has breached uh
front doors at the wrong address.
We are all human here.
We make mistakes.
But I can tell you the system has not
been hacked. The video cameras, yes,
but they're not part of the ALPR
system. That technology is out there.
I'm telling you guys, yes, I'm scared of
AI. I'm scared of where this country is
going and the possibilities of bad
people getting good technology.
The system has not been hacked. Nobody
has been able to prove so.
Next slide.
It's absolutely important that we are
able to share this information with our
neighbors. We are going to be given
control. And I'm going to get out out of out of sequence here um
to try to um move these things on, but
there are a lot of relevant points here.
A written policy. Next slide please.
But a written policy is not enough of
actual platforms and setting uh settings
different from it. The public the public
confidence should rest on policy that is
established. Um actual sharing
configuration and auditing logs.
Our public page says says access is
restricted, excuse me, is restricted to
automated personnel for legitimate law
enforcement purposes and all searches
are logged and subject to audit. Our
policy is not finite yet. The reason
it's not finite and it will be finite is
because Flock also just came out with
some new safeguards that we haven't been
able to implement. One of the problems
with the system that we have here, one
of the reasons you got your discount
today is because Flock was not able to
put in all the cameras as as as the
contract stated. So, they gave us a
little discount.
One of the concerns about the
surveillance thing
is about where bad people go.
How do they come into this county? And
when they're here, where do they go? We
have strategically located the camera
system to some uh identification. You
can't go anywhere in this county without
being flocked.
There's a reason why the cameras are in
those certain locations. 662 square
miles of Kendall County. 54
ALPRs. We've got
>> 57. Well, two of those are are are not
ALPRs. Uh they're on this courthouse.
Um
where was I going with that? The the the
662 square miles and 54
ALPRs.
Are you going to tell me that I can tell
you every single move you made with 54
cameras and 662 square miles?
Impossible.
I will know if you go through this
camera and I will know if you go through
this camera.
And I will never know that you go
through those cameras if I have no
reason to find out your vehicle was
involved in anything or look for your
vehicle. I will never know that. I don't
care where you go. I don't care. Why
would I care if you go to Walmart?
Your doctor,
that's not a concern for me. I'm not
looking for that information. You are
good people. I hope you think that I'm a
good sheriff.
I'm looking for those people, the small
percentage of all those people that are
on that system that have done bad deeds
in this community. Those are the people
I'm after. I'm not after you. I don't
care where you go, where you've been.
Next slide, please.
Misuse and error been brought it many
times. Let me just sum this up real
quick.
We're human
and we're going to screw up. I tell my
people this. I expect you to screw up.
You're going to have to make some
serious decisions and they're not always
going to be the right decision.
You're going to screw up and you're
going to face the consequences of that
action or that decision. The difference
is if that screw up is done with malice,
that changes everything.
If it's an honest mistake, it's an
honest mistake. Let's learn from it.
Let's grow from it. Let's move on. If
you do something intentional, we got a
problem. That's the way this system
should be handled. It's going to be
misused. You want to bring out all the
bad people abroad. Police chiefs, yes.
Sheriffs, yes.
There have to be consequences. There
have to be policies in place. There have
to be rules and regulations of how the
system is used
to keep those things from being misused.
I remember seeing months ago, long
before this rose to the level that is
risen to. You heard the example this
morning, the Denver lady. The Denver
lady falsely accused of stealing a
package.
I saw that interview on the body cam or
her ring cam.
That was bad police work, people. I'm
sorry. That was bad police work.
Long before this this came to the level
that it is today with all the concerns
about the misuses and things. Bear
County deputy uses a flock system and he catches a guy catches a guy. He profiles a guy, I suppose, and uh
stops him on the side of the road and
yeah, this guy's in the oil and gas
business.
Got a child seat in his car in his
truck. goes back and forth to South
Texas regularly, several times a week.
What's in South Texas?
» Yeah, oil and gas. What else is in South
Texas? Drugs and money. Bad things. So,
this guy does an interview and takes his
guy and empties his truck out on the
side of the road. I listened to that
interview. That was bad policing.
We have them. We're just like you and
we're not perfect.
We put on our pants and our shoes and
our shirts, get up in the morning, we
deal with everything that you deal with
on a daily basis. We're only human. So,
yes, there is misuse and errors can
happen. I put people in jail to for for not paying a speeding ticket. I
can't tell you how many times I did
this.
Oh, I thought my attorney took care of
that.
Maybe you need to do your own homework
and make sure your attorney did take
care of that.
Mistakes do happen. Let's talk about
police and and since it's so emphasized
right now about about cops, I'm going to
defend law enforcement for just a little
bit here because it's relevant and it's
important.
We trust so many people with so many
things in our daily lives.
We trust teachers to teach our kids. We
trust the doctors to treat us to the
best of their ability and give us their
best give us the best prognosis and
treatment.
We trust law enforcement to go out and
do the right things.
We trust clergy.
How many stories, negative stories have
you heard about all of these professions
of people that we put trust in? Let me
tell you, here in Kendall County,
if you don't know, we've had attorneys,
lawyers,
doctors, and yes, teachers in this jail.
And yes, police officers in this jail.
People need to suffer the consequences
when they misuse and abuse the authority
that's been given them.
Next slide, please.
We can talk about all the different
audits that have been done throughout
the country. The bad is people misuse
it. The good is the auditing systems are
catching these people. Now,
this you can find all the stories on the
internet about that. Savannah, Georgia
is one example. Um, next slide, please.
Next slide.
So misconduct understand is not a
technology problem. It is a human
problem.
Next slide.
The Denver case mentioned earlier about
the package. That is bad policing.
That's human error. Bad training on that
guy.
Next slide please.
Part of the whole system needs to be
verification.
Has to be part of the policy. What is
verification? Verification is you get a
hit,
you don't act on a flock hit because it
could be wrong.
Had one of my guys, and I don't know if
you're doing it, one of my guys last
night told me that he put his license
plate in this have you been flocked
website thing, which I be careful if you
do that. I don't know you can trust it.
People can come up with all kinds of
things, but he is wanted in Florida. His
license plate is he's afraid to go to to
Florida because he that license plate's
going to come up when it goes through a
flock and he's going to get stopped.
Well, you know what?
There's a lot that goes into just
stopping somebody based on a flock hit.
There's a lot more that needs to go into
that. Good policing takes it steps
further and deeper.
to find out the reality. Verify
everything that you know without even
talking to the person or stopping them.
You verify everything first through
dispatch or your computer. Is it that
vehicle? Is that the vehicle that
matches that that hit?
Is it the right state? All these things.
That's good police work.
Next slide, please.
Next slide.
» What slide number you on?
>> I'm sorry.
>> 51.
>> Okay, thank you. Let's take it down to
52.
Let's talk about Texas. What's going on
here?
Texas DPS Department of Public Safety
has installed ALPRs on state highway,
state rideways, and describes their uses
involving suspects, missing people,
stolen property, suspicious vehicles,
and investigative timelines.
The Texas Tribune reported on August 3rd
of this month described that DPS flock
contract
of up to approximately $26 million
and statewide data sharing agreement
with 206 county and local law
enforcement agencies.
DPS has made an investment in this
system.
Now, are they the golden child? Are they
the be all end all? No.
But if they lead by example, it might be
that what they are doing might be the
right thing and it might be the right
tool.
Point is this is not going away.
It's not going away.
So
let's harness it and use it the way it
should be used.
allow us to have that tool.
The system should not be abused.
Policies and procedures need to be in
place.
Users held accountable.
Limited access. All these things need to
be in place. Not anybody and everybody
has access to it.
All those things need to be determined.
It needs to be transparent to you.
I'm not hiding anything from you.
I may not be able to give you specifics
about certain cases,
but I work for you.
We have to have teeth and safeguards
have to be consequences.
Slide
60. As I as I mentioned earlier, if you
want to go to slide 60, please.
Um, and we're almost through,
but I have a I have a good thing here.
Flock has announced some safeguards.
They just came out within the last
couple of weeks. We haven't had a chance
to to really implicate all that stuff or
implement all that stuff, excuse me. Um,
but our policy is going to be updated
and I can I can I can uh guarantee you
that it will be open for you to see our
policy if you want to and it will be
restricted
on how the system is used.
Slide 61, please. Here
we go.
This is all over the internet.
One of our founding fathers
that helped put together that document
we call the Constitution of the United
States.
Next slide, please.
It's famous warning.
Benjamin Franklin's warning is
frequently quoted in discussions about
flock cameras.
Those
who would give up essential liberty
to purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty or safety.
Powerful.
Let's put it in context.
When did he write that? Why did he write
it?
Next slide.
It's a powerful statement, but its
historical context matters. Franklin was
not writing about surveillance or
warning that every public safety measure
represents a surrender of freedom.
The quotation appeared in 1755 as
mentioned earlier accurately
response from Pennsylvania's elected
assembly of which Ben Franklin was a
member.
During the French and Indian War,
frontier communities were being attacked
and the assembly needed money for
defense.
It proposed a property tax that would
apply throughout the colony, including
to the enormous estates owned by the
Penn family, who didn't even live there.
They were in England.
The Penn family controlled the colony's
governor
and instructed him to not approve any
bill that taxed their property.
The governor therefore rejected the
assembly's defense bills unless the pen
estates were exempted.
The elected representatives were being
pressured to surrender part of their
governing authority in order to obtain
immediate defense funding.
That governing authority was the
essential liberty
Franklin was defending. The little
temporary safety was the immediate
protection the colony could obtain by
allowing a wealthy and politically
powerful family to escape the same tax
everyone else would pay.
The Penn family. Next slide, please.
The Penn family's
5,000B
contribution came shortly afterward.
Franklin's statement was issued on
November 11th, 1755, and the
contribution was announced on November
24th. The eventual law exempted the Penn
estates from taxation and consideration
of that contribution.
In practical terms, depends if paid once
while preserving their claim that the
elected assembly could not tax them in
the future.
Next slide. How does this apply to flot
cameras?
It does not automatically settle the
argument for either side.
Franklin's principle requires us to
identify the essential liberty allegedly
being surrendered, explain how it's
being surrendered, and determine whether
the public is permanently losing control
over its government.
Next slide.
Legitimate questions about flock should
be answered clearly.
Who may use the system? What constitutes
a lawful enforcement purpose? How long
is the information retained? How is
information shared? Are searches
recorded and audited?
What happens when someone misuses the
system?
There are serious questions and they
deserve factual answers.
An unlimited
secret or unaccountable surveillance
system could threaten liberty.
It would threaten liberty.
But a system approved by elected
officials, governed by written policy,
restricted to legitimate law enforcement
purposes, supplied by recorded searches
and regular audits, and subject to
discipline and public oversight is a
very different matter.
Franklin opposed the surrender of
representative government.
two powerful unaccountable interests,
the Penn family.
He did not declare that reading a
governmentissued license plate displayed
on a public roadway under under
accountable rules is inherently tyranny.
His quotation should remind us
to govern carefully.
It should not be used as a substitute
for examining the actual technology, the
actual policy, the actual safeguards and
the actual constitutional questions.
I know I've taken a lot of your time.
It was apparent before me sitting here
before you allowing me to explain the
processes, the differences, the
constitutionality.
I would ask you to respectfully think
about your decision.
Let's go back to the beginning.
Is it lawful?
Does it serve a legitimate public
safety?
>> I'm having to put your slide one back up
for you.
>> No, it's slide three.
>> Slide three. Sorry.
>> I just need you just need to Thank you
though for slide. The questions you need
to answer.
Is it lawful?
Does it serve a legitimate public safety
purpose?
What does it collect?
What safeguards govern it?
And what happens when somebody abuses
it?
And to your comment earlier, judge, with
all due respect, many communities are
doing away with this.
I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell
you I wanted to come here full of pride
and not in any of this in you.
because of the community that I get to
serve,
we can have honest
dialogue.
I wanted to come to you today so proud
of this community to say
that nobody has destroyed any of the
cameras
until the other day.
Now, that's a crime.
I was so proud of y'all,
this community, to know that our
neighbors in Bandere, they weren't up
very long and they're dead laying down
on the ground
because they want to take it all into
their own hands and do it their way.
Let's do this the right way.
Okay, this is that hearing that some
people asked for earlier.
I got to speak most of my mind. I missed
out on some.
These are all relative important facts,
things that you need to know.
This is nothing that my office are going
to use against anybody. It's going to be
a tool used to hopefully hopefully you
will never need it to be used for you.
In all respect to the gentleman that sat
here earlier and said, "This is a safe
town.
It is
when you compare it to other towns our
size in rel relation to San Antonio.
I've always been amazed that we don't
have a higher crime rate and more
serious crimes than we do in this
county, in this community.
A lot of it is because of you.
But there was a day that I would go on
vacation. I would leave my house
unlocked. I would leave my car open and
unlocked. You better not do that in this
community anymore.
It's changed
and it's going to continue to change.
All I'm asking is to be allowed to use
this tool, not against you, not to watch
every move that you make, to allow me to
use it as a good, viable police tool to
help expediate
police work and investigations.
We can talk all day about the bad, but
we can also talk all day about the good.
There are so many good stories
throughout this country. We can talk
data. We can talk statistics.
I'm going to ask the court that you be
open and think about this.
I'll be honest with you. It seemed that
you know you came here with some
predetermined ideas about what you
thought.
I know you've been under a lot of
pressure, a lot of phone calls, a lot of
emails,
but I would just ask that you approve
this contract
and allow us to continue. And here's
what I will tell you.
We told you this the first year. The
first year was allow us to do this
and give us a year's time to accumulate
data
to show you the value of what this might
be worth. We haven't been given that
opportunity to nobody's fault.
We can't help text dot not giving us the
permits.
We strategically located 54 cameras
throughout the county so that we would
be able to cover any and all ingress and
egress to the county.
Anybody coming in that does a dirty
deed,
we know that where they came in and we
might know where they go out.
That's all I'm asking for. I'm not going
to put any more cameras up. I don't I
don't need any more cameras. As a matter
of fact, if you give me this year, we
may reduce the cameras next year based
on some of those locations where maybe
they they don't they don't um they
haven't shown to be um useful.
And I I would I would I would grant
that. Um but I'm not asking to expand
it. I'm telling you, this is not going
to go away. If we don't if you don't
give it to us, then we're going to be
without it. Our neighbors are going to
have it. It's not leaving. Well, I can't
speak for them. I'm not going to say.
But Bernett, Bandaraa,
Guadalupe, are at least three counties
that I know that have done away with the
contract. Not because they didn't
believe in it and it didn't work, but
because people use shotguns and saws and
vehicles to knock those things over.
So I would ask the opportunity to be
able to continue this this system at
least for another year so that we can
show if anybody complains about
me watching you go to Walmart or
whatever then you know if you can prove
that then your every move but this is
not a surveillance in in the typical
terms of a surveillance system. It's a
point by point by point. I don't know
where you've been before
or after any one of those points. And
remember, according to the contract,
that is our data.
Why is it third party
controlling or holding our data?
Surprise.
There are a lot of private entities that
hold law enforcement data. It's not just
flock.
Same thing. Who has that data? Where
does it go? As mentioned by many people,
that right there.
Whether you turn the location off or not
doesn't matter. It can still be found as
long as the phone's on. I've heard
people say, "Well, I can leave it at
home. I don't need to show hands, but I
don't know how many people left their
phone home today because they didn't
anybody know you were here at the
courthouse." That probably didn't
happen. I can tell you personally,
myself, for everybody, our culture, our
lifestyle is this is a lifeline to
everything. It's unfortunate, but it is.
I've gotten near my office in the
morning too, I shouldn't say too many
times, but more times than I want to say
that I had to turn around and go back
and get this thing because I can't be
without it.
There's more information when you walk
into any any place that that where
that's technology exists. There's more
people, more entities, more uh
businesses that have information about
you than I will have about you, your
license plate, and the description of
your vehicle.
And I know the the problem is the
government has it. I get that. After
everything that we've been through with
CO and everything else,
I'm as pissed off as you are.
about what's happened to this country.
I would ask each and every one of you to
really reconsider. Give me the
opportunity. If I can't change your
mind, I can't change your mind. We can
still be friends. You can see I'm
passionate about this because I think
it's a very viable tool. If you take it
away from us, we may never have it
again.
Okay.
>> Another misconception just to clarify
everything. It is not tax dollars that's
paying for this.
>> Announcement
>> the grant is not tax dollars. You need
to know that.
>> Yes. The contribution from the county is
tax dollars. The motor vehicle uh uh
theft uh whatever it is.
» Every time you pay for your auto
insurance policy, it goes to this fund.
Yes.
>> Okay. It's a
>> Okay.
All right.
>> Think so.
>> So, thank you. I appreciate everything
you've said. We're going to we're going
to finish this item and take it to a
vote. I know there's a couple
commissioners left to speak and then
we're going to take the vote. I
appreciate everything you've done. I'm
going to we've heard a lot today, so I'm
going to read the agenda item one last
time so everyone knows exactly what the
issue is before us.
Consider and possible action on an
agreement with Flock Safety Group, Inc.
to continue to participate in the flock
safety platform and for necessary flock
safety professional services and
installation fees beginning October 1st,
2026 and ending on September 30th, 2027
for a no cost for a cost note not to
exceed $198,550
of which 80% will be paid by a grant
awarded through the Motor Vehicle Crime
Prevention Authority subject to review
and approval by general counsel and
authorize the county judge to execute
necessary documents.
So I just want to propose this to my
colleagues. I know
I don't think we need to engage in a
philosophical debate on surveillance
technology and the constitution of ALPRs
today. We're looking at ALPR techn.
We're not looking at ALPR technology in
general. The issue today is the
credibility and trustworthiness of
Flock. Flock is the vendor providing the
service to us today. So that is the only
issue to force. So if you believe in
flock that's your first question you
need to answer. So if you answer yes you
want to continue at flock then your
second question was you answer is you
get into that constitutionality debate
of whether ALPRs are good for this
community. So I think the first question
is do you want to continue with flock?
That is the first and only question I
believe that is before us on the agenda.
So, if that simplifies your your thought
process, I'm just throwing that out
there. That's my opinion of what this
agenda item is. So, I'm going to open it
up to the last three commissioners to
give their thoughts and then we're going
to take this to a vote. So, Commissioner
McCall, you're up.
>> When I voted in favor of the MVCPA
grant and flock contract, I did so
because we were told the primary purpose
was to enhance public safety. Protecting
the people who live, work, and visit
Kendall County is one of the most
important responsibilities we have, and
I remain committed to providing our law
enforcement officers with tools that
help keep our community safe. However,
over the past year, and particularly
over the last four months, additional
information regarding Flock's
operations, data access, data sharing
practices has continued to emerge. As
elected officials, we have a
responsibility to ensure that any system
implemented countywide adheres to clear
standards for privacy, transparency,
accountability, and local control. Based
on the review of the current contract, I
do not believe it provides sufficient
assurance that data collected through
the system will be adequately protected
from access by outside entities. I
continue to have concerns regarding who
may obtain access to the information,
what restrictions exist on the
collection, sharing, and retention of
that data, and whether the other
entities have direct or indirect access
to the information gathered within
Kendall County. These questions are
fundamental to maintaining public trust.
While I support the efforts of enhanced
public safety, I also believe we must
ensure that appropriate safeguards are
in place to protect the privacy and
rights of those traveling through our
county. At this time, I am not convinced
that the necessary assurances and
protections exist. For these reasons and
others that have arisen during my course
of the course of my review, I cannot
continue supporting
I'm sorry. I cannot continue I cannot
support continuing the agreement with
Flock. Also, if the county does not um
continue this contract, what is the
process for terminating the contract and
what obligations would remain after the
termination?
And that's the general counsel question.
>> Yes. Upon termination of the contract,
it does require a 30-day notice period,
and it would be up to Flock to determine
how to best u address removal of the
hardware from our rightway.
It might take some time for them to be
removed, but they would be
nonoperational.
Okay.
>> All right, Commissioner Chapman. All
right. First of all, I'd like to
apologize to anybody that I didn't give
a return email to that emailed me. There
was a bunch and I tried to answer as
many as I could. Uh, but I didn't get
back to everybody and I apologize. So,
we've talked about LPRs, license plate
readers, and that's what uh I remember
us talking about before. This has been
about license plate readers when we
first brought this program to mind here.
I didn't really object to being my
license plate being read. I really don't
care. I objected to the numbers that
were going out there. And I don't think
we would be sitting here today had we
stuck with a smaller number and put them
in strategic locations. Two of my own
constituents came to me and said, "I do
not want this camera, but at my gate,
folk filming me every time I go in and
out of my gate." I agreed. And I mean,
in one case, I know the camera was
moved. In the other case, this was
yesterday. I don't know that the camera
was moved. I do know that the person
installing it was asked to stop and he
did. Whether or not he came back and
installed it later, I don't know. That's
a problem that could have been solved
and eliminated a lot of the people
coming in there. But what I haven't
heard about and what I don't remember
voting on
was the video cameras. We have five
video cameras.
What are they filming
and where's that information going?
Now, true enough, the rest of them are
license plate readers. There are some uh
52 or something license plate readers.
Some of them are for the interstate, so
they're high-speed, higher resolution,
and I get that the need for those. Uh
and I I really don't have an objection
to those. Uh but whenever I found out
that we also have five video cameras out
there, I did question and I haven't got
the answer on that yet. In reading the
flock and in reading the grant
application, there are other things that
can be done with this money. Have we
investigated
what other things that we can do with
this money besides just buying fog
cameras? And so
I mean I understand
there is good that has come out of this
and I understand there's bad that has
happened and one bad apple doesn't make
the whole barrel bad. But it sure gives
a sour taste in people's mouths with
evidence of being here today. I asked
the question who has access in Kendall
County? The answer was, "Well, all of
the law enforcement."
My response was, "That's not the correct
answer that I wanted to hear." I would
have expected a very select few that
always would be around, somebody to be
around to have access to those cameras.
Uh,
our job here today is to weigh whether
the good outweighs the bad or the bad
outweighs the good. And that vote will
come shortly.
>> Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. Wrap us up.
>> Okay.
>> You know, um, my job as an elected
commissioner was to represent my
constituents and this topic is
overwhelming.
No, they do not want this. And I know
this is not popular with law enforcement
or the criminal district attorney's
office. I know there are crimes that are
being committed where they can actually
trace someone from where the crime
occurred to the direction of where they
live. I I get that. Um imagine being in
Washington DC on January 6th and you
wind up in jail for the for three years
because you were at the wrong place at
the wrong time. just because your cell
phone, they could ping your cell phone
and do a reverse search and find out
what your name was. This whole deal
really freaks me out. And I'm a hardcore
constitutional person. In October, I
supported the idea. Then I realized
about probably a week later that wasn't
the right decision. In April, just a few
months ago, we had an opportunity to
kill this completely and I voted against
it. And while I completely trust our
sheriff, and I do I trust you, I don't
trust everyone. And so that's where I
stand.
>> All right. With that,
>> please call the vote.
>> Do we have a motion?
>> We go.
>> Judge, if I may.
>> Oh, very briefly.
>> Yes, absolutely. So, um, a lot of the
questions and concerns again, I think I
was hit back here in April as well over
um over unanswered
questions. I would love to have the
opportunity to answer those questions
and really go over the safeguards and
practices that are built into the system
that we necessarily didn't get to hear
today. Um there is an ongoing debate, we
did see it here today, where there's
misinformation leading to disinformation
on the the functionality and utilization
of the system, also the governance and
policy which should be implemented
behind um that system. uh you you made
the the the comment earlier um of
communities uh deciding to uh leave
Flock and there's actually a 7 to1 ratio
of communities continuing their contract
and expanding their contract. Now, I'm
not going to make a headline um in the
same manner as if if a community decides
to, you know, cancel their contract. But
I think what the crux of what you guys
are really getting at and what I feel
like I haven't had the opportunity to uh
officially brief you on is the
governance, the oversight, the
accountability that is built into the
system to be layered onto how Kendall
County specifically um utilizes this
technology today. Um just this morning
um all of the major law enforcement
agencies are talking to the House of
Representatives over regulation. ALPR is
not a new function. It has been regul
regulated in several states, Washington,
California, Virginia. Um the reason it
has gotten such national attention um
one is because a flock cameras, flock
ALPRs are the most transparent tool um
to date. Uh and because of those
safeguards that we have in place. Um
again, there's no Texas state law, but
again, that that is that is coming on
what regulation um looks like and we are
working with those legislators to figure
out how Texas will operate different
than Arizona, you know, and other
states. And so again, didn't really get
to speak much today, but I would value
the opportunity to again address the
unans unanswered questions that you guys
do have that way a reflective model
policy specific to Kendall County,
whether it's access um clarifying the
data retention, where the data goes.
Again, those are unanswered questions
that I have noticed that come here today
that I would like the ability to be able
to address head-on clear um with clear
answers. Um and so I just wanted to
state that uh before we wrap up here
today.
>> Does anyone have any questions?
>> Yeah. Who would you stay?
>> Sorry.
>> So, I am My name is Ian Leslie. I am the
public affairs manager for the state of
Texas.
>> And he's not going to be able to address
your individual questions. It's more for
the court. So, does anyone from the
court have any questions that they want
answered?
All right. If not, uh, may I have a
motion at this time on this issue? Would
I entertain a motion as this as to
agenda item 14?
Uh,
>> judge, I'll make a stab at it. Uh judge, I'd like to make a motion
to
not renew the agreement with Flock
Safety Group and to stop participation
in the flock safety platform and for
necessary flock safety professional
services and installation fees beginning
on October 1, 2026 and ending September
30th.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Chapman. Is
there a second? Second.
>> Second by Commissioner McCall. Any
further discussion?
>> Yes.
>> Commissioner Carpenter, you're up.
>> To follow up on Commissioner Chapman's
um comments,
what else could this fund be used for?
>> Yes, sir.
>> I don't we've never even ex we never
explored that idea on, you know, I'm not
talking about license plate readers.
Please don't don't take that. But if we
do have the grant, we did get it. We
were accepted for the grant. I would
like to see where else we can
do something for law enforcement. I
don't know if there's another way.
>> Commissioner, the grant application was
specific to the flock system. I don't
think that we we're way past the
deadline on the application itself. So,
I don't think that's possible for this
upcoming fiscal year.
>> Okay.
>> We could potentially use the money for
the match. That wouldn't be a whole lot
of money, but that would be some money.
>> The grant the the money that we had set
aside for the match. Yeah,
>> I suppose you could have that available.
I don't know what you put in the budget
for 27.
>> Could he repeat the motion because I
wasn't clear I heard.
>> Could you please repeat your motion one
last time?
>> Motion is to
not renew the agreement with Flock
Safety Group.
>> Gotcha.
>> Okay,
you're up finally.
>> Commissioner Mal
>> I.
>> Commissioner Ween
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Hi. Dari
>> I motion carries five to zero and before
I let you go we're going to I believe
agenda item 15 is now no action correct
okay with that we're going to adjourn
till 1:15 for a lunch recess and then
we'll pick up with our public com
>> I have some place to be on the other
side of out of this county
>> session
» okay would y'all mind I'm gonna reopen
for public comments. There's three
people that have to go out of courtesy.
You've waited patiently, so I'm going to
let you have your public comments and
then we'll recess.
>> So, would you mind coming up? So, we're
still in session.
» Thank you for letting me know.
>> Yes, please. Thank you.
>> Wana McCarthy, precinct 2, former member
of the Proposition A committee,
appointed by this court. I along with
five other members, half of the
committee resigned two days after this
court's actions to raid the remainder of
Prop A funds with a focus of handing
those funds to a developer.
There was an emotionally whipped up
frenzy of precinct 4 constituents being
told pieces and parts of the story in
order to have their support in
undermining and sabotaging the Prop A
committee and wiping out their funds for
land conservation.
It sounded very similar today. Lenar
Holmes was mentioned repeatedly in the
discussion at the court. Best project
were mentioned. Two years of floods were
elaborated upon with the perceived dire
and urgent need for safety and flood
mitigation.
Facts are that Lenar was never part of
this piece of property as they are not
so ignorant to pay premium dollar for
subpar land substantially undevelopable
being in the flood plane and further
stripped of the water rights. Bass
projects were not close either. These
are emotionally charged buttons used by
members of this court to gain their
support. And although safety and flood
mitigation are admirable endeavors for
this board, Prop A funds were never
meant for this purpose. as I quote from
the Prop A language, for the acquiring
of open space and conservation land and
acquiring conservation easements on land
for any authorized purpose, including to
ensure its availability for recreation
or open space or to protect wildlife
habitat and water quality of creeks,
rivers, and springs.
Not once is safety and flood mitigation
used in that bond language, but with
enough legal ease, word smithing, and
whitewashing between this court and the
court attorney, you are evidently
creating the narrative to make you feel
comfortable to slip this past the
general public.
the prop A committee and you on this
court are in full knowledge of the
damage that you could potentially cause
to future generations and the face of
this county by snatching up the
remainder of dollars in Prop A which
will ultimately be used to supplement
development
instead of conserving land. I cannot say
and you are relying on the fact that I
can't say there is an other side of the
story that the public doesn't know and
is strictly conf confidential but you
know
>> can you succinctly wrap up please
>> I have just I assumed that we were
having three minutes I didn't know I was
going to be limited would you allow me
that
>> any objection for this general okay
we'll give you three you're finished for
three minutes
>> your actions with using Prop A funds to
fund alleged safety and flood mitigation
and oh a baseball diamond for Chad's
precinct is at best duplicitous
deceptive and the to the Prop A
committee ultimately to the citizens
extremely disrespectful. The possibility
of disaster for the entire southern half
of the county with your actions the ne
negative impact on tens of thousands of
citizens and potentially potentially
millions of people's water. Well, it
better be worth that baseball diamond. I
have spent hundreds, if not thousands of
hours in all of your behalf to help you
in supporting this county because I
believed in your servants's heart. These
are not actions of a servant's heart.
But you have one more opportunity to
correct this terrible decision before
it's finalized.
Do not follow through with the purchase
of the proposed land in executive
session with Prop A dollars. Do not tie
your three names to the worst action by
commissioner's court to ever affect this
county. Thank you.
>> Thank you, ma'am. Is
» Blake Roland, do you still want to
speak? Brody.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah, no worries. Thank you.
>> All right.
>> Hey, sorry I missed the uh the meeting
this morning where everybody was kind of
uh venting about their feelings. Uh Mr.
Chapman, thanks again. Um, I'm one of
those citizens that had the flock camera
right in front of their front gate. Um,
so I went to Mr. Chapman the other day
and uh and I kind of called the sheriff
too and I was like, "Look, like if I
just lay this camera down, like it's got
an easy disconnect. I'm not going to
break it. I'm going to lay it down. I
just don't want it scanning me every
time I go inside of my my driveway. Uh,
would you arrest me?" And they said,
"Yeah." I'm like, "What at what lengths
are we willing to go to protect our
citizens? We're going to throw people in
jail for not want to be scanned every
time they go into their driveway. Um, we
can move these things. I think there's a
solution to be found. Maybe not with
Flock, maybe not with a privatized
company, but I just want to say we
believe in y'all and uh think we can
come to a good solution that maybe
serves the public, but also doesn't kind
of get in the way of our privacy. So,
thanks for today and uh yeah, appreciate
you.
>> Great. Thank you for your comments.
>> Alice Hansler, are you still here?
All right. And last but not least,
Heather Vessie.
All right. Okay. So, now we're going to
recess till 1:15 for lunch. And with
that, we're in recess.
» Good afternoon, everyone. It's 1:15.
We're back on our regularly scheduled
agenda. Starting with agenda item 17,
consideration of possible action on the
investment report third quarter FY26 for
May and June. What do you got for us,
Cheryl?
>> Oh, good afternoon everyone.
Um, I just just real quick, I just
wanted to uh go over the investment uh
report um a little bit for you. Uh we
are holding consistent with interest
rates um in our logic, our our main
investment. We're consistently earning
over 400,000 every quarter in that fund.
However, you'll notice that our interest
in frost is is going down pretty
quickly. Um, so we're hoping that um our
new investment Texas range that that
y'all approved last quart is going to
make up for some of the losses that
we're getting elsewhere in interest
rates. We did have a C have it had a CD
that just matured that we're going to be
moving over to the new investment and
we're going to be hopefully opening that
up and getting 4.27 27% interest on that
and that will really be a nice change as
to the 10 basis points in frost. So,
just I just wanted to bring that to your
attention.
>> And then I just have the investment
report for y'all to sign, please.
by second.
» Commissioner McConnell.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Region.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner.
>> I motion carries 5 to Z. Next, uh,
consideration possible action on a
payment of crude comp time at fiscal
year end. Hey,
>> good morning or good afternoon. Good
afternoon. You creature of habit.
Um
in FY25
uh the court decided to pay uh for the
first time really uh in a long time the
font time out that was in the banks and
I had requested this last fiscal year
and one of the reasons is that no matter
the amount at 9:30 any increases happen
October 1st um and then it's a bigger
liability on the books for the county
because you then owe more money out. And
so I've been watching the comp time uh
the last probably two months. And
currently we have 29 departments that
have employees, a total of 143 employees
with comp time on the books. I did call
every department about 3 weeks ago that
hit anybody over about 50 hours and just
said, "Hey, you know, I I can't tell you
uh to ask people to take off, but I just
want you to realize here are some people
who've earned a lot of time this year.
I'm not sure if it's situational or if
something happened. It's none of my
business, but I was going to be bringing
this to commissioner's court to request
to you for this fiscal year to pay that
out at uh fiscal year end. Right now
it's about it's $74,818
as of today. I happen to know some of
these hours that go off is payroll right
now that the human resource department
is working on payroll for this week. I
don't know how many people earn comp,
but um I just think it's a good idea if
the county has the funds to pay it out
at 9:30. Therefore, we're not carrying
those over and if there's increases in
any salaries, that money increases based
on those new salaries. This way, it's
paid out um in the fiscal year that
they've earned it. Also as as comp time
acrru up to 80 hours it can put a burden
on some of the smaller department
departments um once it acrus to 80 and
uh the hours in the bank then uh we're
automatically paying those out because
the current policy says you can only
acrew up to 80. And also if people
already get um you know their vacation
time and if it if it sits if it rolls
over and rolls over then people are
entitled to take that time off because
they have worked it. So, I'm just here
to ask you, I did budget funds in the
current year FY26 budget in a
contingency in the non-EP departmental
contingency for this purpose if it's
something that the court wanted to
entertain.
So, I'm here just to ask if that is
something y'all would like to do. I have
talked to HR and was assured
and Trisha that this that they could pay
this out the last commission the last
payroll of September if it is approved.
>> Okay. I entertain a motion as agenda 18.
>> Judge, I'd like to make a motion to
allow the uh auditor to pay out the
acred comp time at the
last uh of sep as of last of September.
>> It would be it would be on the last
payroll of September.
>> In the last payroll of September.
>> Mush made by Commissioner Chapman.
Second. Second. Commissioner Carpenter.
Any further discussion? There being
none, Teresa, please call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Ween,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chap,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Judge.
>> I. Motion carries five to zero.
>> Thank you.
Next. Uh, request for
commissioner report to review and
approve the proposed 2027 Kenno County
Sheriff's constable fees as recommended
by Sheriff El. Oxier, Consible Todd
Setliff, Conipible Paul Mill, Conipible
Jean Serene, Conipible Brian B, District
Clerk Susan Jackson, and County Clerk
Denise Maxwell. Um, so
>> good morning, gentlemen.
>> Annual review judge commissioners do an
annual review every year because we have
to look at where we want to go with our
fees, leave them the same, increase
them. We did the review, uh, sheriff, I
reviewed everything, all the costs,
discussed it. We basically felt like we
were right where we needed to be the
fees as we had had them for a couple of
years. The only thing that we suggested
was a change was the whenever we we give
any kind of service as far as a writ
takes a long time to do a rid of
possession or rid of attachment or all
those kind of rits. So we give two hours
to get that writ done. Sometimes it runs
over the 2-hour limit and we had had uh
basically a $50 per officer per hour
charge. We decided we needed to go to
$75 because of just tying an off an
officer up that long and it may take two
officers because when some of them are
kind of high-risisk type situations. So
that was our only change. We recommended
a $75 per hour from the $50 per hour fee
we had before. entertain a motion at
this time.
» Judge, I'd like to make a motion to
approve the proposed 2027 Kendall County
Sheriff and Constable fees
as recommended by Sheriff Oxier,
Constible Todd Sliff, Constible Paul No,
Constible Jean Serene, and Constible
Brian Vaughn, and District Clerk Susan
Jackson, and the county clerk Denise
Maxwell.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Jackson,
second by the judge. Any further
discussion? There being none, Teresa,
please call the vote.
>> Commissioner,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Ween,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I
>> Motion carries 5 Z. Next up,
consideration and possible action on
request by the auditor to conduct not of
Kendo County Sheriff's 59 asset forfeite
for as required by article 59.06, the
preferred criminal procedure.
>> It's not a request by the county
auditor.
>> Okay.
>> It's a
>> as required. I'm sorry.
>> It
>> I now have to sign off that I was
requested by the commissioner's court.
>> Okay.
>> To do the audit. It's just a routine
thing.
>> Okay. It's a routine.
>> It's not requested by me.
>> The court to request me to to do it.
>> Understood. We'll have to work on the
wording for the final stage for the
motion. It's a routine.
>> It's an annual annual deal that we do
every year for chapter 59 asset
forfeiture.
>> Okay. I'll entertain a motion as to this
item. Judge, I move to approve that the
county auditor conduct an audit of the
Kindle County Sheriff's Office chapter
59 asset forfeite report as required by
59.06 of the code of criminal
procedures.
>> Motion.
>> I know I know it seems like I'm like a a
picky thing, but I make a motion to
request that the county auditor perform
the audit.
>> I would like to amend my motion. Um, I
move to request that the county auditor
conduct an audit of the Kendall County
Sheriff's Office chapter 59 asset
forfeite report as required by 59.06 of
the code of criminal procedure.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Region. Do I
have a second?
>> Second.
by Commissioner McCall. Any
further discussion? None. Teresa, please
call the vote.
>> Commissioner Thi.
>> Commissioner Region.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> Hi.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Hi.
>> Judge Tiza.
>> I. Motion carries 5. Next up,
consideration possible action regarding
the asset transfer request to transfer
against units 1913, which is a 2019 Ford
F250 from RA patrol to detention.
All right. And so I guess this is a vehicle that's no longer being used by
detention or by animal control and it's
going to be have a good use in
detention. Yes, I believe the detention
office is already using this truck and
so we just said uh we told Captain Green
he had to put it on the agenda for the
court to accept the transfer from the
sheriff's office over to the detention
center.
>> Okay, I'll entertain a motion at this
time as agenda item 21.
Judge, I'd like to make a motion to
approve
moving the asset or approve the asset
transfer
request to transfer unit 1913, which is
a 2019 Ford F250 from an animal control
to detention.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Chapman. Do
I have a second? Second by Commissioner
Carpenter. Any further discussion? There
being none, Teresa, you're up.
>> Commissioner McConnell,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Legion,
>> I. Commissioner Chapman.
>> I,
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I. Motion carries 5 Z. Next up,
consideration action to approve the list
of Central Count Station personnel.
Stacy Decker.
» Good afternoon.
>> Or afternoon. I feel like it's still
morning for me. Um uh so our first
agenda item is approving our central
count station personnel. This is my
office staff. We don't appoint anybody
outside of our office to serve at
central count as part of our central
count team. Um so this is just a list of
my office employees and this will be
good for a one-year term starting
September 1st and it'll be you know
ending August 31st next year
essentially.
>> Okay.
in the central count and that's all your
employees
>> employees currently. Yes. Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Right.
>> You have four
>> the official ones.
» Stacy, you have four employees.
>> I do. Yes.
>> Okay. So, at this time, I'll entertain a
motion as agenda item 22.
>> I move Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead. I
move to approve the list of central
count station personnel.
>> Okay. Motion made by Commissioner
McCall. Do I have a second?
>> Second. Seconded by Commissioner Wean.
Any further discussion? There being
none, Teresa, please call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCart,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Region,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> Izz,
>> I. Motion carries 5 Z. Next up,
consideration action to approve the list
of election judges for a one-year term
begin October 1st, 2026.
>> And this one should actually begin
September 1st, 2026. So, for our agenda
item, for purposes of approving it, we
need the September 1st start date.
Um, I'm going to provide you the list of
election judges um for our election day
polling locations, our central count,
and our early voting ballot board. This
is from the list of judges that both
parties get an opportunity to submit for
appointment. Um, so these are people
that have been approved by the
Republican and the Democratic party
locally. It comes to y'all for the
official appointment.
>> At this time, I'll entertain a motion as
to this agenda item.
>> Judge, I move to approve the list of
election judges for a one-year term
beginning September 1st, 2026.
>> Uh, we have a motion made by
Commissioner Wean. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Teresa, please call the vote.
>> Commissioner,
>> I.
>> Commissioner,
>> I.
>> Commissioner,
>> I. Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I
motion carries 5 to zero.
>> Thank you.
>> Uh, next up,
>> thank you, Stacy.
>> Consideration possible action regarding
the appointment of a representative to
Kendall County Appraisal District Board
of Directors to fill the vacancy created
by the resignation of Rodney Rodney G.
Edni.
>> Judge, I have put an email in to ask
about the appointment process now that resolution from the appraisal
district uh was objected to by a
different taxing entity and I'm waiting
to hear back. But my advice would be to
go ahead and appoint someone today and
if the appointment method changes, we'll
revisit this issue at a future meeting.
>> That's those down.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Judge, I talked to a few people in the
community and I was able to get one
person interested and serving on this
board.
Um, general counsel, how do you want to
handle speaking about this person and
interviewing him? Um, do we have any any
protocol or counsel?
As far as I know, you haven't done that
in the past. Uh, at the last meeting, we
talked about commissioners bringing
forward anyone who was interested in
serving. Then you could discuss and
choose a candidate. Uh, if you'd like to
interview someone, you could do that. Or
if there's only one person who's
expressed interest, the court could
choose to appoint or to push the
appointment to a different date. You
have lots of options.
>> Did anyone else get any names, judge?
>> Uh, no. This is the only applicant I'm
aware of. So, I mean, I'm comfortable
just
this uh potential appointee. I don't
know if anyone else is.
>> Give everybody a minute to look at it.
Yes.
» So, I wanted to say that I think we do
need to fill this position today because
September 2nd, which will be before we
have our next commissioner's court, the
appraisal board is going to uh review
their budget and the budget's going to
increase by almost $100,000. So, I think
we do need a representative there with
our vote. Um but I also wanted to know
how how have we done this in the past?
Do we h interact with them quarterly?
How do we you know how how does that
>> this process we inherited
the Mr. Edmonson from the prior court.
So this is our first chance to ever
appoint someone and so we didn't really
establish a process for interacting. And
so this is our first opportunity to set
a precedent for what we what our
expectations are. And so we can set up
another court where we sit down with our
new appointee and kind of lay out what
we expect of updates and things of that
nature. So if you'd like to do something
like that, we can certainly entertain
that at a later date. But if the today's
main concern is to
>> get the appointment done, but we can
address your concerns down the road if
you'd like.
>> Well, just again to just make sure that
we're that they're representing the
court's interest. just understood your
concern.
>> So this candidate's name is Neil Ree. He
is a bonafide member of of the county,
resident of Kendall County. He has an
MBA, University of Texas San Antonio, a
BA of Rice University. So um you can see
his professional and technical
experience through here. Um I'm I'm
happy moving forward with Mr. Rey. is
very uh eager to serve and in light of
no other candidates and we need to do
something. I'm good with uh
>> he's no nonsense and very direct and
analytical and I think he brings to the
table what we're looking for in a
representative. So I so would you like
to make a motion commissioner?
>> Sure, judge. Um I move to appoint Neil
D. Reby to
where are we? Hold on. um to the Kendall
County Appraisal District Board of
Directors to fill the vacancy created by
the resignation of Rodney G. Edmonson.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Wean, second
by the judge. Any further discussion? If
not, Teresa, please call the vote.
>> Commissioner M.
>> I.
>> Commissioner.
>> I.
>> Commissioner,
>> I
motion carries five to zero. Next up,
consideration possible action handling
of a res of revised job descriptions.
Commissioner Chapman, you're up. So,
I've gotten several different uh
department heads have talked to me,
which is why I wanted to bring this in.
Anyway, first of all, the attached
uh
instructions on how to file these job
descriptions were never filed and
officially approved by the court. And so
I don't think that they
should apply. Number one. Number two,
this needs to be going to HR and not a
commissioner, not
a commissioner's helper, not somebody
else. This needs to go to HR. This is a
function of HR.
And if we don't
have confidence in our HR department,
then we need to fire. And she's sitting
right out here.
So
I think we need to quit
scrutinizing all of these departments.
Let them do their job. If they're not
doing their job,
we need to tell them, give them time to
correct, and then bring it back in. But
this document that was handed to these
people to uh turn in is not a valid
document.
>> So I like to respond. Um first of all,
this process is working. Um I have
several department heads and elected
officials who have agreed that this
process is needed. It did pass the um
the review and maintenance process did
pass commissioner's court on July 14th
of this year. Um, and this is just a
detailed process that I put together to
aid those in turning in the job
descriptions. Um, when we did the job
description training, I asked HR if the
it how soon we could get these job
descriptions done, and I was told by the
end of the year. Um, I I thought we
could get to it sooner, which is why I
put it on the agenda. Um, I was also
told that that that department was busy
till the end of the year. And so I
wanted to make it not as invasive on the
HR department to be receiving all of
these job descriptions and that's why I
put this process together
um and instructions. Uh, this is the
first time Kendall County has had this
process put in place. Um, and it's it's
never happened before. So I can see
concern or you know resistance to change
but I have heard um from
some elected officials and department
heads that this is needed. Um one
department um has a full department job
descriptions that need to be redone. If
we reinvent the wheel and start the
process all over which is supposed to
culminate at the end of September then
we're going to slow this down. the
instructions were created to make the
process quicker and again just answer
all the questions. I still have had
questions and we're going to this is
new. Um but I do
uh think that the process of how to turn
them in in the event that the person
they're turning them into is not
available. I have a backup plan. And
again, that way we're only going to HR
with a group of job descriptions, not
inter interjecting any kind of business
for job descriptions throughout the day,
just once. Um, so again, I think this
process is very important. It recognizes
the values of our employees, making sure
they're fairly compensated. Um, it inc
it also protects the county by ensuring
the current job descriptions are
accurate and they're maintained in human
resources, reducing any kind of
liability concerns. Um, it provides
transparency to our taxpayers, as I
explained when we when we did pass this
by demonstrating that county resources
are being managed responsibly and that
their tax dollars are being used
effectively and efficiently.
>> I agree that we need the job
descriptions. What a disagree with the
you the use of words shall and must
to elected officials and department
heads. Also would like to say when these
eventually do come in, they have to be
brought to court and approved by court.
And what I don't want to see is that we
are presented on one commissioner's
court meeting with a hundred job
descriptions to approve in one
commissioner's court. That would not be
fair to this court or anybody else
because there's no way we can approve
that many. So each one of these job
descriptions has to come back to court
for approval. Once that's done, then we
can actually file them with HR. So, if
it's an existing job description with no
changes, maybe
no substantive changes to the job, we
are simply doing a review process and
getting the the employee to sign and
date it. And we have an an accepted job
description on file just like when
they're hired. So, any kind of changes
and what I spoke about was one
department where there every single job
description needs to be changed. there's
five people in that department. Th those
have fallen through the cracks and we
need an accurate job description so that
if there was some type of a liability
issue, we would have on file a current
job description. So in that case, yes,
those need to come through court and we
are going to work with this process.
Again, it's new. This is the first time
we've done it.
>> I don't think that's the concern. I
think the concern is okay, say they all
get to you, you bring them to court. I
know. I don't want to sit down one day
preparing for court and have to review a
hundred job descriptions. That's going
to be a waste of time because I don't
know what everyone does. I don't have
the time to research it. I think it'd be
better to have batches like we consider
five every court and whatever. So, we
can do it in small increments. I think
that's a more productive way. And then I
don't think and the other thing is this
procedure was never approved. Yes, we
approve approving job descriptions, but
this fourpage
whatever it is instructions
like I attempted to submit Melissa's
several times and it was rejected. Like
I sent it via email, rejected. Then I
submitted in paper form written and
dated and y'all said that that wasn't
good enough. I had to come in and
physically sign something. Those
procedures were never approved. So
that's that was my concern. But you want
to come up?
>> I'd like to address that. Um you I
received an email from Melissa with her
job description asked her to go to her
department head as the instructions
again the instructions instructions were
never approved.
>> It's a guidance tool for submitting
these which was reflected in what our
vote was for the process and the job
description itself was put in a chair in
the lobby signed. We want to have a
chain of custody for these with employee
signatures on them. And that's why I set
up this process to detail.
>> No one delegated the authority to you to
set up this policy and to mandate that
every single elected official and
department headed follow that four-page
document. That is the concern. There's a
simple way to do it. Someone signs the
document that they want to submit to
you. They hand it over to HR, give it to
you, and you guys meet as a committee
and do whatever you want to do. It
doesn't have to be complicated. It's
becoming complicated. Wanita,
>> since you formed uh the compensation
committee, we've always had a process
for job descriptions. Always there's
always been a process, but when you
formed a committee for compensation,
then that's how what we did. We would
receive it as a committee and you
revised job description and as a
committee, we would discuss it. And
because we were working on forming the
scale, that was also something that the
committee had to research to make sure
that we were following and putting um
researching where these uh individual uh
positions would be classified under. So
we followed that procedure the entire
time that this committee has been. We I
received a job description because there
are some changes in the department and I
would forward that to the committee
members. Some were able to respond. Some
were tied up and uh we would make a
majority decision and kind of help the
department head work on these job
descriptions to where it best would fit.
You cannot have a job description that
has an extensive amount of essential
duties. uh it it takes a lot of practice
and time to go through these and you
don't learn it just because you attended
a workshop. And so that's how come we're
here as a committee helping our
department heads. Some of them are very
good at writing some of these. Uh some
write too much and you have to be
careful how much you put in is essential
to meet uh the guidelines as our general
counsel will also advise us on. So,
we've always had a system. Um, do they
fall into the cracks? Fall through the
cracks? Of course. Department heads are
the responsible to letting us know when
there are changes in their staff because
who better knows the job of their people
is going to be the department head. So,
that's that's how we've been working.
Now, uh I I think it's best that we give
the department heads at least through um
maybe part of through October, maybe
into mid November uh to submit them. And
if uh the ones that we do have that are
revised, we can bring them in small
batches. That gives everybody a little
bit more time. Uh some of them may have
just a few certifications they have to
add. It's not like a full brand new job
description. Um but and maybe next year
with the new um judge, he'll decide that
this is not the committee he wants and
he wants something else. And but
currently that's how we have been
working with the with the department
heads and the job descriptions.
>> I I have a question and I I may be
wrong. This is our fourth time around
doing budget and everything else. But
did we ever approve the compensation
committee's procedures?
>> That would be up to the judge because I
believe the judge was
>> the court approved a procedure for that.
>> That committee was here before I got
here.
>> We don't even have procedures anywhere.
I mean, I I I agree that we need
procedures, but
>> we can't default to another level that's
not even organized and approved by the
court either. But I I feel like there's a couple things going on here.
If it's taking three or four months to
update job descriptions, that's the
first thing that we need to pay
attention to that we need to be better
with our recordkeeping and make sure
that our job descriptions are being
maintained better in every department.
If there's an elected official that's
not wanting to participate,
that's not okay either. And we have
compensation and liability and
everything. if we're going to say that
we're trying to do this to protect our
county from liability, it goes across
the board to everybody.
And so I I don't know if there's just a
resistance to do this or if if it's just
so new to everyone that that's what the
complication is that people are just not
used to
being checks and balances and being
subject to to doing something like this.
So, I'd like to I'd like to mention what
the wording was for what the court
adopted, and it was the countywide job
description review and maintenance
process. This is a new process. The
instructions that I put together, I've
wanted there to be every possible um
scenario
envisioned and address it. And that's
why it's quite wordy. And then if I if the receptionist who receives those
is not available, those same um
instructions are repeated for me to re
receive those. Um and in that pro in in
the instructions, it does talk about
that if it if there are minimal changes
to the job description. Again, this is
the first time we're doing it. We are
trying to get this process together
because we're trying to get on to
evaluations and this is the first step.
Um, so it does not all of these job
descriptions have to come through
commissioner's court and we may have to
adjust, but the timeline that we
accepted when we accepted this process
was September 30th. And I have yet to
talk to one department head who said
that's not doable. And we have very
large departments down to very minimal
departments with maybe two or three
people. And I have not heard in the in
the department heads I've spoken with
and elected officials that this is not
doable. In fact, they think it's a great
idea, a great process, and I have this
is the first time I've really heard
other than the judge um that there's a
problem. So,
>> so if I may weigh in um because I
haven't had a chance, but I appreciate
Commissioner McCall taking the bull by
the horns and working on this. It's it's
key to make sure that we've got the job,
the pay, the paperwork, and match. And
it looks like we the court order was a
process, and you took great pains to do
a step-by-step process of how to do it.
Could we disagree on how to do it? If
you've got some improvements you would
like to make and help, commissioner,
that would be great. She's trying to
assist your department because you were
not able to get it done by the end of
the year. So, I applaud her on trying to
get this across the finish line. So, if
we've got suggestions to tweak the
process, then that should be okay. And I would agree that we can't plausibly
bring 100 job descriptions in. So, I I
guess Commissioner, you have a plan on
how we can do these in batches
>> so that
>> Yes. And if somebody needs some more
time, I would think that you would be
reasonable and allow them more time if
they couldn't meet that.
>> I I have,
>> especially with road and bridge, we had
the flood. We I've talked with the
engineering department. I've I
understand there are challenges. So
>> there's theirs are very recent. They
were just completed in 24.
>> So again, we want all this is a process
for every department, not the newest or
the oldest. It's everybody. And we
didn't we didn't say whether it was one
department that just started them or
not. It's a process. It's new. It's a
review.
>> How many have we have you received?
>> Um I have received one. I'm sorry. I've
received three so far and they're
getting them together. They started them
in July. It's a process. Um again, but I
have we have appointments this week for
more. And so
>> I guess my question is who decides
whether there's been a change?
Well, it is up to the department head
and again as as uh Wanita mentioned,
they know what's best. They know their
employees the best. And so for this
initial year, we are going to start with
this process. Um and that it will be up
to the department head and as we review
them going forward, if there are changes
that need to be made and they need to
come back to court, we can do that.
That's who who makes the decision that
there has been a change made which if
there's been a change made in the job
description then it must come back to
commissioners for
>> right and then that's stated in the
directions.
>> Okay. But who makes that decision? the
department head and um I I would think I
especially so with the ones we're going
to go through that we are rewriting I
have already set um requested a meeting
with Juanita and uh with Jen to make
sure that they're accurate uh for the
full department that needs to be redone
and so it'll be um HR and the department head and myself
>> with all due respect The decision should
be with HR as to whether or not there
has been a change. They have the
training. They have the knowledge about
job descriptions. They are the ones that
should say there is a change here and it
just wasn't the word and or the.
>> It was a change that needs to come back
to court.
>> Then I would say that she has the
opportunity to let us know that and we
can address it at that time. And we
can't blanketly accept changes or the
department head because as Wanita stated
from the experience of compensation
committee, we end up with job
descriptions that are 10 pages long
because that's what the department
thinks is correct when it's not the
proper way to do a job description. So
again, it's the experience on the
compensation committee. You I know
you're new to it that we have been
dealing with job descriptions for the
past three years and it's not as easy as
it's being made out to be.
So,
>> so I I go back to the fact that this is
a new process and if there is a job
description that HR receives that they
feel has too many changes, then we can
address it at that time. We will go back
to the department head and get the
necessary changes. I just don't think we
need to wait till the end of the year.
We've already pass this process through
commissioner's court.
So I guess are we assuming that HR is
going to look at these?
>> They're receiving them
>> at the the last step is to get them to
HR to be put in the employees file.
>> But does that is your policy state there
to read and review them and critique
them?
>> No, we can add that.
Again, this is new. There's definitely I
mean you're pointing out some things
that need to be
>> those are important things.
>> So we will definitely
>> like to see this come back to court next
time with some instructions that are not
AI written that are just simple plain
language
on the process. the process needs to
include the final thing is that the HR
department is going to review them to
make sure that they meet the overall
standards of HR and there have been or
not been changes made.
>> Okay, we can add that. Uh and I I do
want to say that um we have guidelines
for use of AI which I'm almost everyone
I've talked to um is using and they were
followed. I believe our policy is right
now that AI cannot be used.
>> We have guidelines right now. I don't
What policy?
>> Pretty sure the policy that Brian has
put out was no AI uses is allowed.
>> We have guidelines that were listed.
>> I don't think that's correct.
>> Can you show it to me?
>> I can I can look for it and I wish he
was here today so he could speak to
that. I just I don't know that's not
really part of the topic that's on our
agenda. So we don't want to get off in
the weeds on a topic that was addressed.
So, I wanted to
>> I understand that there was a comment
made, but I we could talk about that
offline or have an item next time to
talk about it in great depth. But for
now, try to if we can stay on topic. Um,
if you want to have a meeting between
now and next time, I think Wanita, I'm
sure, would be happy to sit down. I'm
happy to sit down if you think that'd be
useful. Um, I can provide some
information on ADA language that I like
to see included in job descriptions, and
we can look at the format, make sure
everybody's using the same format if
you'd like to do that. Um, anything we
can do to help, I'm happy to to help
you.
>> So, we'll take no action on agenda in
25. 26 has been pulled. And now to the
Berdex Center consideration office
action update Berdick Center committee
membership to include Judge Kahoon, uh,
JP Neighbor, uh, elections administrator
Stacy Decker, and to consider any other
changes to committee membership to
provide input and coordination regarding
planning, design, construction, and
imple excuse me, implementation of the
Verdict Center project. Commissioner
Region, Florida.
>> Yes, thank you, Judge. And so, um, just
to kind of update everybody, Judge Kahun
has kindly come to commissioner's court
and met with several of us and raised
concerns about, uh, needed space for the
district court. And it's our job as U
commissioners who are responsible for
the budget to listen to the dele the
elected officials and department heads
and make sure that they get what they
need. At the same time, it's our
responsibility to set the budget and
balance those needs with everything else
the county has to do. So, as I see it,
we have three needs in front of us. The
district court needs additional
courtroom space. We're going to hear a
little bit from Judge Cahoun. Judge
Neighbors needs an appropriate, secure
place for JP precinct 2. And elections
needs adequate space to conduct
elections, particularly under the new
state law, and accommodate future
growth. So, the Verdict Center perhaps
can give us all three uh within these
resources. We um will be doing a needs
assessment to figure out what we're
going to do long term for a justice
center, but until then, we have this
temporary fix. It's not long term, but
um we're going to take what we have and
make do. So, um I think that we just do
what everybody else does in in the
community, in the private sector. We
take what we're given and take those
dollars and go as far as we can with
them. So, I've asked Judge Kahun um to
join the Berdict Renault committee along
with Stacy and Judge Neighbor and then
anybody else who uh would like to be on
the committee. I know that Commissioner
Chapman, you have asked uh to bow out.
So, I'm open to another commissioner to
help me if if that be the um pleasure.
>> I'll work with you on that.
>> Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Carpenter.
And so with that, we just want to expand
that committee and I can make a motion,
but I think real quick we'll hear from
Judge Kahune and Stacy and Judge
Neighbor sends his regrets. He had um a
prior engagement and he just sends his
thanks to the court for trying to
facilitate the things he needs to do his
job.
I wanted to uh just uh to the extent
that I had Judge Falenberg here and he's
one of our two associate judges and I
just wanted to remind the court that we
have four judges that call Kendall
County their home county. Um, and I but
I also wanted to recognize that when we
came here, when I wrote the letter on
April 13th and we came here on May 5th,
that we brought to everyone's attention
that there not only was the in
inadequacy of the courtroom space for
the four judges, but also the inadequacy
of space for the pettit jurors and the
grand jurors and the inadequate space
for the offices of the district attorney
and the district clerk and the county
clerk. And I bring that up because that
was that was a global. Now, we have
certain obligations
underneath the code underneath the local
government code of 291 and 292 to
provide a courthouse and space that is
necessary. But we also have requirements
in the family code under 2011 to provide
an adequate courtroom and quarters for
our associate judges. Doc Judge
Falenberg was going to come in and talk
about the lack of any quarters, frankly,
for our associate judges. They don't
have a place to go. And when we have to,
they have to try and find spaces over
across the street. and he has to walk
across the street to go and have that
without any baiff or any security. I
need you to understand that what a CPS
court does is it deals with family and
their children and it takes children
away from some families. And if you want
to talk about angry litigants, talk
about your CPS courts and not having any
adequate security. So, one of the things
that Commissioner Wean was talking about
was the ability to expand that verdict
center courtroom as a band-aid,
but I need it to be stressed here that
it's not a permanent fix because we
still won't have space for the pettit
juror selection. We still won't have
space for the grand jury selection. We
still won't have extra space for the
district attorney's office. We still
won't have the space for the uh district
clerk and for the county clerk's office.
It is a band-aid for the four judges to
be able to have somewhere to hold jury
trials and to hold trials. Because as it
stands, what we have to do now is if a
visiting judge is hearing a case, which
a visiting judge is hearing a case
against the county because we recuse
oursel from that,
we have to step down. We don't have a
space for them. So we one of the two of
us has to not have court that day.
Additionally, what happens is if we want
to have two district court jury trials,
we don't have space for two district
court jury trials. We can't fit them in
the two courtrooms and the two jury
rooms that we have. So does this enable
some space utilization for civil and
family jury trials in those associate
judges? Yes. but it still won't be a
complete fix because it doesn't take
into account everything else that is
needed in the justice center. So, I'm
here saying thank you to Commissioner
Oian for noticing the problem that our
justice partners have
and for coming here and helping figure
out some solution that we can at least
get to where we need to be. But I do
want to note that I'm still going to be
coming and we still need to be talking
about how are we going to get sufficient
space for the district attorney's
office. I know that we uh talked about
having a new person coming into the
district attorney's office with the DOJ.
I have no idea where we're going to fit
that, but that's not that problem.
>> It's not housed here.
>> Oh, that's good because we wouldn't have
room. But um all of these things we need
to talk about. Now, I know that Miss
Becker needs a lot of space, too.
>> Judge, just just one one point real
quick. Uh Sharon, our purchasing agent,
and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but
I think that we have gotten the RFQ
applicants in and you've formed a
committee and you should be able to
>> It should be coming to the next court to
move forward.
>> Coming to the next court to move
forward. Okay. So, Judge Kahun, that is
in the works.
>> Good. I'm I'm I'm happy about that and I
do I'm very appreciative. Um I do want
to read one statement from Judge
Falenberg. He had court this afternoon
and when it didn't come this morning, he
wrote up his his um words to me. He
wanted you to know that he has 280
children on his case load, his current
case load right now. And out of the
seven counties that he works, this is
the one county that doesn't have a
dedicated space for him to be able to
have court in. And he does want the
commissioners to know, and I quote, "The
Berdick building presents a temporary
solution to this problem. Were it to be
built out for a secured courtroom and
provided with a regular base baoof, the
child protection court of South Texas as
well as other potential visiting judges
would have a protected space to conduct
these important proceedings. This is not
a permanent solution, but it is a
temporary solution to a long-standing
problem until something permanent can be
achieved, and it will allow Kendall
County to be in compliance with the law
pursuant to the Texas Family Code
201.103. 103.
Thank you, Judge. Stacy, you're back.
>> Yes, back. Um, so I won't bore y'all
with 2753. I've I've fed it into y'all
for quite some time now. Um, we are
working, our association um of elections
administrators office, well, our
association is working with uh Senator
Val Paul's office on some changes to
2753. He's even openly admitted that
there were a lot of unintended
consequences to the great idea he had.
Um, we don't know what those changes are
going to look like. There are going to
be some changes. It could be reduced
early voting by one whole week, which is
not something I'm in support of. I don't
know where our association lands on
that, but there are we are looking at
changes to come to that bill. That's not
going to happen this year. It's not.
It's going to be next year, maybe even
towards the end of the next year when
that's implemented. And if they make
these changes again, we're going to be
back right where we are with the
Secretary of State's office being
mandated to develop an implementation
plan for those changes. And we're
already a year into that implementation
process and it's looking like it's not
going to be till the end of this year
when the state actually comes out with
it. Um, so right now we don't know when
that's going to take effect. We know
right now if everything stays on track,
that's going to be the November 2027
election. Um, again, those changes are
up in the air. Y'all know what our needs
are. Every one of y'all have been to our
building. You've served as a candidate
or someone running for reelection.
You've seen our space and what we've had
to do to make it work. Um, we have
bandaided the band-aids and the
band-aids. We have squished every ounce
of energy or every ounce of space out of
what we have right now and we cannot
continue to function with overlapping
processes. That's one part of this bill
that's not going to go away. Our ballot
board runs at the same time as early
voting. Our ballot board runs at the
same time as election day and central
count. We have to have separated
segregated areas for those. Right now,
we've shifted things around from one
storage room and pile a ton of people in
the room where we store all of our
voting equipment in. We make the spaces
work.
>> Um, we've taken over the break room in
the annex building, completely locked it
down because we have ballots in there
>> by our kitchen sink, by our um cabinets
and everything. We've we've done
everything we possibly can to make our
space work. and whatever changes are
coming down the line. Even if they scale
this back, which we just don't know
what's going to happen with that, the
problem still remains. We don't have the
space that we need to continue to run
elections in the way that our voters
deserve. We need that space. I'm excited
and I appreciate uh the court allowing
us to serve on this committee to even be
able to be part of the committee um to
work with the judge Kahun's office and
the JP2 office to see what what we can
do. How can we make this space work? Is
there a way to make that space work?
What is everybody's needs? We've added a
third department in there and I think a
lot of evaluation has to, you know, be
done. I don't know what that looks like
for us moving forward, but I'm willing
to accept a seat at the table officially
and work with everybody to find
something that that hopefully could work
for all of us. Well, thank you very much
for uh reminding us again of your needs
and that is the next step and um for us
to sit down with the architect. He was
here, as you know, last Thursday to look
at the courtroom and just see how we can
configure this and take this building
that's a great county asset and uh use
the least amount of dollars and the
maximum amount of space, you know, to
get to get needs met. So, it sounds like
we have a committee. And with that, I
move to update the Berdick Center
committee membership to include District
Judge Kirsten Cahoun, Justice of the
Peace, Precinct 2, Judge Neighbor, and
Elections Administrator Stacy Decker, as
well as Commissioner Chad Carpenter to
provide input and coordination regarding
the planning, design, construction, and
implementation of the Ber Berdick Center
project.
>> Commissioner, would you still like staff
to remain on the committee? I think you
had Jason. Um, was there first?
>> These would just be the additions. So
the existing committee still stands and
these are the additions. Okay. Thank
you.
>> Right. Motion made by and or
commissioner Oian. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any
further discussion?
>> Yes. I just wanted to say um that I I
appreciate uh Commissioner um Ouijan
bringing this forward. I think it's a
forwardinking approach to um meeting the
county's growing needs. And um I would
also like to add that I think we need to
exhaust every resource we have here in
the building. And I was wanted to ask and add that the commissioner's
court coordinator work with the dig
district judges and vid visiting judges
coordinators in using the commissioner's
courtroom because we need to exhaust all
the spaces we have here. So um just
wanted to add that
>> I think she already does
>> you do okay
>> we utilize this when we need to. We
utilize across the street in uh judge
man taverns when we need to. It is it's
a roving area,
>> okay,
>> of of use. It's
>> it's a challenge. I mean, we're we're
all bursting at the seams, right?
>> And I'm no different than the probably
the sheriff's office and and anybody
else. I understand that. Um, and I tried
to talk about that, but we do utilize
scan across the street.
>> Good. I just wanted to make sure we were
using every space we had here in this
building before sending uh Judge
Faulenberg across the street or having
to change buildings.
>> Okay.
>> All right. Any further discussion? Not
Teresa, you're up.
>> Commissioner McCall,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Legion,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I
motion carries 5 to Z. There are no
public hearing scheduled. So consent.
>> Thank you, ladies.
>> Thank you. There is items A through O on
the consent agenda. Does anyone want to
remove anyone for separate discussion
and voting?
If not, I'll entertain a motion as
consent agenda items.
>> Judge, I'd like to make a motion to
approve the consent agenda items for
August 25th, 2026,
items A through O.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Chapman,
second by Commissioner Carpenter. Uh,
any further discussion? If not, Teresa,
please call the vote. Commissioner
McCall.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Weer.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Hi,
>> Judge.
>> I motion carries five to zero.
>> Next up, contracts. Uh 29. consideration
of possible action regarding an
agreement with Visit Comfort Texas to
provide marketing services for the
purpose of building comfort's digital
brand developing wayfinding and visitor
infrastructure providing marketing
education and promotion for local
businesses and entrepreneurs measure
through tourism and visitor data that
will provide to the county at a cost not
to exceed 5,000 carpenter Europe judge I
move that we approve the agreement with
visit comfort to provide marketing
services for the purpose of building
comfort's digital brand developing
wayfinding and visitor infrastructure
providing marketing, education, and
promotions for local businesses and
entrepreneurs measured through tourism
and visitor data that will be be
provided to the county at no cost not to
exceed $5,000.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter.
Is there a second?
>> Second.
by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion?
>> Yes, Judge. This is in reference to the
5,000 that we approved earlier in the
year and this is just a formal contract.
Yes, the court previously discussed this
and at that meeting asked that visit
comfort get with me so we could have a
contract in place to explain that the
county is getting data in exchange for
these funds. This contract does
accomplish that and we recommend
approval.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay, if there's no further discussion,
Resa, please call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall
>> I.
>> Commissioner We
>> Commissioner Chapman
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Hi.
>> Ditch.
>> I. Motion carries 5 to zero. Uh
consideration possible action regarding
the second amendment to the license
agreement for the use of the county
courthouse between Kendall County and
Bernie market days management to allow
the event to be held on county property
from 6 p.m. on October 2nd, 2026 through
9:00 p.m. on October 4th, 2026. This is
our annual agreement with them with uh
Bernie Market Days. So, I move to
approve the second amendment to the
license agreement for the use of the
county courthouse between Kendall County
and Bernie Market Days Management to
allow the event to be held on county
property from 6 p.m. on October 2nd,
2026 to 9:00 p.m. on October 4, 2026. Do
I have a second? Second by or motion by
the judge, second by Commissioner
Chapman. Any further discussion? There
being none, Teresa, please call the
vote.
>> Commissioner McCall,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Wehan,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I. Judge Salis.
>> I motion carries 5 to zero. Next uh
consideration possible action regarding
the FY26 first amendment to the
agreement between Kendall County and
Animal Springs Volunteer Fire Department
from October 1, 2025 through September
30th, 2026 with an annual allocation the
amount of $37,42
and an annual sip of $4,000. Chad, I
will entertain your motion.
Judge, I move that we approve
um the FY26 first amendment to the
agreement between Kindle County and Almo
Springs Volunteer Fire Department from
October 1st, 2025 through September
30th, 2026 with an al with an annual
allocation in the amount of $37,42
and an annual stipend of $4,000.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter.
Do I have a second?
>> Seconded by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Teresa, please call the vote.
Commissioner McCall
>> I,
>> Commissioner Region,
>> I,
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I,
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I,
>> Judge Thoris,
>> I, Motion carries 5 to zero. Next up,
consideration possible action regarding
FY26 Kendo County Emergency Medical
Service and First Responder organization
affiliation agreement for the fire
protection emergency response services
between Kendall County and Almo Springs
Volunteer Fire Department. Commissioner
Carpenter. Judge, I move that we approve
FY26 Kindle County Emergency Medical
Services and First Responder
Organization Affiliation Agreement for
Fire Protection and Emergency Response
Services between Kendall County and Elmo
Springs Volunteer Fire Department.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter.
Do I have a second? Second by
Commissioner Chapman. Any further
discussion?
>> There being none, Teresa, you're up.
>> Commissioner McConnell,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Wean,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I.
>> Judge Delarzek,
>> I. Motion carries five to zero. Next up,
consideration of possible action around
the FY26 HIPPA business associate
agreement between Kendall County and
Elmo Springs Volunteer Fire.
Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Judge, I move that we approve the FY26
HIPPA business associate agreement
between Kendall County and Elmo Springs
Volunteer Fire Department.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter,
seconded by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Teresa.
>> Commissioner McCall
>> I.
>> Commissioner Wink.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Hi. Motion cars 5 to zero. Next up,
considering poss consideration possible
action regarding the request for the
Comfort Athletic Booster Club to use
Saltine Field to Comfort to host an
event which will entail building a
bonfire and lighting it on fire on
September 9th, 2026. Commissioner
Carpenter.
>> Yes. Um I just a few words on this real
quick. Um we realize we have a burn van.
We're also um the bonfires is staffed by
the fire department and it's in an area
where it's well protected and so I
talked to Brady about this last night,
but it will be manned the whole time
until it's done.
>> Thank you for clarifying that,
>> Judge. I move that we approve uh the
request from the Comfort Athletic
Booster Club to use Faline Field and
Comfort to host an event which will
entail the building of a bonfire and
lighting it on fire September 9th, 2026.
Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter.
Is there a second?
>> Second.
by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Teresa, you're up.
>> Commissioner McColl,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Wean,
>> I.
>> Commissioner,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I.
>> Judge Dela,
>> I. Motion carries 5 to zero. Uh,
consideration possible action regarding
request for road closures for the
Comfort Annual Homecoming Parade to be
held on September 9th, 2026 at the
following locations. Fifth Street to
Main Street, uh, Fifth Street and High
Street, High Street and Fifth Street to
H Street, and 8th Street to Main Street.
Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Judge, I move that we approve the Road
Closers for Comfort annual Homecoming
Parade to be held on September 9th, 2026
at the following locations: Fifth Street
and Main Street, Fifth Street and High
Street, High Street, from Fifth Street
to 8th Street, and from 8th Street to
Main Street. Uh, this would start I
think this would start at um, Do we need
a time on there?
It'd probably be nice if we do that.
>> Okay.
>> I don't think that a time was submitted,
but I'm sure that we can get that
information and make sure there's a
public announcement of when that will
happen.
» That's my fault. Um,
>> do you think it's the same as the
bonfire or the It's
>> It's right before the bonfire. So, it it
would be around six o'clock.
Um,
>> maybe start at 5:30.
>> In the early evening hours. Yeah. Let's
just keep it vagger. Okay.
>> So, in the early evening hours on those
dates.
>> In the early evening hours. Okay.
>> I'm cool with that. That work?
>> Okay.
>> We amend your motion to include in the
early evening hours.
>> Yeah. Amend my motion to include um the
evening early evening hours on September
9th, 2026.
>> That motion second by Commissioner
Chapman. Any further discussion? Please, call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall.
>> I. Commissioner Legion.
>> Hi.
>> Commissioner Chap.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I.
>> Judge Delic.
>> I. Motion carries. I
>> Next up, consideration possible action
regarding the proposal for 2026 services
renewal with NUMO Group LLC for the
agreement for Vanguard Records
Management and Imaging System Software
Hardware Solution for the County Clerk's
Office for Fiscal year 2025 2026 in the
amount of 68,617.50.
Which contract will auto automatically
renew on October 1, 2026
for an additional one-year term and
authorize the county judge to execute
the documents? Sharon, I'll let you.
>> Okay. So, this cont this item is um to
ask the court's approval for a contract
with Neimu, the vendors called Neimu Tax
and Licensing LLC for the county clerk's
cloud filing management services and
property alert system. Um this service
has originally been the service that's
been provided through co-file but
through a conversion within cofile they
sold it to NEMU. So we have to this is
to this contract would be to formalize
the agreement with neu versus um with
govos or cofile was before. Um the
county has continued to utilize this
service and it's still in place and she uses it. So, the contract will just
be for we need to do the contract for
this fiscal year we're in and it'll
include a one-year extension if agreed
to by both parties and if the funds are
in the budget for for next year. And um
we'd like to ask that y'all um approve
it contingent upon general counsel's
final review and approval just because
there's a little bit of kinks we're
still working out with them with the
secretary of state registration and and
such. So,
>> uh, I move to,
uh,
approve the proposal for 2026 services
renewal from the Nemo Group LLC for the
agreement for Vanguard Records
Management and Imaging System Software
Hardware Solution for the County Clerk's
Office for Fiscal year 2025 to 2026 in
the amount of $68,617.50,
50 cents. Which contract will
automatically renew on October 1, 2066
for an initial one-year term and
authorize the county judge to execute
necessary documents contingent on
general counsel's approval? Do I have a
second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner Wean. Any
further discussion?
>> I did notice that in the URL because I
go to that website a lot and great
research and had the little end, you
know, kind of like in the logo. So, I
wondered what that was.
>> Their new branding.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. If there's no further discussion,
you're up.
>> Commissioner McConnell
>> I,
>> Commissioner Wson,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I judge.
>> I motion carries 5 to zero.
>> Thank you.
ladies. Next up,
consideration possible action regarding
an amendment to the Hill Country Energy
Subregional Planning Commission
interlocal agreement to renew the
agreement for FY 2027. Commissioner
Nicole and Commissioner.
>> Yes. Um, on April 28th, 2025,
Kendall County Commissioner's Court
approved I'm sorry, on April 28th, 2026,
Commender County Commissioners Court
approved an amendment to the Hill
Country Energy Subregional Planning
Commission's interlocal agreement to
address oversightes in the November 2025
agreement. Specifically, the amendment
revised the board membership structure
to reflect the addition of Gillespie
County and clarify Gillespie County's
responsibility for appointing a
landowner representative to the board
within the established rotation of odd
and even years. The amendment before the
court today updates the term of the
interlocal agreement from its current
expiration date of September 30th, 2026
to a new term beginning October 1st,
2026 and ending September 30th of 2027.
Both Gillespie and Kerr counties have
adopted this amendment with the
unanimous support of the respective
commissioner's courts.
>> Okay. At this time, I'll entertain your
motion. So I move to approve an
amendment to the Hill Country Energy
Subregional Planning Commission HCESRPC
interlocal agreement to renew the
agreement through FY2027.
>> Motion made by Commissioner McCall. Do I
have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner Carpenter. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Teresa, please call.
>> Commissioner McCall,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Ouija,
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman,
>> nay.
>> Commissioner Carpenter,
>> I.
>> Judge Sarzic,
>> nay. Motion carries three to two with
commissioners from one, two, and four in
favor and the judge and Chapman
Commissioner Chapman against. Next, uh
consideration and possible action on
approving the final PL establishing the
Kerski Ranch located on the southeast
side of Ammon Road about.17 miles east
of Savannah John Boulevard in accordance
with the 2022 development regulations
create 11 lots with an average lot size
of 10.051 051 acres per lot and 5,748
linear feet of private roadway and each
lot will be served by individual well
and individual on-site sewage
facilities.
>> Hello. All right, Nick, what do you got
for us?
>> Uh, yes. So, this is a for a single
family resident uh resident uh plat
that's going to create 11 lots with an
average average acreage of over 10. Um,
it's also going to lay out or and extend
an existing road, Kerski ranch and and
uh improve it to fire code standards.
These will be serviced by individual
septic uh and well and there was a
request for relief that was approved
back in April 2024 to to allow this road
to be built to fire code standards and
also for the waving of the gar. And uh
we've we uh we've done a thorough review
of this uh plat and uh we're being for
approval. At this time motion,
commissioner region.
>> Judge, I move to approve the final plat
establishing the Kerska Ranch located on
the south side of Ammon Road about 0.17
miles east of Savannah John Boulevard in
accordance with the 2022 development
regulations to create 11 lots with an
average lot size of 10.051 051 acres per
lot and 5,748 linear feet of private
roadway and each lot will be served by
individual well and individual on-site
sewage facilities.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Legion. Do I
have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner McCall. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Teresa, please call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCau
>> I.
>> Commissioner Legion.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapley.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I.
>> Judge.
>> I. Motion carries five to zero. Next up,
>> three years
>> consider
you have one more, ma'am.
Consideration and possible action
improving the financial guarantee for
the final plat establishing the Persie
Ranch located on the south side of Ammon
Road about.17 miles east of Savannah
John Boulevard in the form of a
cashier's check in the amount of
216,8702
to secure the construction of a required private road. Mr. Region.
>> All right, judge. I move to approve the
financial guarantee for the final plat
establishing the Kerska Ranch located on
the south side of Ammon Road about 0.17
miles east of Savannah John Boulevard in
the form of a cashier's check in the
amount of $216,87022
to secure the construction of a required
private fire road.
>> Uh motion made by Commissioner Region.
Do I have a second? Second.
>> Second by Commissioner McCll. Any
further discussion? If not, Teresa,
please call the vote. Commissioner
McCau.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Le.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> Hi,
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I
motion carries.
>> Thanks for your patience all day.
>> We start construction.
>> Uh, next up,
>> consideration. You're welcome.
Consideration possible action approving
the replat of town of Comfort creating
lots 21B1
21B2 located in 119 idle wide comfort
about 23 miles east of US highway 87 in
accordance with the 2022 development
ress
to create two lots out of 1.486 acres
with an average lot size of 743 acres
per lot
and both lots shall be served by water
and sewer from WCID number one. Public
hearing was held April 14th, 2026, and
one comment letter opposing the
development was received the same day.
Julie Katherine Quest Brooks on behalf
Country Properties. All right, I'll hand
it over to Commissioner Park. Go ahead.
>> Oh, sure, Nick. Sorry.
>> So, this is uh so this is a lot right
off of Vital Wild that's supposed to be
split into two. Um it'll be serviced WC
by WC. We did receive a letter from WCID
saying they will service both lots. Um
they're currently serving an existing
structure on one of those lots and said
they will service the remaining
structure of up to equivalent of a of
one office building with one bathroom.
Um and there is flood plane on there. We
and that was mapped out on the on the
plat uh along with the base flood
elevation is going to be captured. Um we
did receive that one letter uh opposing
just before the public hearing. Um but
nobody came up to speak.
I did forward that letter to
commissioner's court the day after. So I
don't have much
>> at this time. I entertain a motion as to
agenda item 40.
>> Do you want to say anything? Go.
>> Judge, I move that we approve the replat
of town of Comfort creating lots
21B-121B-2
located at 119 Idle Wild Comfort about.
23 miles east of US Highway 87 in
accordance with the 2022 development
regulations to create two lots out of
1.486 acres with an average lot size
of.743
acres per lot and both lots shall be
served water and sewer from WC number
one. Public hearing was held April 14th,
2026 and one comment letter opposing the
development was received the same day.
>> Uh motion made by Commissioner
Carpenter. I have a second. Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion? There being none,
please call the vote.
>> Commissioner McCall
>> I.
>> Commissioner Ouijan.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman.
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> I.
>> Judge Sto.
>> I. Motion carries 5 to zero. Next up,
consideration possible action on
approving the final plat of Freedom
Place Business Park, a subdivision
located in the intersection of Upper
Cibilo Creek Road and IH10 in accordance
with the 2022 development rules. Revos
private subdivision would plat which
plat would create three lots out of
14.546 acres for an average lot size of
4.849 acre lot and one lot create and on
one lot create 40 units lot shall be
served by subdivision public water
system and individual on-site systems.
Mr. Carpenter or Clay, sorry.
>> Sir, Clay Forester, County Injuries
Office. Um, judge commissioners, this uh
this plat is uh consists of three lots,
one of which is a multi-unit plat. Court
previously granted relief to um allow
fencing to not be constructed as a part
of this plat. Um and the neighbors were
in concurrence. They supported uh the uh effort with letters. Um so um
items of note uh the development has
completed a GAR reviewed by our office.
Um they will be providing a public water
system that serves all three tracks. Um
they're also all three tracks are going
to be uh supplied with um on-site sewage
facilities for each tract. Um the
northern tract is a little tight on real
estate for that. Um our office has
reviewed it thoroughly. Um and uh
between the the design provided and some
of the covenants and restrictions that
to which the developers agreed, we are
satisfied that the lot um will have a
use that's appropriate to the
availability of septic for the for that
northern lot. Um also this track does uh
this development does have two access
points. One north on IH10 frontage road
and one on the south side um on upper
creek road. But between the northern lot
and the central lot, it is going to be
gated. So the commercial traffic will
all be accessing from the north and it
will only be uh residential or local
traffic accessing off Upper Cibilo Creek
Road. Um also as a part of the project
in accordance with our rules, um the
developers agreed within the limits of
rough portionality to widen Upper Cibilo
Creek Road along their front edge along
that road. Um and we've uh reviewed
plans. We have a OPC which will be
considered on your next item for a
financial guarantee for the project. Um,
and I'm happy to answer any questions
y'all have.
» Remind me what other requests for relief
were discussed.
>> Yes, sir. Um, there w there were two.
One was for placing, I believe, a well
structure within the setback along the
I10 frontage road
>> and that was denied.
>> Correct. Okay. And then the other was uh
to eliminate uh the perimeter fencing
required as part of our multi-unit
platting for the northern lot and that
was approved. And and does that because
that was all allowed. Is that why it
mean you're able to approve
everything else because you said it's
tight on the northern quarters?
>> Um I don't know. The the fencing
wouldn't have been related to that. It
was just with the the site plan
presented. It was um it's just a it's a
piece of real estate is laid out.
There's flood plane also through the
property to the south. They've avoided
any type of impacts to the flood plane.
Um, and then from there they're they're
looking to maximize the number of units
so they can provide general office space
and warehouse I believe is the is the
mix. And so they have a they have a plan
that works and is to to our
satisfaction.
>> All right, judge. If I may, quick
comments. My name is Ben Briggs. I grew
up in Dallas. Uh, lived in Asia for 17
years and have called Bernie home for
the last four years, the Bernie area.
Um, thank you for all of uh the support
of the commissioners and the court uh
for the engineers department especially.
Um, Freedom Place Business Park, which
we're building here, is going to be uh
for small businesses, and it's going to
really help bring in uh small companies
and create jobs, create enterprise, and build up Kendall County. And we're
excited about that. um when my wife and
I were living overseas, we helped start
a ministry in the red light districts of
our city and started learning about
human trafficking. And because of that,
uh we have aspired for our real estate
business to fund charities that are
fighting human trafficking. And so part
of what I'm excited about with this
project is that aspect of it. Um, but
special thanks to the engineers office,
to Clay, to Marielle, and to Nick, to
everybody who's got us across uh this
far. Thanks to James and Sterling, uh to
Amy and Becky at the EDC, uh to
Commissioner Carpenter, and so much
support from everybody. So, very
thankful uh to get across this finish
line. Thank you'all.
>> Thank you.
At this time, Chad, I'll consider or
enter your motion.
>> Judge, I move that we approve the final
plat of Freedom Place Business Park, a
subdivision located at the intersection
of Upper Perilo Creek Road and I IH10 in
accordance with the 2022 development
rules. The proposed private subdivision
plat would create three lots out of
14.546 acres for an average lot size of
4.849 acres per lot and on one lot
create 40 units. The lots shall be
served by a subdivision of public water
system and individual on-site septic
systems.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter.
Do I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Seconded by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion?
>> I do have one uh comment.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Do this and the previous uh item which
we approve. Both meet our rules.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Both are meet both are using more water.
And in looking at the both the Twin
Canyon Well and the Comfort Well,
with two years of uh July flooding, the
Comfort Well is up one foot over its
low. And so
that's going to be a problem. I've said
this many times, I'm going to keep
saying it. And with the Twin Canyon,
well, uh, this right now it's at the
roughly the second lowest
since, uh, 2019.
So, at some point in time, all of these
wells are going to hit bottom and then
this land is not going to be worth
anything without water.
So, but it is does follow the rules and
I feel that I must vote accordingly.
>> Thank you.
>> Commissioner McCau
>> I
>> Commissioner Wean
>> I
>> Commissioner Chapman
>> I
>> Commissioner Carpenter
>> I
>> Darzik
>> I motion vote or motion carries 5 to
zero. Next up, consideration possible
action approving the financial guarantee
for Freedom Place Business Park in the
form of a bond in the amount of $411,755
and 89 cents to secure required road and
drainage improvements. Chad, I'll
entertain your motion.
>> Judge, I move that we approve the
financial guarantee for Freedom Place
Business Park in the form of a bond in
the amount of $411,755.89
89 cents to secure required road and
bridge road and drainage improvements.
>> Motion made by Commissioner Carpenter,
second by Commissioner Chapman. Any
further discussion? There being none,
Terresa, you're up.
>> Commissioner McCall
>> I.
>> Commissioner Rean
>> I.
>> Commissioner Chapman
>> I.
>> Commissioner Carpenter.
>> Hi.
>> Judge.
>> I. Motion carries five to zero. And last
but not
>> judge, I know it's been a long day. Can
I get a quick picture?
>> Oh, absolutely.
You're famous.
» You want it with the whole court or what
do you want?
>> I'll take it.
>> No, I'll go for it. Judge.
>> No, she they just want the engineering
department.
» Get in there.
>> Get me in trouble.
Hey, James. I did this behind you,
>> sir.
>> But not where anybody could see.
» All right. Homestretch
consideration possible action regarding
future meetings between commissioners
court employees reporting directly to
commissioners court during public
meetings and open sessions as
appropriate to allow the direct reports
a regular opportunity to communicate
with their supervisor to discuss various
matters which may include job duties and
responsibilities challenges concerns
departmental operations and upcoming
projects commissioner region
commissioner Carpenter I'll hand off to
whoever wants to take lead
>> I'll kick us off So, we've talked about
doing this for some time. Commissioner's
Court does supervise a number of
employees and department heads, and I
think we need a regular opportunity to
hear from them. So, it's just simply a
chance to talk with them about what
they're working on, any challenges or
concerns, budget or staffing needs, and
upcoming projects. And we can certainly
take guidance from um general counsel on
what she thinks, but my thought is to
put one or two at a time on the court
agenda and work our way through the
direct reports throughout the year. and
some discussions will be in open session
and when appropriate general counsel can
guide us into close session. It's uh
about better communication between the
court and the people. And just looking
at the organizational chart offhand
we've got um reporting to the court,
general counsel, county engineer,
facilities, building maintenance, IT,
human resources, fire marshall, health
inspector inspector, veteran services,
indigent health, parks, and the grant
coordination. So, there's quite a few.
So, um I'll leave it up to you all to
see how we should proceed and if we need
an action item or adjust it any time a
commissioner can put something on the
agenda. Maybe you could facilitate that
or Melissa, whoever sends the first one
or two.
>> I don't even think you need a vote on
this. I just think it'd be as long as
it's a concurrence that that's what we
want. Just put it on the
get with Jen and have Jen put it get
with Melissa to do it. I think that's
the cleaner way because I just to me
this is just a
>> internal operating procedure that if we
agree to it that's I think that's
sufficient if we're all
>> if you would give us some guidance on
how you would like to select the
employees for each meeting um that would
be helpful if you want to go
alphabetical by employees last name
alphabetical by department or some other
method of of choosing who you want to
speak with first um Melissa and I'd be
happy to help facilitate those for
I'm open to any suggestions. Alpha works
as well. Judge, do you have an idea?
>> Or if there's specific departments you'd
like to see first because you have a lot
of things going on currently with those
department.
>> Just go down the phone list. Okay.
>> That's a easy to do.
>> Yeah. And I mean, it's going to be in a
rotation anyway. So, somebody's going to
go first and somebody's last and it'll
be that'll start all over.
>> Yeah.
you'd like to start with two um and
maybe even give them a time limit for
the close session um to start off with
that if you think that's idea. It's up
to you guys.
>> I say let's start like October 1st in a
new fiscal fiscal year and just that way
because we got some things we had to
plow through in the next month.
>> So like the budget and whatnot. So
that's my
>> and the goal would be to keep it between
20 and 30 minutes each. Right. I say 15
20 tops each. I think you know some of
them may not even need all that time.
>> And some may or may not need to go into
close session.
>> Correct.
>> As well. Well, we can take the org
chart.
>> Yeah. Whatever
>> right there.
>> General counsel county engineer are the
first top two.
>> All right.
>> But whatever y'all want to do. I would
also add that um the wording on the
agenda item is scary sounding to a lot
of people because it says duties and
responsibilities of blank and including
the dismissal and I mean there's a lot
of different words that go into those
agenda items. So
>> I think we'll talk we have roundt coming
up this week. I don't know who's who's
with me at round table.
>> I think directly from the statute for
the personnel um matters that's an
exception under the public pardon me
open meetings act. And so what I do is I
put the language directly from the
statute within the agenda item to give
the court as much flexibility as
possible on what the court may choose to
talk about during close session. It's
not intended to be scary. In fact,
you'll see that my job's been on the
closed session a few times and that
language has been used every time. So
please, if staff is seeing this and
hearing this, it's not intended to be
scary in any way. But there's no reason
that I can see to handcuff the court
walking into a meeting on what their
options are when the court's the
supervisor of the employee.
>> I think we can just try to brief this at
round table just kind of what the
>> expectation is and what don't be scared
about the language. And so with that is
>> I want to say one thing real quick and
um I think this is a great idea because
it seems for some departments the only
time we see them is during budget and so
I do think we need to interact and have
them feel the freedom to be able to
bring things to us and I think as we
start the process um they'll feel the
ability to bring things to us that they
may not have before and so I think this
is a great idea. Thank you.
All right. So, with that, it is 2:38
p.m. on Tuesday, August 25th. That
concludes our open portion of today's
session. You okay with taking a couple
minute restroom break? And then we'll
pick up with our executive. We'll start
off with Rusty Busby and Prop 8 and get
this thing moved. All right. We're in a
quick recess.
» Right. It's uh officially 4:30 p.m. and
we concluded our executive session and
we're reopening our open portion of
today's session. Are there any motions
uh you ladies would like to make?
>> No, sir.
>> Gentlemen, anything from you?
>> And with that, it is 4:30 p.m. and this
regularly called session of the Kendall
County Commissioner Court is adjourned.