good afternoon everyone again on behal
of the north chamber executive committee
bo staff want to thank you for being
here today I have the priv of serving as
mentioned as the chair of government
Affairs the
year year proud to have at table on
chamber issues in
our
reform polies supported um we supported
and advocated on important issues such
as employee retention tax credits San
Antonio to DC non-stop lights and
funding for the advanced rapid transit
to name a
few of course we look have look forward
to having a great discussion today with
our County Judge Peter Sakai but before
we get started we want to acknowledge
and thank those elected officials who
have joined us here today several of you
have joined us for our government
Affairs meetings and we look forward to
having um those who have not attended
join in the future if you can please
stand and be recognized when your name
is
called obviously the man of the hour be
County Judge Peter
[Applause]
Sakai be County Commissioner pring three
Grant
[Applause]
moty May County Commissioner Precinct 2
Justin Rodriguez
[Applause]
city councilman District 9 John
courage city council woman District 3
phis
vagan city councilwoman district 7
Marina Alber
[Applause]
garito city councilman District 8 Manny
palas
[Applause]
city councilwoman district 6 Melissa C
[Applause]
hav I believe we also have the bar
County tax assessor Albert weski
[Applause]
here the mayor of the city of Lio Mary
[Applause]
Dennis councilman city of Converse Stacy
Adams be County Sheriff Javier
[Applause]
salaza representative of the 120th
District representative German
Hawkins representative of the 118th
District uh representative Luhan
[Applause]
a newly elected fa County Appraisal
District Board member Naomi
[Applause]
Miller and we have uh from the county Manager David Smith and I not
sure if he joined us after all but the
city uh manager Eric supposed to be here
so give everybody a round of
applause again thank you all for your
service to our community pleas please
let me know if I miss anybody um one of
our core tenants as a chamber is
advocacy what does that look like for
the north chamber well it looks like
signature programs like this one
leadership programs including Civic
Leadership Academy breakfast with the
Mayors that's coming up in August and
City Vision are just some examples of
our efforts to inform our members about
what's going on in our community and
then Advocate on their behalf we also
have our monthly government Affairs
meetings where as mentioned prior we
invite Civic or elected leaders to uh to
come inform us about issues and topics
that are important to them and to our
membership so I mentioned the mayor's
breakfast um I I have to give ourselves
the shame shameful plug uh but we're
really looking forward to that breakfast
coming up on August 9th information
about the event could be found using a
QR code in the program we have currently
11 Mayors uh committed so far so please
help us get the word out so finally I'd
like to introduce my friend uh and key
member of the north San Antonio Chamber
of Commerce uh board of directors and
executive committee Chris
Coro Chris come up Chris has done an
amazing job chairing our Workforce
committee the past couple years uh but
more importantly for
today um for today at least he's here
representing our title sponsors George
General Contractors so let's all give
Jorge a big thank you and let's give
Chris a
[Applause]
welcome well good afternoon everyone and
on behalf of Gary Jor 50 employees of
George General Contractors were very
pleased to be part of sponsor for
today's event be county has been home GE
contractor since G's father founded the
firm in
1967 G's father was very involved in
community very involved in trades sub
trades that we work with and that's
still happening today our
mission is to transform people in places
and we do that by becoming involved in
we live I want to tell all of you the
north chamber has been a great partner
from Geor contractors over the years
honored to be serving on the board I'm
sharing Workforce Development bringing a
lot of people to the table there's a lot
of great entities trying to do good
things with Workforce right now the one
thing that I've seen that's been lacking
to some extent has been bringing
everybody in the room and then bringing
the business community and their HR
directors to provide feedback
program the north chamber has been a
huge advocate for us in past years as I
look out across this room today and look
at the relationships that we built over
the past 57 years it's really an honor
to be here to say that whether it's
University Health System University of
Texas San Antonio Texas A&M Credit human
um city of San Antonio they're all
represented here today and we are just
so proud part of this community and on
behalf of Y and employees we are very
pleased
Toons I have the great honor of
introducing our new CEO and chairman
Brett Finley Brett's been on the job all
of seven months he uh is a Texas State
grad he got his BS in kinesiology from
Texas State University got a master in
arts and political science most recently
the past six years he was withan Board
of realtorss where he represented 16,000
reals across be County advocating for
public policy for them and I'm really
honored to welcome him up to the stage
today it's our president and CEO and he
will be moderating with our guest of
honor judge Peter Zak Peter speaking of
getting back to the community he has had
a career of Public Service um he was
appointed to uh CH be the children's
judge for years ago he served four terms
as a
225th circuit court judge he was elected
to that he joined the office of uh uh
judge of bar County in 20 uh January of
2023 so both of them are relatively new
um he um has a great family story as
well his family Japanese World War II
his dad his family were involved iner
camps so he is very very very concerned
about civil rights rightfully
so near and dear his heart he's also
been great about back to community
himself his wife Rachel is an educator
like my wife congratulations 32 years in
Harlandale ISD Rachel will you please
stand
[Applause]
recogniz my wife said be sure and let
everybody know that she's doing God's
work so thank you for what you've done
in Harlandale I noticed we had the
opportunity to BU University Health
System there new Women's and Children's
Tower we had Jim Adams in the audience
today Jim's chairman of board University
Health System he and his wife celebrated
J's 65 years of marriage and you all are
graduates of our Harlandale ISD so
thought I would put a plug in for them
as
well so without further Ado I'm going to
ask judge SC to come up and uh let's get
this thing picked off again we're so
grateful to have you all here today
thank you
Chris BR how are you come on down all
right thank you we're good okay we made
it welcome everybody to uh the state of
business in bear county event as Chris
mentioned I'm Brett Finley president CEO
and we have got a a lofty agenda for
today a lot of topics to to dive into
and I'm really excited and so thankful
that everybody could be here to have a little fireside chat with 350 of
your your closest friends and family
maybe next year we'll try to work with
AV to get like a a fire kind of going
not not literal fire not in this heat
all right it's bit too hot out there
just missing a glass of scotch and a
cigar or something but we are going to
have a bit of a chat today so U without
further Ado judge and I think when when
folks talk about your role as County
judge you were certainly focused on both
Regional investment but also foreign
investment and not just Mexico but also
Beyond and I know overseas you had a
recent travel over to Japan uh trying to
really strengthen international
relations with prominent Business
Leaders um you want to touch on that and
also maybe a few welcoming remarks for
our Audi sure sure well thank you Brad
let me thank the north chamber and the
work yall
do feedback and uh just want to thank
all of y'all um y'all are kind of the foundation for our community at
least from the business community so I
want to thank all those that participate
all those that support the north chamber
Brett thank you and and your board and
thank you Gary jores for being the title
sponsor along with all the sponsors that
make this opportunity for me to come and
talk to y'all and really all we're
hoping today was to have a conversation
as to uh what I've been doing where am I
going and what I'm hoping that we can do
in collaboration to make their County a
better place and so Brett thank you for
this op okay so talk a little bit about
your your recent trip to Japan J you
want to talk about maybe some
accomplishments what's what's on the
horizon for for foreign investment
potentially here count Well Middle May
uh I made a decision to take a trip to
Japan a delegation over there uh I want
to thank my team who went with me uh it
was myself and Rachel along with the bar
County team Matthew palanco was Chief of
Staff David Marquez with the bar County
Economic Development and a staffer
Marshall hul we also had great ratx and I want to thank uh Sarah kabus Rush
and Charlie fish for being part of that
team one of the kind of unknown people
that really was a strank that team for
those that are not aware we had a Texas
Japan leason hio
wavis and he was very instrumental in
making sure that we were success so in a
nutshell Brett I would say we
scored uh we knocked it out of the park
okay and we did very very well uh for
those that and sometimes the public
needs to understand why we do these
things
why is because I see those these type of
trips as to help develop and expand the
economic base of Bear County pure and
simple there is a return and investment
for these type of trips also too it was
my opportunity to develop the
relationships with the high government
officials in Japan and we met a few and
also to meet the businesses and
industries that are dealing and working
here in bar
County and I will tell you in 5 days
five working days we had 22 meetings
five national press interviews and we
work from the morning to the evening so
we were very very focused we strategized
and like I said uh some of the outcomes
the return investment on that I will
tell you we have some new manufacturing
companies from Japan that are coming
this year to come see what bar countyy
is all about uh I am confident those opportunities are going to become
realities also too I had an opportunity
to meet some high government officials I
met the honorable T Kono who was the
minister of digital
Technologies and I believe he may be the
next prime minister of Japan if given
that opportunity and so we had a great
opportunity to discuss the strength and
the industry of cyber security I will
tell you it's interesting Japan doesn't
really take a they they really both in
the private and the public sector really
didn't have that uh issue so to speak
with cyber security I don't know if
that's because they haven't had issues
or it's not a high concern but I wanted
to make sure they understood that cyber
security was an integral part of our
economic basee in bar County especially
with UTSA being one of the leading
institutions for cyber security and the
education and the two buildings are
building right there by the
courthouse and so one of the things I
think I was able to plant to seed both
in the government and in the private
sector was you better take care of cyber
security cyber security is something you
need to integrate into your business
models as you come to the United States
also too had a great conversation with
the governor of aichi prefecture
governor omura and he uh has a great
relationship that's where Toyota Japan
the corporate headquarters is located
and one of the things that we committed
to was to continue a United States Japan
student exchange and so I'm looking
forward working with Rachel to see how
we can become closer in the relationship
obviously this trip by coincidence came
after I was invited to the Prime
Minister cida's joint address to
Congress and I also used his address to
tie back to Bear County which is the US
Japan relationship is not as strong but
it's going to need to be stronger and
they're going to really look to link
more so I took that commitment that
prime minister kashida had to take it to
the private sector to say we need to do
even more so I'm excited about the seeds
I planted so to speak the opportunities
that I was trying to let the Japanese
Industries especially in the
manufacturing world and so finally I
think Brett what I really wanted to
accomplish was this I wanted to build
consensus and build an understanding
with our uh Partners there in Japan I
want wanted to deepen that relationship
I wanted to I'll be real blunt I'm a
Japanese American so it gave me
tremendous leverage in having those
conversations with the officials in
Japan and finally I wanted to convince
Japan and the industries there that it
is in their best interest to look to
Bear County and then from a regional
perspective of what Bear County and the
regional including looking South into
Mexico could create for these business
Industries so I think it was a
tremendous success that fantastic Jud
and thank you for your I think
intentional leadership I think you
mentioned cyber security we talk about
military City USA but I don't think a
lot of folks know we've got over
16,500 cyber Security Professionals
right here second largest Hub of cyber
security in the United States outside of
Washington DC I see Jim herbach back
there with Fort San Antonio LED Martin I
know they've got room for growth with
over 15,000 square feet of you know
facility space uh to bring in
potentially new employers they they're
aggressively hiring as we speak USAA I
know they're they're killing off I think
1 million and plus cyber security
attacks in their cyber Center on a
regular basis just to say a few things
there on cyber security I want to
transition let's talk a little bit about
Transportation we've got the Texas
Mexico Automotive super cluster that's
everyone's favorite acronym for this
afternoon the T the TM
ASC initiative uh we've got some top
findings about advancing economic growth
this was a a strategic partnership
between Texas and the four most northern
Mexico States I think in 2013 it was
first started seen a lot of good work
there can you talk a little bit about
that new initiative new isue well one of
the things bear county has focused on
and I give credit to David marz and his
team at our Economic Development shop
was that we have the county has always
looked at the regional uh perspective of
growth which means look at the
manufacturing Trail so to speak that
starts and I think we have it up on the
screen that starts in Mexico central
Mexico with the manufacturing plants in
there literally comes to Laro and uses
I35 to uh as a trade Corridor throughout
the country and so one of the things
that I think was important about task
and having to study
was that that we were able to give data
driven analysis to the private sector
and even to the public sector for that
matter but the private sector really
need to understand what the
opportunities they have to come to Bear
County and then understand that what
we're looking at from a county
perspective is how do we tie in the
regional concept and so one of the thing
Tass did was give Japan and those
officials data metrics analytics so that
they could make their cost benefit
analysis also too we were big on making
the pitch from a fact based data
perspective and having the Tass report
as an underpinning of that presentation
and that's the reason why I applaud my
team we were very focused we were very
prepared to address the needs of each
company we talked to we were very very
intentional with that and then two I
pitched as the County Judge about
collaboration how I am making a special
effort that City County works together
on these type of issues of bringing
corporate opportunities uh to our
community I also told them that I work
with the county judges my counterparts
all in South Texas I'm going to continue
to look at things from a regional
perspective and so what I was want them
to understood is it just wasn't a sales
pitch of Bear County this was an
opportunity that they had to come to
expand and establish a corporate base
ultimately I was also pitching they need
to bring the corporate headquarters they
need to be physically located in our
County and so I'm convinced that the
business growth that this initiative and
this the trip to Japan Bo will increase
the economic base of bear county and so
the Tass was an example of having the
data and I think I'll be honest with you
we didn't go try to pitch them the world
we gave him the facts and we left it
saying read it in fact I believe the
Tass report is in all your QR codes I
want to make a a shout out for that to
say if yall want to see that report and
we also put it in Japanese so that there
was no going to be no issue of
interpretation or what I will tell you
in a couple meetings we really did a
deep dive in that t- mask they really
wanted to go what do you mean Mexico to
Laredo to San Antonio and on up and so
one CEO literally got on and just
started going on the map going where
does this all go so I'm just telling you
it was again there was a very strategic
process to our presentation there in
Japan also too I think what's important
is to recognize t- mask is the
underpinning of what I call local
regionalism and I call I use the word
Texas Diamond uh the old Texas triangle
is been really Dallas Austin San Antonio
Houston right and how all that could
develop into an economic generator I
have wanted to create What's called the
Texas Diamond San Antonio at the top
Corpus to the east Oro to the west down
to the real Grandy Valley which I grew
up in so I know that Community very very
well and into Mexico more specifically
monter understanding that that is going
to be the key to the growth from this
strategy of from an international to a
national to our local community let's
bring in and I've been down to Laredo
I'm going to Corpus right Vic Boer I'm
going to Corpus chity this Friday to
share and all we're doing is not making
any pitch what we're trying to do is
help help them understand that the
projects we have hopefully is going to
collaborate with the projects they have
and that we just don't look at silos
that this is all barar County this is
all South Texas no how does it all come
together and that was one of my
takeaways in Laredo is we have a lot of
work to do to bring that perspec effect
of collaboration that their projects
that they're creating now I will tell
you one thing we learned that I learned
was that they've got a tremendous
investment on the bridge and the
capacity of the bridge they have clearly
said there is more traffic to come which
means more truck traffic to move
Commerce which means more trucks on I
ag35 which will I'm sure will touch on
other collateral issues and so again um
I think there's a full report report on
t- mask and I want to invite everybody
to use the QR code uh what I believe is
at their table we take a look at that
and again we've got a ton of opportunity
I think by virtue of some some OD you
know 310 plus local suppliers in the
automotive specific side of the industry
50,000 employers here in Texas another
400,000 employees who are living and
working in Mexico um I want to touch on
a little bit of Workforce Development
specifically in that space of advanced
manufacturing I know the county has a
couple of programs you'd like to shed
some light on how hey we we have
eagerness from industry do we have the Willpower the training the trainable
Workforce uh to to fill those jobs the
short answer is yes I mean obviously
we're fulfilling the needs of Toyota
Navar HB Holt uh you know and and more
companies to come one of the things that
I I want the North chamber and everybody
in the room to understand is the county
does have specific programs in the
Workforce Development sometimes it's
mentioned but it I I didn't really
understand till I became County Judge
what work the county is into the
Workforce Development and we have
basically two programs and uh we have
Texas Fame and Texas fast sometimes
those programs are kind of interl and
they sound like the same one but they're
not so let me make sure everybody
understands Texas Fame Texas Fame is a
two-year program Advanced manufacturing
program we partner up with the Alo
College District and I believe their
campus right now is down on the Paulo
Alto campus and in the St Phil Philips
Southwest Campus and what it is is it's
a joint
venture of the workforce where uh
students are given two days of class
work uh in the on campus with a 3 days
on the job training of a sponsoring
company and let me I'm referring to
notes because I want to be very specific
about our numbers and our success out of
Texas Fame we've gotten 212 graduates
91% placement rate with an average wage
rate of
2831 ideally what we're hoping out of
Texas Fame is that people will get a a
associates degree if that's what they
want and they will get a certification
in the advanced manufacturing trade and
they got a guarantee for job and I think
it it is a very successful program now
Texas fast is a SE is all part but
separate Texas fast is a 10-week boot
camp it's basically getting its entry
level maintenance
technicians and it's people that have
not been in the workforce generally
we're focusing on older uh students
we're focusing on people that perhaps
have made bad choices and are coming out
of the criminal justice system if you
know what I'm saying or we're dealing
with people that have really never
engaged in the workforce and what we're
doing in that 10we boot camp Brett is
that what we want to do is just get them
to get a skill set and have the employer
committed to take that graduate and then
skill them up in other words the company
will really then engage in a full-time
Workforce Development program for them
numbers 121 Texas fast graduates 88%
placement rate with an average wirly
Rage of
$26.78 cents I will tell you one of the
things that we picked up in the trip to
Japan was that we got feedback that I
think it was Toyota it was one of the
manufacturers in Mexico that had to shut
down because of the shortage of Labor
and I grabbed that and said you're not
going to have that here one of the
things that I'm committed to and it's
something I've committed to from a
pledgees a campaign to what I'm doing
now as County Judge is I want to see
public private Partnerships I don't want
to see County having to do everything
and doing the heavy lift I'm looking at
you private sector to say hey what can
we do to partner up and then bring in
the other public institutions such as Al
College districts such as the public
school districts anybody that has infal
people into the skilled Workforce the
other thing is and I'll say it on the
record I want an employer driven program
I want the employers to say what they
need and what what are the the
attributes the skills that they need and
then like I said we have a program that
can really put people on a career path
with Texas Fame have an associates
degree I would assume some people may
decide they want to go back into the get
a higher uh degree of a bachelor's or a
master and so that they can move up but
we want to get them into the advanced
manufacturing training programs and so
that's where the Count's at and I think
it's very successful and I am committed
to expand that especially from an
employer driven program that is I think
from a chamber perspective judge any
employee driven program as it relates to
Workforce Development that's that's our
love language so we're we're right on
par there um so you mentioned I35 and I
know you've been strengthening
relationships not only across the seas
but also here with your counterpart
Travis County Judge Andy Brown um and
passenger rail has been a topic of maybe
a little bit of the past but maybe
reconstituted we're still trying to work
on some things I want to kind of glean
your optimism uh on a scale of like one
being it's it's a pie in the sky there's
no going to happen to tend being hey
look like we we've got some momentum
here and it's absolutely a certainty are
we somewhere in the middle right now how
does how does passenger rail what's the
Outlook right now on the optimism scale
let let me say this I think it's going
to happen but it's going to be a slow
methodical process uh one of the things
let me kind of give you the background
with judge Andy Brown and I so that you
understand this relationship that we
have uh obviously the Spurs have to come
to the commissioner court and I know
commissioner Moody commissioner
Rodriguez yell in the room you know they
need
permission for by the way this I'm the
landlord of the Spurs okay and and I
mean that in a a in a in a positive way
they had to come to the court to get two
games in Austin and we had to give
permission and we got some push back
there was some public why why are you
giving them permission the Spurs are
leaving they're going to go to Austin
and I had to put the breakes on that
so in my conversations with Judge Brown
out of this particular incident I told
him hey are you taking my Spurs and he
goes no okay will you say that publicly
he goes yeah I'll say it publicly okay
we do we have a shake of the hands and
I'm I'm going Shake of the hand kind of
guy I also had a conversation with Peter
John and Peter John said no we're not
moving so we obviously allowed the first
to go and has allowed this uh I35
relationship and I think it's really
brought uh uh Travis County and Bear
County more together and then and again
in a very collaborative way just with
the fact we started a conversation of
common interest so let's get to what
you're asking for about rail Judge Brown
is like I want Rail and I had to
initially say I want rail but I got to
say it a little
quietly uh it's been tried and it hadn't
happened and I'm not going to make the
same mistake over he on the other hand
hasn't they got Light Rail in Austin you
know I mean they got they they do all
kinds of things right bear is bear we
got to go at the pace that the community
will Embrace and so in regards to rail
we agreed that we needed to look at
multimodal
transportation we could not build out
more Lanes of 35 it's we're doing it now
and I'm going to tell you from my
reports we're going to have too much
truck traffic and we're still going to
have choke points on
35 so rail is going to be a
necessity thank y'all very
much now why did Judge Brown and I start
the conversation because there are
opportunities and those are the
conversations we continue to have the
Biden Administration has $66 billion in
order to uh invest in passenger derail
we wanted a conversation so that we
could make the pitch to the federal
government as you think you can give us
some money and we made the pitch but you
know we didn't get in line a lot of the uh passenger rail was East Coast
West Coast and so we understood that we
also understood that Amtrak is a
stakeholder partner has to be involved
because they do run a a rail but it's
only once in the morning once in the
evening and there's there's not good
reports coming out of the service of
Amtrak and so what we have done now is
we have brought stakeholders together
bring this conversation bring this
collaboration and we've had multi
meetings and I want to recognize to give
a shout out to councilwoman Melissa Hava
uh who is uh representing the city of
San Antonio and has quite frankly is out
front of this along with the myself and
behalf of the county and so we have all
also two County judges and City
officials in between and so it it it
just aligns with the regional
partnership it aligns with the Regional
because I'm also saying why aren't we
also looking from San Antonio to Laredo
because we know that there's been a
study from Monteray to Laredo and that
Mexico is prepared to invest in rail so
my perspective
is let maybe we can't make highspeed
rail happen but Judge Brown and I says
look what we want to do is we want the
opportunity for people to go up and down
35 I see the opportunity and growth of a
commuter rail whatever that could be and
whatever we can create with whatever
resources we have that people would come
from the from s Austin to the Frost Bank
Center to come to Spurs gate I mean
they're coming but we want to see that
growth I went to two sellout games in
Austin I'm telling you the the Austin
people embraced the San Antonio Spurs so
why aren't we making it convenient why
aren't we developing and enhancing our
entertainment centers I get it Travis
County Austin has some really great neat
events like South by Southwest but why
AR we having it here and so private
sector I need you to create these
entertainment districts or entertainment
centers or events that will bring people
down obviously we know that there are
people that live in San Antonio work in
Austin and so we also want to provide
for them and so Brett that's the reason
why I am call cautiously optimistic but
I think from my perspective and just my
way I lead is I want to be methodical
and so as I have planted seeds in Japan
I'm planting seeds in our community that
we must be committed to rail it's great
to hear um I know we're running a little
short on time we've got other questions
to get through and I'm not going to let
you off the hook on the county being a
landlord of the S train first I knew I
opened the door on that one before we
get there uh there's a a small ground
break on the south side of Bear County
just this last week 400 Acres was
purchased by JCB some of you probably
familiar with him
absolutely they've got a 720,000 sare
foot facility uh and by Texas math
that's a whole lot of football fields um
but they're putting in on the south side
of Bear County Judge what is that going
to mean for economic development and
just you know overall here in in Bear
County why should folks be excited about
JCB because I think JCP is well one if
youall know Where It's a UK so uh we're
get we've got a one of the largest
manufacturing the military and
agriculture equipment uh you see some of
their equipment along the roadway on
road
construction I mean you just said it,
1500 new jobs 10 billion billion with a
B in 10 years and what that what that
goes is what what my strategic plan is
use it to develop and expand the
economic base use it to defeat
generational poverty and the rates of
poverty we have in our community by
creating really meaningful jobs that pay
well uh I see JCB along with also too I
think it's already been announced I got
to be careful on what announcements I
can but Toyota is going to go on an
expansion and they're going to go on a
half billion dollar expansion on their
campus and we're really looking forward
to see the economic impact
if you just go down to the South Side
along with I think it's zaram more that
turns in Highway 16 and over to 281
you're going to see an explosion of
growth we've got the uh Hospital Jim
Adams Jimmy H Locker thank you for your
leadership on the UHS board we've got a
new hospital that's going to include
mental
health to to meet the underserved needs
of that Community you can automatically
see that the school districts Southwest
Southside and East Cent control are all
getting the effects of an increased tax
base so I you know I'm not not going to
touch that public education and finance
I let the people in Austin continue to
do that debate but what we can do
locally is just kind of keep building up
our base and so JCB Toyota and I believe
the other businesses that are yet to
come but are coming that we're going to
be able to really increase tax base
which will then allow us as a body and
I'm talking to my fellow Commissioners
to look at ways to lower the tax burden
on seniors on our veterans our First
Responders that we can hopefully
maintain those tax keep those taxes down
so that we don't overburden our system
and so I'm I'm just so excited about JCB
that as you saw Toyota was a game
changer Toyota manufacturing Texas it
was a game changer for bar County it was
a game Cher for the Southside and now we
got a I think we have another game Cher
so if you think they scored a lot of
points there's more points to score in
this in this game we love hearing that
and I know speaking of Game Changers San
Antonio is really known for their small
businesses right truly at the heart of
the cause of of what I think us as a
chamber really like to lean in on can
you talk about from a county perspective
the support the resources that y'all
have for small businesses
well obviously small businesses and and
running for this office I made a
commitment to small business I knew some
of the big projects that we just
mentioned there they were going to
happen or we had the we really had
momentum there we need to continue to
focus on small businesses I really
believe they're the heart and soul of
our community including all the mom and
pop operations and so one of the ways I
want to help them is for County
government to be more accessible to be
more transparent to be more accountable
to be more user friendly because they
need the resources to develop in light
of that I will tell you one of the big
initiatives I'm doing right now in
regards to County government I really
want us a big upgrade in County
procurement we're still stuck in a lot
of the old way so to speak in Old
systems and so I really am pushing our
County procurement to really be more
streamlined I'm also committed and I
believe Renee Watson who I was with an
event last night we were and let me get
my notes with the associated general
contractors of America the local San
Antonio chapter we had graduates about
over two dozen graduates of small
business being certified in order for
them to enter the job market and be
vendors with Bear County and to
understand the process and so those are
the things the County's committed to its
small women minority owned business
enterprises with Renee Watson in charge
of uh the San Antonio business
Enterprise Department uh I'm really
proud and I don't know if he's here
today but one of our new County
department heads is Art Reinhardt uh who
heads up our Public Works County
engineer I was really proud that we
provided really a public input on that
appointment and I hope people learn to
appreciate I really
wanted the community and especially the
business Community to tell us who were
the best people to become part of be
County government and our really has
really great job of trying to open up
and making Public Works a more public
friendly private sector friendly so uh
all I want to do is encourage all of
y'all to go to the county we have our
Vendor Portal uh especially for your
commitment or your small business
members let them understand understand
and perhaps there's more training to do
in order to let the small business
Community grow I want them to grow along
with the large businesses that are
coming they both have to be rising up at
the same time that to me is going to be
a big accomplishment and I'm I'm
confident we're going to get there
that's great to hear judge and I know
from the chamers perspective there's
been a great deal of receptiveness from
you and the county leadership hearing
and gaining that feedback from from
small business owners say hey look this
is where the support we're needing this
is where maybe the Mark isn't being hit
and let's let's adjust according well
let me let me just quickly follow up I
know that we're short on time but one of
the things that we passed and I want to
give credit to the court and to the
commissioner we established a
construction bonding assistant program I
think it's the only one in in town so to
speak where we're going to expand
through County Assistance the ability to
assist contractors to build and expand
their bonding capacity which means
they'll learn to compete at a higher
level that is something I'm really
excited I really want to see the results
the ROI on that program because I think
that's a game Cher also too and I think
some of y'all may be involved especially
the public institution is our supply
essay I think mayor former mayor
secretary Saros has head headed that
opportunity to look at procurement from
entire
Community perspective I think we got 14
plus governmental entities public
institutions that have all signed on to
make the procurement process so as I'm
working on County we are working and
much and part of that and I think David
Smith our County manager has been the
leader on the local level from the
county perspective of having how do how
business gets certified how do business
know about the opportunities and so
again that's that's another exciting
uh initiative that the county has led
let's let's go a little bit further down
the question board here on anything else
that we haven't covered and we've got in
addition to Economic Development your
stated priorities in public safety
Public Health I know you touched on the
new hospital development we've actually
got Mr George Hernandez the president
CEO of the University of Health here as
well as Mr James Adam chairman of the
board of managers for Bear County
Hospital can talk a little bit about on
the public safety side and public health
aspect some of your your focus points in
that sure one of the things as running
for this County Judge obviously I
brought a skill set being a judge in the
court system about our justice system
and obviously last fall we had a
situation where we had the media God
bless them uh they covered all these
situations where there were shootings
between repeat offenders and uh police
officers which was obviously a danger
and an issue that needed to be addressed
I think some of the conversation at that
time was really finger pointing of well
it's you're to blame no to you to blame
and this is where my relationship and my
commitment to this community came in I
called the mayor the mayor called me I
don't know called first he said look we
got to stop this we got to stop the
finger pointing and we've got to fix
this and so what I did was con and we
and along with the mayor and he and we
worked together on this issue we brought
all the stakeholders together we brought
the chief of police and the San Antonio
Police Department we brought the sheriff
and the sheriff's deputy we brought the
court system uh judge Ron ronel
represented the courts we represented
the um all the other stakeholders that
are part of Public Safety and what we
did is we broke it down and we analyzed
it and I had my 18 my staff Cynthia C uh
was really my leader on that initiative
and we basically put a public safety
plan together we put I think as I recall
my notes showed about three dozen uh
dozen steps that we all adopted as a
group to help bring and tighten up the
criminal justice system and I truly
believe that we as a result we are
keeping our community safe I know there
things that happen and I continually
have conversations with the sheriff I
have continual conversations with chief
police what do we need to do and so we
timed up some of the issues of release
of especially repeat offenders we looked
at whether our magistration system
needed to be tightened up so to speak
the use of our personal bonds our
electronic monitors all that kind of got
looked at and so what I want the public
to understand and it's it's it's an
ongoing issue even right now the public
is safe because we have committed
elected and appointed officials who want
to do the very best what we need to
learn to do is we need to learn on how
to work together and to communicate and
then and as Commissioner's Court or City
Counsel and I know we have city council
how how much do we invest in that
because it takes tax dollars to make
some of these uh projects and and steps
work and those are the tough decisions
we make in light of the tax relief
people are asking for so I want to
Circle back before we close I want to
Circle back and touch on I I can't let
you off the hook as I mentioned I don't
think anybody's going to let you out the
door without asking about the world's
greatest basketball teams Spurs the
Spurs county is the existing landlord
what can you share with us what can you
share with the audience give us a little
bit of perspective and what the role of
the county has been best far those well
obviously there are conversations
and and and they're continuing and there
is nothing concrete to report out and
even if I had the ability to tell you
something the group has agreed that we
need to work in confidence and order to
accomplish what the Spurs let me make
these points and I've made it publicly I
made a commitment to the San Antonio
Spurs and Peter John Hull and the whole
family to say I support you I'll do
whatever I can to and especially keep
you here in in our community and so the
Spurs know that at the same time I let
the Spurs and the city know that I have
an investment of the Frost Bank Center
that was created when I believe County
Judge Cindy CER was on uh court and I
said it's still a great facility and we
have a lease that goes to 2032 so I have
a fiduciary duty as a County Judge to
make sure everybody complies with the
contract or if we need to
renegotiate and so I've made it very
clear that I have to protect Frost Bank
Center I have to figure out and
repurpose what the Frost Bank Center is
going to be if the Spurs leave and when
they leave and I'm telling you right now
we don't have anything concrete to
report out and if I did I wouldn't tell
you but also two also said said this and
this was a big stipulation I told
everybody in the room the the whenever
they created the Frost Bank Center they
made a commitment that they would invest
in that community in that East Side
especially around Frost Bank Center and
that that would the Frost Bank Center
would create this economic uh center
with whatever they would create I quite
frankly told them that that hasn't
happened that I truly believe in my
conversations with the community in the
east side and the leadership in the east
side will tell you those promises were
never met they feel that those promises
were broken and so I have insisted that
whatever we do to assist to Spurs and to
figure out how we can negotiate it that
development in that Frost Bank Center is
ongoing and I'm expecting an investment
of all the stakeholders involved now
what we need to understand is
that that may mean a lot of different
things so I will tell you that the
county is at the table but at the same
time the the conversations really are
between the city of San Antonio and the
Spurs and then once they formulate that
then we're going to put I mean obviously
we're there to make sure all the pieces
of the puzzle and that's going to be my
job as the County Judge to make sure the
County's protected the county investment
is protected but yet I want to be very
clear I'm committed to the Spurs we know
that wmy won the Rookie of the Year we
know that wmy is going to bring another
championship to our community and so
what we need to do is we got to make
things work and that's my commitment to
the community we'll figure it out we'll
make it work one of the other things to
recognize I don't know if they're in the
room but I've insisted that the San
Antonio Rodeo uh sale and and the bar
County Coliseum Advisory Board are at
the table the rodeo is a very valuable
partner and the Frost Bank Center and
that I want them to take advantage of
whatever opportunities can come in what
this new uh day will be for the Spurs
for the city and the county uh we also
want to look at what we can do to
enhance the grounds of the Coliseum
Advisory board that is a crown jewel
that was created many many years ago and
I'm committed to make sure that the
rodeo is also protected they they've
been a very good partner with the county
yeah that's great to hear and thank you
for the Insight your pness U ladies and
gentlemen that concludes our our
questions for today's program judge
before we let you go though um we wanted
to just say a bit of a thank you
financially speaking uh in regards to
the donation to um the Bear County
fostering educational success
organization the North San chamber is
going to be donating $500 towards those
charity efforts to make sure that you
can get foster kids into that that
successful pathway and possibly uh
succeeding on the college and bigger
things let me give a plug for that
absolutely unless we're judge you got
let me tell you the bar County uh educa
fostering educational success is a
foster care program that I created when
I was in children's Court along with
UTSA Texas A&M San Antonio and the
College District and what and Casa and
what we did was an example of what I
tried to do every day as your County
Judge I brought everybody together and I
said look we got to take care of these
kids that have a tuition way they get
free education but they're not taking
advantage of it because there's no
support for them and I just want to
applaud Dr Amy and more importantly Miss
Peggy Amy uh the first lady of UTSA that
we took it and we have a program that is
I'll be honest people all over the
country want to know how did you create
this and we didn't create it by County
city we created by everybody coming
together and figuring out what we could
do it is one of the most successful
programs I've ever put together it's
something I'm very proud of and that's
an example of what I hope to bring to
the county let's fix things let's sit
down roll up your sleeves and let's
figure it out and we come together and
collaborate and that's that's I continue
to do that as I serve as your County
judge so thank you br and more
importantly thank you for the flowers
for Rachel I probably would have got a
little static at home going where did
how come you didn't give me flowers and
so thank you for what you do absolutely
thank you and thank y'all for what y'all
do thank you very much