Okay. If I could ask everyone to please rise. I believe we have pastor james roberts here with christ life church and then the nueces County junior livestock show.
queen 2026 chloe delgado is going to come up with me afterwards and help lead us in the Pledges.
so thank you, pastor. You can start. Thank you.
your honor and county commissioners, let's pray.
father god, we are so thankful, father god, for this day that you've given us.
lord, we just want to give you praise, father god, For waking us up today, giving us breath of life in our lungs.
lord, let us never take that for granted, father god, The days that we have.
and so, lord, I pray, father god for this time, Lord.
as decisions are made, as voices are heard, that father god, That the weight that is laid upon the people that are in charge
here, father, our commissioners and our county judge. Lord, I pray that you would bless their hearts, Bless their minds today.
father god, I pray, father, lord, that you will give them wisdom, And that they will lean not on their own understanding,
but as your word says, that we will give knowledge to you and lean on everything that you Give us,
especially in these days that are in upheaval, These days that seem to be out of control.
lord, we thank you, father, that you're still on the throne and you're in control.
so, lord, today, let peace prevail. Let your heart be seen.
let your words be heard. That, father god, that we will esteem others highly, More highly than ourselves,
as your word calls us to. And as the apostle paul urged us, Said in every way possible,
make peace with everyone around us. So, lord, I thank you, father, for righteous judgment,
for correct decisions. And that, lord, that your word, Your life, your your presence will prevail in all of this.
father, we thank you for where we are, where we live, The country you've given us.
we thank you for the people that are in charge. Bless them. Bless every heart and mind in this room that will speak, That will come forth.
lord, thank you for wisdom, peace, understanding, Love, kindness and gentleness.
we pray all this in your mighty name. Amen. Amen.
thank you. Chloe. Whenever you're ready. I pledge allegiance to thee.
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.
honor the texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee.
texas. One state under god, one and indivisible.
thank you very much. Thank you, pastor and miss delgado for leading us.
it is we have all commissioners and county judge present.
it is wednesday, january 28th. We are in the nueces county courtroom 901 leopard.
and I am certifying that we have a quorum present.
it is 908, and I call this meeting to order. Do we have any announcements of disclosure?
conflicts of interest. If you have any, you can certainly bring them up at the time.
if there's something that comes up, we will move on to item e adopting the following Resolutions.
and you see, we have all these queens, contestants and the livestock show contestants Here.
we are always happy to recognize them and thank them all for being here today.
so I think tara is going to read the 2026 nueces county junior livestock show queen Contestants resolution.
whereas the first nueces county junior livestock show took place in 1936 with 14 boys Involved in the nueces county four-h beef club,
and the first queen contest was in 1963. Whereas the mission of ncls is to promote Responsibility and leadership skills through the educational work of four-h
clubs, fccla, and ffa chapters in cooperation with the adult leaders of nueces county in All phases of agriculture,
homemaking, and industry. Whereas the nccls has grown from its early days of showing Steers to now include a rabbit division,
poultry division, horse show, homemaking and arts and crafts, Ag mechanics and handicrafts market,
goats breeding, sheep welding contest and a queen's contest.
the contestants of the queen's contest are representatives in good standing with the Four-h club,
ffa or fccla. Chapter must present a talent and the top five finalists participate in an Interview.
whereas the 2026 queen contest contestants are chloe delgado, Queen emma baugh, first runner up,
top talent and best western wear, whitley gaines, Second runner up.
blakely brown, third runner up and miss congeniality. Macy frye fourth runner up. Sarita nelson top interview.
jessenia best evening gown. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the commissioners court of Nueces county does hereby congratulate and
recognize the nueces county junior livestock show queen contest contestants, And further encourages the citizens of nueces county to join in their recognition and
wishing them the best of luck in their future endeavors.
thank you so much. Thank you. We have a motion and a second.
all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
the motion passes. And I know we have several people that are going to want to speak.
so if you you want to start us off, that would be great. So happy to have you all here today. Good morning. My name is reagan ivey and I serve on The queen's committee.
and the livestock show is a very special event. You know, there's few that I can think of that really bring our county together.
for such a great event. It brings together all walks of life from across the county.
we have entrants from port aransas to agua dulce, And from calallen to bishop, and all places in between.
it brings together city folk and county folk alike, And it's just such a wonderful event and we thank you for your support.
our queens contestants. We had 21 this year. Several of them were not able to attend this Morning because school responsibilities and of course
that dreaded illnesses that are going around right now. But these young ladies represent their local club or chapter.
they are elected by their four-h club, their ffa chapter, Or their fccla chapter.
and so it's an honor to be chosen by their peers to represent them.
once they get selected, the nerves start and moms start to panic to be ready on time.
but it always comes together so well. The week of the contest, They do participate in a personal interview with a panel of judges that counts for
50% of their score, and then at the actual contest on that saturday night, They have western wear with an opening introduction.
they perform a talent, they present an evening gown, And then the top five are selected and they are asked on stage questions
for the selection of the final placings. Our queens contestants represent a variety of Schools from the county.
some are also homeschooled and then we also have a couple that live in the county but Attend schools outside the county,
such as orange grove and sinton. They then worked the show and put in a lot of hours.
the livestock show is all done by volunteers across the board for all of the committees, And our queens.
contestants certainly have an important job to hand out all of the awards and be Representatives of the livestock show during all of the shows,
and so they worked the show and the sale, and we just really appreciate your support of Them.
and I remember seeing many of you at the show and, And the long day of the auction all day long.
thank you so much for being there as well. I would like to call forward our 2026.
nigel's queen, chloe delgado. She is a junior at london high school and she represented Bishop four-h.
good morning everyone. My name is chloe delgado.
I am your 2026 nueces county junior livestock show queen.
being an active four-h and ffa member has shaped me into the person I am today.
it also continues to help me sharpen my leadership skills that will prepare me for my next Journey for college and my future career.
I ask for you, judge scott, and your counsel, To collaborate with me and help advocate for the youth and the ag community of our county.
I want to thank you for your time commitment and your efforts of improving the lives of Nueces county.
it is an absolute honor to be here this morning, And I look forward to a great year and to be to be the best representative of the nueces
county junior livestock show. Thank you. Thank you.
I'm. I am certain that commissioner and several of us commissioner was there, But I just want to say what a great joy it is
every year to go to this livestock show and to watch all the countless hours and time and Effort that you all put forth in this those on top of your school and your duties,
because you still have to keep up with those things and grades and things. It's such an impressive group of individuals from from all of the projects, Everything, the whole group,
everyone that commits their time to to the families that get involved and do that.
we commend you all and we are so honored to honor you today.
I understand you had a sister that was a former queen too. So congratulations to the parents here. I know I got to take a photo, And if I took a picture with her a few years back or not,
but I did. Okay. But it's an honor to have you all here, So I'll turn it over to somebody else.
commissioner. Do you want to start? Thank you, Your honor. Yeah. I just real quickly you know, as as they were saying earlier, These young ladies are not only participating in the queen's contest,
but they have their school work to do. They have extracurricular activities they Participate in with their respective school districts.
plus they're all raising projects for, and many of them multiple projects for the Livestock show.
so it's it's a lot of work, a lot of time. And I just want to congratulate each and every One of you for your participation and for your hard work and
diligence, and also to the moms and dads and aunts and uncles and grandparents who also Participate in helping you every day.
thank you very much. And god bless each and every one of you.
and congratulations to each of you. Queen chloe. Is that what everyone's going to have to call you the entire year?
queen chloe. So we'll see you probably at least a couple of times this year. I know we usually see also during the book days parade and a few other parades.
and I know all of you, each of you are still tasked with being representatives of the Livestock show.
and thank you and congratulate you for all your work. And I'm sure it was very competitive. I wouldn't have wanted to have been a judge for that Contest,
but congratulations to each of you. We know you will do well in representing all of us, So thank you for being here.
yes. I just want to wish you all congratulations for your involvement.
parents, most of all, thank you for getting involved because I think you guys are the Backbone of what they do.
without your help, they probably wouldn't be doing the things they do now. A lot of Credit. I give a lot of credit to the parents when they get involved, Because that's where it comes from. It's where it starts. So I want to thank you for
getting involved, girls. Ladies and ladies, thank you for what you do.
but, you know, you said the right thing while ago. Preparing you for college. And that, to me, means a lot.
college education is your future. You know, that's that's your dream.
so whatever you do, it prepares you to college to be somebody someday.
not that you're nobody right now, but. But, you know, I just want to know that education is a foremost,
important thing in your life to be able to succeed. And I know your parents will be behind you during those years also.
so again, thank you for supporting your daughters.
and ladies, thank you for participating and working hard. So thank you for being good leaders. Thank you commissioner.
just add to what everyone has said. And I think it's important to note that the livestock Show really encompasses all of our precincts.
our queen today is from bishop, which is commissioner gonzalez's area, But goes to london,
which is my area. And I know there's others from london and flower bluff and all over Nueces county.
and that's really part of the I think part of the neat thing about all of this is all of These young ladies and participants in the livestock show get to come together from
different areas of nueces county and get to work together and get to do these things. And I'm sure you all maybe not knew each other as well as you now do, And got to meet some outstanding young ladies from other parts of nueces county,
so it is appreciated. We all know and we all have supported for many years the livestock Show.
and especially commissioner and judge scott with their funds a lot more than the rest of Us have.
but but we really definitely appreciate so much the livestock show. It's such an integral part of nueces county. It's so important the skills and the things That you all get to learn from it.
and I can't emphasize enough how important it is for the parental involvement.
I know how much you as parents have involved, Especially if you had two queens. You've done this for a long time. All the parents here have been super involved and it Does not go unnoticed.
and I know these young ladies appreciate that, But we're so happy to have you all here.
we're so appreciative of what you represent and how you represent nueces county, And we wish you the best of luck in your future.
so thank you very much for taking your time and coming down here today. And now comes the Fun part.
we all get to take a picture with queens and the contestants, So thank you.
I get up there? Dumping them out. Pumping them up.
yep. Good morning ladies. How are y'all? Everybody good. Thank y'all for coming. Thank you. Hey.
there we go.
paparazzi is out today.
thank you. Good job, good job, good job. Thank you all
very much. Thank you. Good job. Congratulations.
congratulations. Congratulations. How are you? Good. Thank you. Are you doing okay? Good. Congratulations.
we'll cross. Thank you, your highness. Nice to see.
you. Congratulations. Thank you for coming. I'm going to send you something.
can you ask? Yes. I'm a junior this year. Yes, Yes.
thank you.
my daughter seems to have. Worked well. With your daughter.
we should just adjourn and go home. That's as good as it's going to get. Yeah. I agree.
so moved. Yeah. We wish. We'll give him just another second.
all right. And next up is public comment. Or do we have somebody else for.
these are the. Yes, those are the guys, I think.
yes. The veterans mr. John kelly with the veterans cemetery wanted to speak, And we asked to put him on the agenda so we could talk.
and he wanted to do this first in public. Comments. I'm sorry, but we're not supposed to comment back or anything.
but before you even get up there to speak, just want to say what a great job you're doing. Thank you. Thank you judge.
good morning. Yes, ma'am. Good morning, judge and commissioners, Thank you very much for allowing us to be here.
I did want to introduce doctor john kelly. He's the director of the texas state veterans Cemeteries program for the veterans land board.
he wanted to share some news with us about the great work your veterans and social Services staff is doing at the veterans cemetery. Doctor kelly,
thanks, jj, judge scott commissioners county staff, In particular jj's office with veterans and social services and citizens of nueces county.
good morning. My name is doctor john kelly, the director of the texas state veterans Cemetery division.
I bear you greetings from austin. I've been here. I've showed up here the last couple of years for a very specific reason.
for those of you that might not be familiar with it very quickly the national cemetery Administration actually surveys every year a large survey.
it's about 75 questions that they send out to the next of kin and the funeral directors For services held at the cemetery.
and that survey, the survey results are then compiled. And I believe the most important question that they ask is, Are you satisfied with the services provided at the state veterans cemetery?
well, they compile all that data and they provide us a report back, Including the responses to that question.
I was here two years ago because the first, for the first time, We broke 99% customer satisfaction.
in fact, it was 99.03% customer satisfaction rate.
thank you. Thank you. But that's old news, because last year I came back here because it Had gone up to
99.12% customer satisfaction. Right on cue. You get your money later.
thanks. So I returned today with good news. State of texas veterans land board to all whom These presents shall come.
greetings. Know ye that nueces county is recognized for their dedication and unparalleled Service to our veterans and their families.
the coastal bend state veterans cemetery directly contributed to the achievement of an Extraordinary 99.28% customer satisfaction rating,
and that's signed. Double bonus for that, and that's signed by commissioner buckingham.
and I do want to emphasize it's not john kelly sitting in austin that does that.
it is the great staff at this cemetery who are interacting directly with those funeral Directors and those families.
that's who achieves that. And I came here because I wanted to say thank you for once Again,
thank you for providing such a wonderful staff out at the cemetery. Without them, none of this would be possible.
so thank you very much. You're very welcome. Thank you.
good job. Yes. Do you want to come up and give that?
we'll do that. Yeah. He has a plaque. Thank you. Are we going to bring him? How can we get everybody lined up for a photo to get to work?
yeah, I had an extra 31 seconds. You're fine.
that's all. You want to do this? Great. Like over here.
yeah. I think we get everybody. No
one wants to come with us. I don't either. No.
one spot. Oh. We need a bigger courtroom. And.
there you go. Good morning. Council. It's kind of angled down and elevated, And you get a
better view. Yeah. All right. Okay. It's nice.
you don't care. Okay.
one, two, three. Perfect. This way. Just a little.
it might be better if you just come stand next to him up here. There we go.
okay. One, two. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
good job guys. Thank you. Thank you. Good work.
thank you. Excellent work. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good work. Thank you all. Thank you.
thank you, mr. Kelly. Thank you all. Thank you so much.
we appreciate your time. Thank you sir. Good to see you. Thank you very much. Thank you. We'll save your you 18 seconds for next time.
we bank those. Yeah. Okay. Next up jeff atwood.
is he in here? Oh, yes. There he is. Thank you.
judge. My name is jeff atwood. I am the board president of nueces county emergency Services district number four.
and I'd like to take a couple of minutes and talk to you all about our isd and some of the Accomplishments and some of the things that we've we've done out there
you know, to help out the community. First of all, I'd like to say I was appointed to this board some 15 years ago by the commissioners court
whenever myself and paul swedish was was appointed to that board.
at that same time, we were handed a shoebox full of receipts and some checks.
we had $40,000 in the bank account, and we had four months to go in the fiscal year.
we were running a full time paid ms service at that time with paramedics on an ambulance, As well as providing fire protection for that esd board.
I didn't know how we were going to do it. I turned and I went to to ernest garza and I Said,
ernest, cpa, and help us out. I said, I don't know how we're going to afford to pay you, But will you come help us try to straighten this thing out?
and ernest came on board and and helped us get our finances straightened out.
and, you know, we started rolling, and it just started getting better every year.
since then. And I want to talk to you about where we are today.
this last year the, the fire department and esd went through iso audit, Insurance service audit.
prior to that, we were we're a 910, which is the highest level.
so the the citizens in that area pay a tremendous amount of, Of insurance, property, insurance.
after our audit, with help from chief clerk we dropped that down to five, Saving literally hundreds of thousands of dollars for the for the people
who who live in that area. We purchased a new pumper last year.
tanker pumper last year over over a half $1 million. We have three new fire trucks on order to this day.
they're due to arrive later this year. Another pumper, Another tanker and a brush truck.
we just broke ground last week on a $5 million fire station on highway 44, Across from the bankhead school district.
that's our fastest growing area in the community. We need to protect our children that go to that school.
we're planning on staffing that station with with an ambulance, A pumper, a tanker, and a brush truck.
and the district is really moving in a in a very positive direction.
and I would like to invite you all out, hopefully a year from now when we have open house For the station,
invite you all to come out and celebrate this new station opening up.
thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
and I'll remind everybody, I know we kind of broke protocol last with the last because the Cemetery and recognizing and stuff.
but this is public comment and you're not supposed to clap or speak or anything. It's. But we appreciate it. Ernest garza. Ernest
garza live at 4530 white oak island. I'm the outside cpa for the isd number four.
and that'll go for number one and five and so on. But I've been there outside cpa we've had a, You know, we've growing area out in the bay
area. And so, you know, with with that we're fortunate that we have experienced board Members and there were four managers
and we're firefighters. These guys come back with a lot of experience.
as you know, we've been having everywhere that grows, You have growing pains.
we've got a new station coming up. And and again, I'm asking for your basically asking for your support for commissioner jeff atwood and
paul swedish. Appreciate your consideration. Thank you, Thank you.
that is all the people I had signed up for. Public comment. I'm sorry. Yes. Barbara jones, you're fine. I'll write you down.
you can
barbara jones 7032. Bartosh I'm here with some more information for you so you can Understand
why I've been coming down here. The gentleman that the the firehouse, Sd
four has broken many regulations. Laws. It is corrupt.
the board members the ones that have been there the longest, Mr.
atwood, mr. Swedish and mr. Groupie. They don't have current seas they haven't had since What they posted last
year. And it was dated for march of. 2024.
there were 14 firefighters on the roster, and I told y'all last time I was here that the Firefighters were going to walk.
well, we had five of our firefighters walk. Three of them were captains that had been There for quite a while.
the other two were regular firefighters. So now there's only approximately 4 or 5 that are Left.
there are also others, others on the roster that don't have regular activity at the Firehouse.
the board had taken out a loan for 3.5 million before they had all the facts on how much It was really going to cost.
now it's gone up to 500,000,505 and a half hundred million.
5.5 million. Mr. Atwood at one point in november of
2024. Used my name and my title when I was on the board as a commissioner to close
out a close out a meeting without my permission.
and that is against the law. He put that in the minutes.
he also got frustrated with me at one point when I put a.
resignation letter. Blank resignation letter in front of him.
he took that paper and he threw it at me as I was walking away from his.
from the desk. The board is not providing recording equipment and storage for those Recordings at the firehouse.
and those have to be kept. No board meeting every december.
they are not having a board meeting every december and december.
and according to the texas state association of fire and emergency districts, They have to do that.
the humvees that were purchased from federal surplus they purchased it from the firehouse After they had them ordered for their personal
use. They did pay a small sum for the for the humvees, But they were not allowed to purchase them
until 18 months after the firehouse had had them. That is a texas penal code. That is, it's a state jail felony.
thank you for your time. Thank you very much, I I appreciate it.
is there anyone else here that didn't have the opportunity to sign up that wishes to speak On public comment?
if there is none, then I will close that out.
I do before we move on. I'm sorry. I have one more thing to bring up.
we have an elected official here that needs to get back to work and asked me to bring up Three a6.
we appreciate him being here. This is discussing.
consider approving a biennial report for the nueces county sexual assault response team And approve the resolution officially establishing the members of the nueces
county sexual assault response team, srt. And peyton is going to read that one for us, Please.
it is 306 for you all in on your binders if you're looking for that item.
yes. Thank you. Whereas sexual violence is a serious issue impacting public health and Safety.
and whereas in the united states, approximately 43.6% of women and 24.8% of men experience Some form of sexual violence during their lifetime.
and whereas in texas, the latest statewide survey indicates that 15,097 individuals, 49.5 per 100,000 residents reported sexual
assault to law enforcement and more than 50,000 survivors sought services from rape crisis Centers.
and whereas sexual assault victims often face chronic and severe emotional and medical Consequences,
including a lifetime prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, Ptsd estimated at 50% among women who have been sexually assaulted.
and whereas, in its 2020 audit report to the legislature regarding statewide Investigations and prosecutions of sexual assault.
the state auditor's office identified that only 32% of reported sexual assaults over a Five year period arrested resulted in an arrest,
whereas the same audit report noted a lack of reliable data on sexual assault, Case depositions,
dispositions and a lack of multidisciplinary response for adult survivors.
and whereas the 87th texas legislature recognized the seriousness of sexual assault and Enacted legislation requiring counties to form an adult sexual assault response team.
and whereas counties with a population of 250,000 or fewer that are in contiguous areas May join together to form a regional response team.
and whereas nueces county acknowledges that significant efforts are needed to the societal And local levels to reduce the incidence of sexual assault,
ensure offender accountability, and support the healing of survivors. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the commissioners court of nueces county hereby Establishes an adult sexual assault response team for nueces county effective february
1st, 2026. Be it further resolved, the team shall be comprised of the following offices And the following members appointed to the srt.
the purple door rape crisis center sexual assault services manager represented by mayor Maribel arredondo,
office of nueces county district attorney, represented by james granberry or designee from That office.
office of the nueces county sheriff, represented by captain garza or designee from that Office.
city of corpus christi police department, represented by chief of police mike markle or Designee from that office.
nueces center for mental health and intellectual disabilities, Represented by amy kramer.
driscoll children's hospital child abuse resource and evaluation team, Sexual assault forensic examiner represented by sandra pardo,
naval air station corpus christi, marine sexual assault prevention and response victim Advocate,
represented by jordan hanafy naval air station corpus christi.
navy sexual assault prevention and response victim advocate, Represented by patricia l trevino,
duly adopted by the vote of commissioners court of nueces county, Texas, on this 28th day of january 2026,
makes a motion to approve. We have a motion and a second. Yes, ma'am. All right. So is it who's going to speak on this, Miss arredondo?
is that right? Yes. Presiding. Okay. Good morning.
not going to put you on the spot question. And I wanted just to get it answered or let you Know where I'm thinking and maybe you can.
look, I think this is an amazing tool resource to have in our community.
with my work with the state on working with children. So this is very important issue to me when I was an investigator many years ago.
with that is, is family protective services, Are they involved or can they have a seat at the table?
or are they encouraged to? Or is this totally local agencies? I do see the federal because of the base. So and I don't want to I don't even know anyone There anymore,
to be honest with you. It's been ten years since I last worked there, But I know we've had them here before for proclamations and things,
so just maybe if they can be included or. That's the plan. Right. And I know this is your. You know, this is your one.
this is the planning year to really get things organized. But for the future, it just to consider adding them as a resource for you.
oh, absolutely. Yes, sir. The the whole purpose of the team is to make sure that the Survivors in the community are have a well-rounded support
system, and that includes anybody and everybody. So the people listed on the proclamation are the ones that are mandated to be a part of The team.
but then the next level is anybody that we think is available, For example, the base, actually the legislation doesn't mandate that the base be a part of
the team, but we know that they are an integral part of our community, So we wanted to include them.
that includes so we're open to including anybody in the community in the county that Serves survivors of sexual assault.
it's good. I mean, we're just talking about it out in the open in case anybody is Watching. It's not a criticism. Just I'm glad that you're you're going to be all inclusive.
and I know that they have great resources to help contribute to this. Yes, sir. Thank you. So thank you for your time. Thank you.
good points. Go ahead. Can you go to my office and give you information?
your name to my assistant. I'd like to put you on the list. We have a coalition group that we meet once a month.
all nonprofits that come in. What kind of services they provide. And I think they'd be glad to hear from you. What what this program is going to provide And how can they help?
right. Okay. This is the main thing of that coalition. How can we help? I don't believe there's when somebody says we're duplicating services.
I don't care how many times you duplicate it, You don't ever have enough. So if you can do that, I really appreciate it. So we can put you in the list for our next meeting. Absolutely. Yes, sir. I'll be there. Thank you. Any other questions?
yeah. Go ahead. Can can you talk to us a little bit about what the goals will be for this,
this group? So the goals is really to have a collaborative approach on surviving and on Supporting survivors.
sexual assault survivors go to so many different resources in our community.
you know, stats show that only not even 90% of survivors are going to report to the law Enforcement,
which is, you know, their prerogative and their choice, But they still need that healing journey and that healing support from others in the
community. And so this is, you know, we come together and we talk about how a survivor who Doesn't report to law enforcement,
they may need mental health help. They may need help getting some other resources in the Community,
and it's really to help guide them and guide how our community will come together.
it's it's going to be run very much like the multidisciplinary teams for child advocacy Centers when they used to have those.
it's going to be around almost the exact same way. But this is for the adult sexual Assault response team.
okay, so so you all will meet. You'll come up with these ideals.
then who do you work with to share these ideals, To see that they're being implemented?
so you know, my question here is based on okay, It's really nice to have this committee, but exactly how are they going to help survivors
directly? Correct. So when we come together, One of our first jobs is to put together a protocol.
and that is a protocol of how each entity works with survivors and then how we collaborate Together.
once that protocol is established, we then will submit it to you all here at the Commissioners court.
you'll look through it and then submit it to the the adult.
the survivor. Sexual assault survivor task force at the governor's office. And they put That in a in a biannual report.
and that goes out to all that's made public to anybody who wants to see it.
and it goes out to everybody in texas. Okay. And then I believe the last legislation that Just passed did say
that if there is a stipulation in there that we have to submit it to you all, You submit it to the task force,
and then somebody on the task force is going to kind of keep the checks to make sure that All the states are submitting this.
so once you submit this and it goes from us to the state your committee will continue to Meet.
and are you going to basically look at how that document is being
implemented on a continuous basis. Is that so? You're going to have oversight over the different entities that are participating?
yes, sir. One of our jobs is on an annual basis to review case reviews.
and so for example, we will have a case of a sexual assault survivor that maybe went to The hospital.
and our job as the sart team is to go over well, How did this survivor go through the system?
at what point did they go to law enforcement, To mental health? And did that get prosecuted? If not, what were the concerns or what could have been done Differently for that prosecution to happen if there is nothing?
because a lot of times survivors choose to stop, Stop the process because they can't, they can't.
they're not able to go through it, go through with it for whatever reason. So that case review helps us to look to see where the gaps are and hopefully fill in those Gaps and make recommendations to the organization.
yes, sir. And like I said, these were the mandated members by the legislation, But I sit on another sexual assault survivor response team that has actually
survivors on at the table, and they are really able to help guide us.
so once this team gets more established and we really begin to work through things, My my hope is that we can bring survivors from our county and sit at the table
because they're going to be able to help guide us, Be like, okay, this was what happened when I went through this,
and this is where I felt I was let down. And how can we as a community do better?
and they're going to help that. Well, I think that's wonderful. And thank you very much for your detailed explanation.
I sincerely appreciate it. Good luck to you. Thank you.
we have a motion and a second. Commissioner gonzalez. No, he was a motion. I was emotion, he was the second.
you can flip it. I don't care how you say it.
however you have it down is good. All those in favor say I.
I any opposed? The motion passes unanimously. Now we need another vote to approve the biennial report that is in your packets.
also, we have a motion and a second to approve the biennial report.
any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.
thank you very much. And thank you all for being here and for what you do on a daily Basis.
we greatly appreciate you all. And I'll get back to my regular schedule unless anybody Else has something.
we're on a board appointments. Item g one, nueces county beach management advisory Committee.
and I believe commissioner chesney, this is in your precinct, So you might want.
judge, I would move to appoint. We have two vacant spots. I moved to appoint shari sperling or reappoint shari sperling.
she's currently a member and also then to appoint william strieber of port aransas.
I'll second that motion. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye.
aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.
item number two, the nueces county civil service commission.
I believe we have one opening, and I would move to sue.
that's it. Go ahead. Second. Whatever. Either way.
go ahead. I'll make it. He can. Second, or either way is fine with me. Okay. You got it. We have a motion and a second.
any other discussion and has to approve the applicant. We only had one. We only had the one. Yes. That's fine.
all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
the motion passes. Thank you. Didn't we already reappoint mr.
corliss and mr. Correa? Correct? Yes, we did that last meeting. Yes, we. But we had one opening. Item number three, We're going to have to table till february the 11th.
I believe the posting was incorrect. So I'll make the motion to table to our february 11th.
thank you. Commissioner gonzalez. Already seconded. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
and that will come back on february 11th. Anyone who has applied already, That will not change your date or the people that have applied and that kind of stuff.
so we'll just have to table. Yeah, we'll just correctly post it and be able to vote on it.
so item number four nueces county emergency services, District number four commissioner.
this is in your precinct. Yes, ma'am. I would make a motion to reappoint the incumbent, Jeff atwood and kathryn wimberley.
we have a motion to reappoint the incumbents jeff atwood and kathryn wimberley.
I'll second your motion. Any other discussion? I'd like some discussion on the appointment, But just on the process.
and since. Well, it kind of ties into the legislative lobbying part in our agenda later On.
but this is not this is not a statement about any appointment or not appointing, But.
my concern is, is that when we get into smaller districts that we appoint and have a lot Of discretion,
a lot of power, and there are many times, as you know, Infighting, right, different perspectives on these,
whoever these appointments are. And some of them have gotten really competitive over the Years.
whereas before judge, we were struggling right to find to find people. So it's kind of a good problem. But then we get into these, These these battles, he said,
she said kind of thing. So I just I'm concerned with that.
and and I just, I know it probably operates more efficiently.
I'm not trying to open a can of worms. Chief clerk is here. But, You know, there's other counties that take on the full responsibility of managing the full
emergency service districts for those counties. And my statement is get your act together Or we'll take some legislative action to get this fixed.
period. Period. We don't need this. We trust in you.
you have no fiduciary funds that are responsible for tax dollars, And we cannot afford to be getting into these kind of battles.
and these are people who are supposed to have the local interests at heart, And we know that they do. And sometimes it's just perspective.
but I'm just really concerned that we have these kind of concerns and issues that are Being brought up about our isds.
overall, I think they're running great. I appreciate the work chief clark is doing, Taking on a responsibility of working with another district.
he's by far the best, not just in our area, I think 1 in 1 in the state.
but we just got to. We got to work together, Folks. We just. That's my message. I think it's just frustration and I think we all feel it.
some of us may not want to say it out publicly, But but I will is that we got to try to work together for the best of our community to
keep them safe, period. And I know the chief did a lot of work to help that by Restructuring these districts.
and they're not perfect. So please reach out to us in the meantime, Not just during appointments,
but throughout the year, so that we can help provide some oversight or some support and Make sure that these boards are doing what they need to.
but we know they have responsible professional staff. They have responsible professional firefighters and chiefs that that run these groups.
so just let us help you. But it doesn't help when we come last minute before appointments And then all these statements are made and then we,
you know, it's kind of hard to decide and, you know, Kind of dig through what is actually happening out there.
so that's just just wanted to make that statement. And and on that note, I will add that, you know, We all heard different allegations, we heard different things,
and we heard their investigations. We did check. And there are no active investigations ongoing right now that we are aware of.
and, and then pretty much even if there were an investigation is investigation.
we are still innocent until proven guilty here. So I don't know that that would cause us to react any differently other than to maybe Postpone an appointment.
but we need facts when you come to us with something, Not just hearsay or personality differences or something,
and we try to do the best we can, and we want the best people serving on these boards.
and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The dilemma we're in with getting involved in a Personal issue between people or something.
so but we have a motion and a second, to your honor.
yes. Go ahead. So I wasn't prepared to say anything, But now I'm going to.
I just want to say I'm very proud of isd one and four. I've represented them for a number of years. When I first came to the commissioners court In 2009 that was when mr..
mr. Atwood talked a while ago about, you know, He was appointed 15 years ago.
I think it was. And I did the math, and I was here when and I made that appointment when I Was here before.
so it's amazing how fast time goes by. But when I came on the commissioners court esd one Had been
well established for a long time. Esd four was no doubt struggling because of their Limited access to funds in that respective district.
and they were their equipment was it looked like world war two trucks that were held Together by baling wire and duct tape.
but they still did an excellent job, and they've continued to improve that district.
and now with chief clerk in charge of both of them, They're really making strong strides to make even more improvements.
and I think overall, they've done an excellent job of running the esd and making sure that They're responding and doing what they need to do.
and people have very strong feelings in our community about the the fine work that esd one And four do for the community.
so I want to thank chief clark and all of his firefighters for what they do and for the New fire stations that
you're proposing throughout the county. I think those are great.
and I just want to say I really respect what you do and appreciate what you do.
so thank you very much, very much. We all appreciate that.
but we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.
thank you very much. Thanks for being here. We have one more isd, And then I'll pull up your item up.
thank you. Number five, nueces county emergency service district six.
not sure. I think we questioned whose district this one was in last time. Does anybody know who this is? I know it's not mine.
if it's driscoll, it's driscoll. It's driscoll precinct one.
yeah, I would make a motion to thank. Mr. Goldman is the incumbent.
actually. He's new. It was wesley. Wesley rogers.
I'm sorry. He's new, I think. Oh, okay. An applicant?
that's right. Yes. Okay. Sorry. Anyway make a motion to second wesley goldman junior to Finish out the partial term
ending december 20th, filling the unexpired term. We had a resignation on that board. We have a motion and a second.
any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously and very quickly.
I think, mr. Mills, I am going to bring him up. He I don't know where that one is. Three a1 judge three a1 three a1.
oh, there it is right there in the beginning. Okay. Donation presentation in the amount. Let me just go ahead and say $40,328.19 by there day Foundation.
I believe we already accepted this amount last meeting in our consent agenda, But they have been working diligently to raise funds for our sensory park
and out there at the library. Yes, it's an amazing park and I will let you speak about Your project.
well, good morning, george scott commissioners and audience. My name is terry mills. I'm with the foundation, And in a nutshell, we're in the process of building an all inclusive park for individuals
with disabilities, with cognitive, physical. And the spectrum is beyond, Beyond.
but anyway, we just wanted to just come say thank you for the work that we've done so far.
you know, we're in phase one. We're going to do phase two. And you know, This park is is not like morgan's,
but it's similar to morgan's wonderland in san antonio. And we just want to say thank you,
thank you, thank you. We have better things on the horizon. And you'll be seeing a lot of advertisement about us raising funds.
the good thing about the funds that we raise, You give us your money, we'll give you a receipt,
tax deductible. Turn around and give the check to the county. Finished building out the playground, which is very nice. And so I just want to say thank You. Even though you may or may not live in new york county,
come take some ownership. You may not have someone, Directly or indirectly, that has a disability but is open to the public.
the good thing about it, it's free and it's always we don't have anything like that. And this is the state of state of our playground in south texas.
and so I just want to give you guys a hand. Thank you. And especially to commissioner matas, you dedicated a considerable amount of funds of Yours for this park over there.
we are. We're very proud to be a part of this and support you in this.
so. And I think we want to take a photo. Yeah, We definitely do. And I want to thank terry as he's coming up and as we make our way down to the well this Is a partnership that it started with the county.
phase one basically is complete and we will be having a ribbon cutting in february, I believe,
late february the 27th. And we'll be sending out save the dates and official invites.
but what their day foundation has done is a lot of the work that we as a county can't do.
I want to thank the county attorney's office for working on that agreement for us, Because this is kind of unique and the accountability has been there.
so if you wonder where the accountability is, It's definitely documented. And they are a conduit that is then able to gather all the
funding together. And we've had some some big names. We'll mention those names later. We already did it at the groundbreaking last year.
we'll do it at the ribbon cutting this year as well. And to have some special designations For the for the different sensory equipment that has been donated.
but and there's still big groups on the way. So this is to help fund additional sections Or phases of this park.
of course, as you can imagine, this is specialized equipment that's all inclusive, Not just for one purpose,
but all inclusive. So the entire family can enjoy an experience. But it costs a lot more than your traditional playground equipment, And that already costs a lot. So you can imagine that this costs even more.
so we thank the foundation for being involved. Terry has been a huge cheerleader, as we know in the community, To help us with that.
we couldn't do it without him. I just don't have the time or the effort or the energy to Put it in.
and so terry has helped. Obviously he's got a little bit of energy, I would say. Right. So he's out there beating the street and really getting people to commit to this.
and so we thank them and we'll we'll make sure to designate and recognize all those Appropriately.
on february 27th at the keach library located in robstown. So thank you, terry. Thank you all the time. All the time.
you know what? You're quicker. Why don't you come up here with us?
and then we get the I like that. Could you go get that chick up high, Though?
that's right. There you go. Can we all see the check?
you need to get on the outside behind it? Yes. Right there. Yeah, yeah, it's your check. There we go.
got.
thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank commissioners. I appreciate you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you.
and I'll come by for those donations after a while from each one of you, Except for george scott.
okay, good. Thank you so much. Knock on my door.
okay. Okay. I know we're hopping around a lot. I see a lot of people here. I'm so sorry, but that seems to be the way it goes lately.
we're on our consent agenda. Is there any item on the consent agenda?
any commissioner wishes to pull out for further discussion? Your honor, I'd like to pull item q. Q is in quick.
hum. Item k, mine will be very quick. Judge. Okay.
yes, I'd make a motion to approve items a through q other than k and q, I'll second that
motion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
the motion passes, so we will do item k first.
do we have anyone here to help answer that or is it just your judge or.
this is pretty typical. Yes. But is this is this specialized?
and I think this is going through judge mccoy's.
is that correct? I think it is, judge. Right.
it's a juvenile court. So that would it is, it is. And there's. Yes. Judge mccoy. Judge huerta okay.
I just wanted to highlight this. I mean, we can't emphasize enough. I think we kind of have dropped the ball on grants.
and. Scott, you're here. You can help address a little bit of it. I knew I was looking for somebody and anyone else that that can represent.
yeah, I worked with john under homer out there to help him put this together and go after This program.
it's something new. So if you'd like to hear some more details about it, I'll let him speak to that.
yeah, it has one officer, and it pays everything. All the costs incurred. Yes. Good. Good morning.
good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Thank you for taking this under consideration, I know.
I hate to speak for judge mccoy, but I know he's he's quite adamant about getting this Court in place.
as as the statistics show, gun violence not only nationally and statewide, But locally has drastically
increased since 2017, much to the much to the shock of us professionals that work with These kids.
and and we certainly are looking at efforts that are cost effective and certainly can make An impact with the kids that we're trying to save
and serve and protect in the community. So we we're making a move to to request this money From from the governor's
office in hopes of securing monies to bring in personnel that can work directly with this Specialized program and
help improve hopefully, the recidivism rates of these kids that have been referred far too Frequently for gun violence and weapon violence in the
community. And, you know, unfortunately, the timing is just, You know, as we almost lost a ccpd officer to almost to gun
violence, you know, obviously a very severe injury. And commissioner and I were talking to some of the minus yesterday about that and getting An update and it's just
we're all shocked and saddened. It's a teenager.
an adult, yes, but a teenager that inflicted this and it could have been caught earlier.
and so I know I've had conversations with both judges for court.
the main judge, judge mccoy, is associate judge about this. They've been planning this for a while, and I was looking for homer. So that's why I Didn't see you back there.
but. Yes, sir. We need this. We desperately need this in our community. And so I just think the timing is perfect to highlight it.
and just to mention that we're going after this, We've been proactive. And the fact that also,
once again, grants is being proactive to get out there and pursue the funding, That we don't have to get on the taxpayer and find from the from state or federal funding.
so thank you for your work. Thank you. Thank you very much. Motion to approve. Yes, ma'am. I'll second that motion.
any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously, With commissioner gonzalez being away from his seat and moving on to item q,
commissioner puzzle. Yes. Yes. Your honor, I just wanted to take a moment at the nueces County junior livestock show.
this year, we presented matt havelka a certificate of appreciation from the county for all Of his
past work for 48 years of participation. It's a lifetime.
and commissioner morris was there and read the certificate on behalf of the county, And I just wanted to take a moment to publicly thank
matt havelka and his entire family for their participation of all these years and the new County junior livestock show.
he's been very dedicated to that, both in volunteering and in a professional manner.
so and as we all know, matt's been going through some challenges here lately with his Health,
but we want to wish him well and thank him for his service to this community.
this is also peyton, my chief of staff's uncle. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So, anyway, that's. That's all.
I just wanted to say that. And motion to approve. Motion to approve. Thank you. Second. We have a motion.
and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes with commissioner gonzalez away.
still moving on to the regular agenda now. Item three a to discuss and consider approving Miss emma
hernandez for appointment as the new nueces county family community health agent, Effective february 1st,
2026. Mister montemayor, I believe you're going to introduce us and let us know.
yes. On behalf of johnny montemayor, who is unable to be here today, I wanted to present miss emma hernandez,
for your consideration for the nueces county family and community health agent effective On february the
1st, I believe so. Moved second, we have a motion and a second.
and if any of you have not met her, I'm sure you will have multiple opportunities in the Future.
we appreciate you coming on board. Any other discussion?
all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Yes. Welcome and congratulations. Yes. Thank you, Thank you.
thanks for being here. Anything? Item three, A
three. Receive the 2425 annual report from the director of public health.
I was making sure you were here. Miss all for from the city, County operated public health district.
and I believe I passed those out. You should have had them at your seats.
the very nice report that we were provided. And this is the first of many to come and how We're going to do these.
and we may ask for less, we may ask for more, Something different. But I was very appreciative of all the hard work that went into this.
thank you. Thank you. Judge. Good morning, judge scott and commissioners, And thank you for this opportunity.
and thank you for those kind words that you just said. Yes, We hope to keep working collaboratively for many more years to come.
and I want to begin by acknowledging your partnership, Your investment, your continued investment into our local public health department.
before I go, I also want to acknowledge mr. Michael perez. He's one of the assistant directors who's present here and some of the city staff.
I just left my a-team back back there in their offices.
they're doing the work that they do best, serving the community, And they are watching this remotely.
so I just want to thank them as well for all the work that they continue to do, And so continue to provide our community and serve our
community. Okay. Do I change the slides or how does this work?
yes. Okay. Next slide. Okay. So although we are a city department administratively our Mission
statement, I believe, reflects what the reality of public health, Which is public health works best when it is all inclusive.
so if you look at the mission statement, it says it is to prevent disease, Promote healthy lifestyles,
and protect all residents of nueces county, regardless of where you live, What your zip code is,
urban rural areas. It is to protect all residents of this county against health hazards.
and the work that you'll see in the, in the slides to come reflects exactly that, That that continued and shared
benefits for everyone across the region. Overall, Typically we serve annually, I should say anywhere from
15,000 to 17,000 residents across the region.
across the county. The infographic that you see on the slide is just the clients.
we served in our clinical areas, which is located at 1702 horn road, Which is our primary location.
the three clinics that that these clients are that these numbers are extracted from our Immunization sti and our tb clients.
so overall, although the majority of the clients we've served have lived within the city Limits because of how mobile our community is.
right. We would be, somebody living in within the city of corpus christi limits, Working in the county we visit across the region
gather, mingle every day, almost every day across the region.
so anything we do to serve any service that we have in place is not just protecting the Health of the residents within
the corpus christi. It is actually creating a protective layer and, And, and extending that health benefits to everyone across the region.
next slide please. Here's the fy 2025 budget overview.
my department, the annual operating budget is about approximately 15 point $6,000,000 Million.
the county investment plays a very critical part in that investment. It's a big critical portion of that investment.
it cuts across its integrated. The county investment is integrated into the department's Overall operations,
and it cuts across all programs, all core essential public health functions.
and you will see the services that we provide. You'll see how the money is invested as as I give you the highlight of each of the Programs that we have within our department.
next slide please. And I just want to also stress as I provide these
highlights, I'm urging you guys to look at it through the lens of shared services, Shared benefits rather than a city only department or a city only
program or a city only service. Right? In the interest of time, We have nine programs.
in the interest of time, I've bundled these programs into three broad categories.
the first category is a communicable disease and control prevention programs. There are Five programs that fall into this category.
and next slide please. And before I go into those programs I want to spend a minute Talking about this this list that you see up there I know it's hard to read.
it is an appendix a in the full report that was provided to you.
this what you see up there is called the notifiable conditions for the state of texas.
every state across the nation has a state specific list depending upon what is the health Priority for that state.
so this is the list that is being put forth here in 2026 for the state of texas.
and this list is compiled based on inputs, feedback from public health professionals Across the state like me.
and what you see up there are the conditions that every health care provider, Hospital, doctor's offices,
school nurses, medical examiner's office, labs, Anybody who makes a diagnosis of any of those conditions,
that's up there. By the way, there are 77 plus conditions up there.
anybody who makes a diagnosis of those conditions are required by state law to report it To the local public health department within the designated reporting time
frame, which is listed on that column to the second column. And once we and in addition to that next slide please.
I'll just click and no, no go ahead and click the previous one. You'll see. Okay I had some creative animations in there that is lost.
but but I can explain. In addition to those 77 conditions, There is a footnote that I wanted to highlight.
that footnote says any outbreaks, exotic conditions or unusual group of expression of Diseases are also required by state law to be reported to the local public
health department by most expeditious means available.
so on that list, you will also see our reporting lines reporting secure fax lines, Secure phone lines that providers can call and report to us
once we get those reports. Our primary goal as the local public health department is to Launch a public health investigation into each of these
case reports with the objective, with the sole objective of identifying the source of Infection or breaking the chain of transmission to prevent
the further spread of this infection here in our community. So this is what this is a bread and butter of the local public health department.
this is what we do day in and day out. And that's what I mean by anything. Any service that the health department is providing is, Is in fact providing providing a protective sheath for the health of the entire region.
next slide please. So each of these departments, These programs provide programs that are listed here,
fall into this category. And they have the legal responsibility of investigating and Detecting any of those 77 plus
conditions that's listed on the notifiable conditions. So the first one is the public health emergency preparedness unit that has two programs in It.
epi program and the preparedness program. I'm now going to read every metric that's listed Up there.
just pulling up some highlights. This this program we received in 2025, We received just over 10,000 case reports,
disease reports, and over 99% of them had had had been investigated, Looked into and completed a public health investigation.
this particular unit investigates every single condition that's listed on the notifiable Condition except for sti and tb,
which are then investigated by a separate program. Sti. Hiv program investigates selected him sti or sexually transmitted infections that are Reportable here in the state of texas.
and those are syphilis, hiv, chlamydia, gonorrhea. And you see over there. This program is responsible for detecting, Evaluation, and providing treatment for those selected stis that have been
reported to us. Tb is another integral program of our health department.
we tb, by the way, is not extinct. Many folks believe that tb no longer exists in our Community.
it is. It is well and alive and kicking. And if the health department were to take the Focus away from this we,
we will have a rampant tb outbreak or infection spreading here in our community.
last year, over 1000 clinic visits or folks were evaluated here in our tb clinic.
we had identified 29 infectious tb. And by the way, Infectious tb diagnosed anywhere in the community is referred to us as local public health
department to follow up and ensure that these patients complete their treatment.
because the fear with that is tb is something that takes the follow up and management and Treatment is is a long,
tedious process. It can take anywhere from six months to nine months to even even a year.
so health department follows them to make sure they complete the treatment to make sure That we don't have any drug resistant
tb. Should we have that? It's it's going to be very difficult to control and treat using The traditional drugs we have against tb.
our immunization program, everybody is very familiar with that. We provide vaccines through our texas vaccine for children, For pediatric population, as well as for adults through our adult safety net program.
we get vaccines from the state that are eligibility criteria in order to qualify for these Vaccines that we get from the state.
and overall, you see up there a big number we've provided collectively, I think just over 5000 vaccines to pediatric as well as adults to protect them
against 17 vaccine preventable infectious diseases. These are highly infectious diseases. The slide that you see in the infographic that you See in the center of the slide is our best kept secret,
which is our lab services. We have a microbiology unit as well as a lab response network Unit.
microbiology unit provides testing for various stis that are listed up there, Including bacteriological testing for our beach,
beach, beach water samples that we take year round. Our lab response network. We are one of the ten lab response networks that are there Across the state.
this unit is responsible for testing biological agents that could be weaponized and used As bioterrorism agents.
and there is a it's intentional that we don't publicize what our testing capabilities are In this unit,
because you don't want bad actors to get hold of that. And we support not just nueces county with this, With this, with this lab response network activities.
we also support 11 surrounding counties as well.
so overall they support 12 counties. Testing, Providing testing capabilities for biological agents that could be weaponized.
next slide please. There are. Next slide. There are two programs that have bundled in this Category environmental health.
you see those that it's environmental health and environmental and consumer health program And the vector control program.
environmental health and consumer health program is is a small team.
it's a team of seven. I call them my lean, mean fighting machine. They amongst themselves do all the pool inspections, Septic restaurant inspections handle complaints on a daily basis.
provide food safety classes to make sure everybody is aware and educated on how to handle Food,
be it restaurants, small mom and pop shops or schools.
so they are pretty busy overall, I think. Annually they do amongst they provide over 7000 Services.
that includes all of these different categories that I've listed. Our vector control team is a small team. It's pretty active during that mosquito season, Which is which starts from somewhere from march to mid-october.
sometimes it extends depending upon what the temperature is.
and what they do is to mosquito surveillance. They they lay 30 traps strategically citywide.
and the samples are collected and tested for west nile virus. And then should there be a west nile virus positive sample, They respond appropriately in response to their positive sample by spraying about half a
mile radius around that trap sample. They also spray for abundance.
we also are monitoring for abundance of mosquitoes, So nuisance mosquito is also one of the things that they tackle.
but year round they are busy as well, looking and scouting for potential mosquito breeding Sites and eliminating those sites even before the mosquito
breeding begins. The next slide is is the next slide, Please?
are are the two programs that fall under our community health and outreach section?
and one big program we have in this section is the health education.
you see, everybody's familiar with this team. They are out in the community doing outreach, Participating in health fairs.
they are quite busy. They provide all those screenings that's listed up there.
in addition to that, they also partner with developmental with several of our community Partners to offer developmental screenings to offer chronic self
management classes, cpr classes, nutrition classes.
they conduct a lot of neighborhood fitness classes. These are all done in partnership with with partners.
the other program that falls into into this category, Whic is a very robust program.
we have it's a model. It's considered as one of the model programs across the state. And as you see there last year, over 60, just under 60,000 benefits and clients were Served by this program.
and last but not least, I also wanted to mention next slide please.
is our satellite services that we provide at our satellite locations, Including the mobile events that we conduct in rural parts of nueces county.
collectively last year, about just, just just over 430 services were provided.
I understand the numbers are pretty modest at this time. But I have we have been working closely with our partners.
I had a great meeting with amistad with doctor bergman two weeks ago, Strategizing about how to increase foot traffic in some of these locations,
how to increase participation in our mobile events. And the next slide that you see are some of the partners that we've already initiated Conversations with.
and hopefully we will see an increase in participation and improvement in these services.
number of services that we provide at these satellite locations in the coming months, If not the year.
so with that, I'm going to end I think we've come to the end of this presentation.
thank you once again. Public health is a is a collective responsibility.
so thank you for recognizing that, acknowledging that it's shared benefits and shared Services that protect the entire region.
so continue for your thank you for your continued partnership and investment in years to Come.
thank you. Happy to take any questions you might have. Go ahead. Thank you judge. Good morning doctor.
it's always good to have you here. And as the expression, You're hitting the ground running with with your time with us,
which is much appreciated. I know we have been delayed just because of transition and just Trying to get a better idea of our strategy.
maintaining our partnership with the city. So this I appreciate updates because I see us As a full partner.
no matter how much percentage wise we put in with the city, We we have a lot invested in this.
and I know we as the county and the commissioner gonzalez has put a lot of effort into Partnerships with you,
especially out there in precinct three, which I much appreciate because it's for the Entire county,
not just one precinct. But my question I wanted to go to was, And it was prompted as you were talking,
so I didn't have a chance to call up our our public works director, But, you know, the vector services.
oh did you. Good. So we're thinking the like so the vector services, Right?
that's a big challenge in the summer when we've been having droughts, It's not so much of a mosquito issue,
but we know one day we will have rain and collections of water, And that's what really kind of spurs.
I know it's seasonal. I didn't even know mosquitoes exist in the wintertime, Right?
but they do. Maybe not as frequent. So. But this is more of a summer issue. And I know we've had west nile that's popped up, It seems almost every year now.
1 or 2 cases, limited cases, not widespread. So those are very concerning, But the city has its own vector map in its own pattern and plans,
and we have ours that we cover everything outside the city. Obviously, it's at some point, as you look at the map that you showed earlier, There's a blending of it goes into each of our precincts that we represent in the city,
but out in, you know, close along the county edge where the county services begin.
I'd like to see some coordination. Maybe now I know when one is great.
like if we have an issue many times I call him and he's already working on it.
he already knows. He already has received those calls. He's very proactive when we call him for the issues to go spray in certain areas, And there's only so many resources.
but I'd like to see mine, and I don't know if you're the person that can help us Coordinate, but since this responsibility falls under your department,
if it may be something like that can help. So I've gotten a lot of calls from people that Have asked,
even some out of tulsa, they don't know our boundaries, Right? They just call. And I've had some people ask, Well, can you make sure that tuloso-midway gets paid?
and then I'm like, well, what part? And then actually it's in the city. I'm like, well, that's the city of corpus christi function or the health department's Health authorities function.
so there's some educating on that. But if we can try to coordinate.
right, just so that we can help show the community that we're working together, Especially on that,
and we're not going to think about it right now because we're not worried so much about Mosquitoes. But that's just one that really got that got my attention was,
how do we work to better ensure that we are being efficient, That we're timing.
so maybe maybe it's more efficient to spray closer along that western border of the city Of corpus christi and our eastern border of county services.
maybe it's not best strategy to be spraying in that area at the same time.
maybe it comes in different ways at different weeks. Whatever you can come up with. But I think it would be helpful if you can coordinate with Our public works,
because a lot of times I know when I call them, They will have to then turn out and reach to you,
to you or to your staff to coordinate on that. And so we're doing good work. We all have limited resources, But I think if there's a better way to do it,
I'd love for that to hear an update. So maybe next time that you come around we can get That up there.
and there's one. So I was saying good things about you. I already won, But I was just saying maybe we can get a strategy on the victor victor services since you
provide those already for us on the county side and on the city side. Just if there's a better way to plan or how can we kind of coordinate coordinate our Resources better?
not that you're not doing a good job, but maybe there's just a way of spraying a spraying Pattern that could be done that helps complement each other,
rather than you hit the hot spots that we call you up about. And then they do their own planning as well. So that's all I was bringing up.
I know commissioner gonzalez probably had something else to. Yeah, I've got a couple of things, but I want to thank you. First of all, I think since you came
on board, we've seen some good changes. We've seen some good collaborations.
I think you're I think you're willing to step that extra hurdle to to make things work.
and we really appreciate that. You know, your camaraderie has been a lot better than what It was before.
you know, I want to thank you for that because I think you're willing to reach out. But When you say the vector control is for some reason,
I'm glad you brought it up, is that it seems like there was always a magic line there or a Blind line there,
or we can't cross that because that's the county, Or you so you got to stay on this side of the line because it's a city.
so I think that by working together like commissioner, I think we can accomplish a lot more because even the,
the rural areas, the, the edges, you know, all that really needs it.
you know, we got a lot of population growing in those areas now. So I think that one time and and you said right when we called him and said, Juan, we need to go check this spot here and then go and put lava,
whatever puts a check for mosquitoes or whatever else. Of course, most of the time they work at nighttime, Right?
people say they haven't been by here. Yeah. They have. You were asleep. They usually go in the middle of the night or early 3 or 4 or 5:00 in the Morning,
but they're out there. You just don't see them. You don't hear them. So. But I think that by by working together, We probably cover a lot more ground.
you know where we. Because we have a lot of areas way out there like in bishop and and Then,
you know, and it's in the park. But there's got to be a medium somewhere where we can Overlap,
right? I think I think that's possible. You know, For one, and maybe you, the city and the county,
and we used to have it before then for some reason it was split.
so I think that that's one area that we really need to look into between you and the Public works.
want to see how we can how can we work together? How can we make it better? Right. And help more people.
and the most of the calls are from mosquitoes. The kids went into school busses for the school busses. So so that's an area that I think Maybe we can work.
I just want to. That's my recommendation to. You can work together.
and number two is if I'm looking at page number seven and you have you mentioned the 50,
50,000 lines, but it says here 7499 clients were served in a year, Which is to me, not not a lot of clients,
but county residents, 368 residents outside nueces county, The most three times more than we have than nueces county.
is there a reason for that, or are they paying into also to the city, County, health district,
the outside landing areas, or are they paying into that like we pay or.
I haven't looked at who these residents are, But that is something that every health department encounters.
no, they are not paying into it, but we, as the local health department for the region, Are obligated by the state not to refuse services to anyone
who comes to seek services with us. And I understand you can't turn anybody around, But I'm just saying,
if we have a cluster of people coming from one county. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Hey, you know what? Let's let's partnership.
let's work together. Maybe, you know, again, It might help your budget, right?
yeah. You know, it might help us in the long run. Yeah. Like I said, we we are the local health department for the 12 surrounding counties In this region,
and those are mostly folks coming in from those to get those preventive services to see Our numbers go up more.
but, you know, and also in the rv numbers, I know they've been real low, But yes, I know you're working on bringing them up.
and I really appreciate that. You know, so I think one thing we have to really look at is,
is the times that the derby goes out, you know, I think the times are very important.
whether you're going to have people or not, I can tell you right off the bat, Probably not going to have some. Are you going to have some? But but I think I appreciate
you trying to work on that, you know, but I think it's, You know, we can work together on that more.
I think we can get it done, you know, and I have confidence in you can get it done.
so but I appreciate everything you've done. Appreciate everything you and your staff.
and come up and really taking the bull by the horns and try to make things work for where Before nobody was trying to make it work.
so so thank you very much. And I just add also to my ears are concerned right.
there's are services out in the county area the rural area and vector control that make Sure that we cover more ground than we can.
thank you. I hear you loud and clear. And, commissioner morris, This is the time to plan for the upcoming season.
so those planning are already ongoing and one should get a meeting.
invite should already be in his inbox looking to reach out and see how we can collaborate And coordinate.
so those areas by the by the county lines or the city limits are not overlooked because Diseases?
mosquitoes? No, no. County lines or city limits. Thank you. Thank you. Just like drugs, right?
yes. Thank you very much. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Commissioner has a question.
sorry. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Honor. Thank you very much for your report and the Booklet,
and it's very much appreciated. And I just had a couple of quick questions.
my four wonderful years as a city council member, And especially during the first year when I actually thought I could make changes there I
looked into vector control because I live in an area that's in the northwest area where Mosquitoes are almost a year round problem.
and you know, what I found out is what we all suspected and knew the vector control Department had not been increased,
and it's just a matter of dollars and cents for vector control. They had an increase in services, and to peterson, On his credit, he agreed to put some additional money into that.
and but, you know, as as this community grows and not only this community, But the community surrounding the city limits of corpus christi
we need to make sure our vector control services are increasing to keep up with that Growth.
and so we have lots of areas in the county that don't drain very well and become mosquito Breeding zones
for the area, and that affects everybody around here.
so I would just ask that on a go forward basis, That we, we be sure that every year we're looking at vector control and helping them
with funding to increase the size or add another pickup truck with a sprayer, Whatever we need to do with respect to that.
so my second comment was along the lines of, Of commissioner gonzales about the fact that we're serving a lot of people that don't live
in nueces county. So I would just ask at some point if you could quantify that number and Let
us know where those people are coming from. And as commissioner gonzalez says, If there's a hot spot,
you know, within another county where the majority of these folks are coming from, Maybe we can reach out and say,
hey, you know what? We're we need a little help with some funding here.
that may not ever happen, but we can try. And then finally, I wanted to ask about the federal grant situation,
where indicates that almost $27 million of funding was terminated.
can you talk about that a little bit and where we are on that.
so these were federal pass through. Through. Through the state.
during the pandemic, the grants that came to us during the pandemic I think the first There were four supplemental rounds started all the way
early 2020 and went all the way up to 2023, 24 and got terminated once the pandemic ended,
and the money that was allocated was primarily to administer and disseminate covid 19 Vaccines in an
expeditious way so we could vaccinate the majority of residents as quickly as possible.
so once that pandemic ended and once the vaccine became commercialized and available and Easily accessible through your doctor's offices or retail
pharmacies, the the funds went away because health department was then not the only game In the town that could provide these vaccines doctor's offices,
pharmacies, hospitals, urgent cares, they were all administering these vaccines.
so those funds were primarily allocated by the feds, Came to us through the state to ensure that covid 19,
the covid 19 vaccines, was put in the arms of every resident here in nueces county as soon As possible.
okay. Okay. Okay. Very good. I appreciate that explanation.
and that's all I had, your honor. Thank you. Anybody else?
thank you very much. We appreciate it. Yes. Next up we have item number four.
receive and accept the forensic investigation report of the county auditor's office and The health insurance fund prepared by cra advisors.
mr. Kincaid, I believe, is going to be leading this discussion.
yes. Whenever you're ready. Thank you. Good morning.
my name is ben kincaid, and I'm a partner at carr, Riggs and ingram and I lead the forensic accounting division with carr,
riggs and ingram. And it's a pleasure to present our final draft reports in relation to The auditor's office as well as the health
insurance fund. This is a follow up in relation to the previous presentation of the Preliminary findings.
you'll find that from the preliminary findings versus today's presentation, There's not much in changes.
so I'm not going to for in respect of y'all's time, Not going to belabor each point.
I'm just going to give a high level overview. And then of course, Happy to answer any of your questions that you all may have today if we can advance to the
next slide. So as before, there's two separate reports, One in relation to the health insurance fund and one in relation to the auditor's office.
the report that you have within the packets are in draft form.
and that's pending your acceptance of the reports as well as pending management responses.
and it's my understanding that management, including the county auditor's office, Is working on those responses currently.
if we can advance to the next slide. And we're going to talk today initially about the Health insurance fund findings.
if we can advance to the next slide. So just again, By way of background, there was concerns by the commissioners court in relation to
historical funding deficits within the health insurance fund, As well as there's concerns mentioned in relation to various fund loans and transfers that
were made from other county funds into the health insurance fund.
there was also a change in pay schedule deductions, And there was concerns and misconceptions that were brought out
that bore worth investigating. If we can go into the next slide.
here is the scope and procedures that we performed in relation to what the county had Asked us to look into.
again, I'm not going to belabor the points as we previously presented these same topics, But overall,
we talked to approximately 20 folks in relation to the health insurance fund.
everyone that we spoke with within the county was cooperative through the course of this Investigation,
both with the health insurance fund investigation as well as the auditor's office Investigation.
and we certainly appreciate everyone's time and willingness to speak with us and provide Us with the necessary documentation.
but we did a a thorough investigation of the health insurance fund from fiscal years 2020 Through fiscal year 2024.
we conducted the various interviews, looked at the underlying financial records to Determine what issues that there may have been within the health insurance fund.
if we can advance the next slide. So one of the things that we had identified early on in The course of our investigation is that within the financial statements
that were being presented to the commissioners court, That the financials were obfuscating the true operating
revenue of the health insurance fund, in part because of various stop loss insurance Coverage.
there was a reimbursement that came from the covid relief funds from the federal Government.
and there was also various funds that the county had either loaned or put into the health Insurance fund.
and so what you see on the screen before you is a normalized operating revenue for the Health insurance fund from 2020 through 2024.
and you can see there just at the bottom line there, That the percentage of the change in the operating revenues and the premium revenues,
that there was very little changes in the revenues, With the exception of fiscal year 2022,
which is when the insurance premiums for the county were increased overall.
on average, the health insurance operating funds increased just shy of 7% throughout this Period.
if we can advance the next slide. What you'll see on this slide here is you will see the In the dark blue,
the revenues as reported on the financial statements. The light blue is the normalized revenue. And what you'll see in the if you can scroll Down just a little bit more,
you'll see the various lines and the delineations for those within this graph, It shows that looking at the expenditures for
the health insurance fund exceeded the normalized operating revenues for the health Insurance fund throughout the majority of this time period,
which give gave rise to the deficits that the health insurance fund was experiencing in Advance.
the next slide. In total, as I mentioned, there was only one change in the health Insurance premiums for both the employer and the
employee contributions. And that was in fiscal year 2022.
there was recommendations from the county's insurance consultant that those premiums Should have increased at least minimum of 2 to 3%
throughout each of those years. That was ultimately not adopted, And only that one fiscal year increase occurred in fiscal year
2022. We can go to the next slide. Another issue that we had identified is in relation to The
revenue recording in relation to the health insurance fund year end accruals were not Being made for the county's
health insurance fund as well as various advance premiums that are related to the health Insurance fund were not reported on the health insurance funds books.
instead, those were reported on the general fund books. The county is still collecting approximately one pay period of insurance premiums in Advance,
and so there was about 450 to $500,000 of unrecorded liabilities and receivables or Deferred revenue,
I should say. The health insurance funds, books and which gives rise to some of the Discrepancies in fiscal year
2020 for reporting, as you stated on this, all of this has been reported before.
there's nothing new in this information. Correct? You you presented this to the court already, Correct.
okay. Correct. Which is why I'm. I'm speaking to you in recognition of your time.
because the other one more that we haven't had the report on, I think is more what everyone was.
I'd like to hear. What's the result? Yeah. Okay. So if we can skip ahead a few slides. Yeah. So in totality, We had approximately seven findings in relation to the health insurance
fund. There was a lack of transparency in the financial status and fund performance.
the former county auditor, dale atchley, focused on the fund balance, Which was skewed performance measure.
there was lack of appropriate forecasting and budgeting in relation to the health Insurance fund.
as I mentioned, there is issues in how those were being accounted on the books.
one of the bigger issues. Hang on a second. So. Yes, sir. Again, you're just repeating what we've already had before. So have you checked Back to see if any of this stuff has been, you know, how it's been working so far. Because
that's what we all want to know. There have been changes made. We're having it again. Yes. So, I mean, we've seen all this.
the question is what have we done about it? And that's what I want to ask the auditor. So Have you checked any of that stuff out to see what your what the follow up has been.
so that's one of the things that we're still pending, Of course, is the as I mentioned, the management responses in relation to in the report,
you'll find the findings as well as our recommendations to prevent these issues from Reoccurring again.
I have not received those completed responses to be able to say, Hey, yes, this is sufficient or no,
this is not sufficient. So I got to say, I'm not sure why you're here. I mean, no offense, I know you've sat here all day, But I mean, you're telling us the same stuff we've had and you don't have the responses
from our new auditor yet, so I'm not sure. No offense, But I'm not sure what we're doing.
like, to me, if and we've got a new auditor because we had problems with the old auditor, That was corrected.
if the new auditor hasn't had a chance because he hadn't been here that long to make those Responses,
then I think this coming back, no offense is premature, Because I want to know what the heck's going on,
what we're doing and how we're fixing the things that we've already seen all this about. And I think that's what commissioner post was going to. And I think some of those things
have been implemented. With the change, the health care fund being a total separate fund And monitoring those funds more.
and I'm not even sure if you were here last when that was done. It might have even been done when constance was here in between.
so it's kind of hard for him to do the report alone when so many different people since Then have sat in that chair as well.
so long enough either. Right? Right. How long is it going to take?
is what? I can say something on this? Yes, please. So turn around to the microphone. Sorry, I'm usually so loud.
yeah. Okay. Can you hear me now? Yeah. Okay. So first off, Thank you for this report.
the way I approach these things, these type of findings, This and any other type of audit,
usually it's very insightful and it helps make us better. So thank you for that. I've seen these reports, Some of it now because of organizational changes.
they're in different places human resources purchasing, Etc..
all of them. We've all talked. We're going through them all the ones of high priority have Been addressed and some of the medium and maybe one of the low priorities.
so overall, I think we're going to be okay on this. And as far as time frame goes, we're getting to things as we get to them as fast as we Can.
the workday thing is really bogging us down. A lot of this is tied to that, But all of them are on the target board.
so they will all be implemented both the health plan and this other report, The second report.
we agree with everything and we're working on it. If you want specifics, I can go one by one, but it'll belabor it.
what I suggest instead is that if you want to see the responses, Because michael and I talked,
I talked with hr. We were thinking, go ahead and listen to this presentation. For whatever reason it was on the agenda. And then maybe at the next commissioners court, We will give you each finding and our response to it and what we're going to do about it.
yeah, I think that's and I'm again, I'm not sure why we're having this report, But unlike commissioner chesney,
but you know, all the audits I've ever been through, Both in my professional career and public career you know,
the accounting firm goes in, they audit the department, They make recommendations, and then that department comes back with a report on how
they're going to address the findings. And that's what we want to see is, Okay, what's been implemented,
what hasn't been implemented. What you're working on. So in the final analysis that's what we want to see.
so I would think that we want to wait and do that.
sure. Just one person here. So we wanted to respond. I don't need a regurgitation of what we already heard.
right. The reason we waited is to hear this and then respond where you see the responses Before we submit them to them.
so that was the approach we all agreed to take. So you'd see them in the next commissioners court agenda because we whenever it doesn't Have to be the next one.
but at some point when you've got all you can send it directly to the commissioners Individually as well.
I think what's important to note here is we've taken this super seriously.
we have put a lot of measures in place so that this doesn't happen anymore, And it's going forward.
but at the end of the day, we still need and I keep saying no offense, But no offense.
we didn't need this presentation. Whoever put it on, We needed a presentation that shows here we're ready with the answers.
and what the public needs to be clear on is this stuff isn't going on anymore.
we've put stop gaps in place to make sure it doesn't. We have a new county auditor. We have a new budget officer. We've done everything that we Can do to stop,
you know, what happened, which again, there was no. So we're clear. There's never any money missing.
there was just some transfers that should have been done that weren't authorized by this Court. And that's why we did this forensic audit. That's why we all wanted it. That's why
we wanted to, you know, go do it. That's why we worked hard to find the money that we had To do to,
to to do this, to show that, you know, the public was, You know, very confident that we were taking this super seriously.
but yeah, I'd say let's and we don't want to rush you because there's nothing being done Now that's that's problematic.
that's all been stopped. So you need to be able to come back and clearly articulate when You're ready.
this is what we're going to do. This is what we've already done which you've told us some Of it and then move forward because this is super important stuff.
we're all on top of it, but we don't need to keep having a presentation of the same stuff That we've had over and over again.
right. I was surprised it was on the agenda as well. My understanding is this had already Been presented,
so I'm not sure about that. I think constance put this on. I was out because I don't think we had the final report.
I think we were waiting for the final report. So I do understand why why she put this on, but I, I also think it is a little bit preliminary until we have answers to the questions.
I know michael robinson's in the back. There were some questions about purchasing. He did Respond and I did receive an email and the attachments,
but I we were waiting. And so do you have anything new to add to this report that we are Not aware of?
for I know the health insurance fund we did and we finalized, But is there anything new on the other report that you haven't?
nothing in a substantive nature. Again, I'll just reiterate that, You know, we did a thorough investigation based off of the scope that was provided to us.
we found that the auditor's office underneath mr. Ashley was mismanaged to the extent that it was not being effectively managed and it was Not really functioning as an
auditor's office. And the role of the auditor was, To a certain extent passed on to the user departments,
which is not how the auditor's office is supposed to function. And this court has corrected a lot of that with some of the changes in the auditor's Office as well,
removing some of the things they probably shouldn't have been doing and letting them be Truly an audit office.
I think, judge, I think the question commissioner and commissioner, You're asking the right question,
but I think to me you got on the agenda, but I think it prematurely.
I think it probably should have made another couple of more meetings to know exactly What's being done,
how things are being changed, you know. I think that the auditor's only been on board About a month,
maybe, or a month. Two months, a month seems like a month.
okay. But anyway, being on too much and I think. And he was behind because he hired somebody he didn't want to hire, But we hired him.
so and I think some of that may be can open some of his doors, But I think we all want to I think it's kind of
premature to know what changes are going to be made permanently.
you know, we're still we're still fighting that work day thing. You know, I don't know how long we're going to be fighting that one, But I guess maybe forever.
but no, no, no. Hope not. But anyway, I just this is I think I think we need to table this Thing or two for
when you're ready. Right. Well, I think the presentation and the report that you have, I think that should suffice.
now, it's up to staff now to give you what I envision is what we're going to do about it.
and then maybe every now and then give you a follow up to that that says, Okay, these are done. These are still in motion.
would that be good? I think that is that is a good plan moving forward to see.
and I know your report's been turned in. I think it's been emailed to everyone.
thank you for your report. Yes. Very good. Appreciate it. Yeah. I just wanted to say this very concise report.
it's good for reminding us. It's good to keep this in front of us, Even though maybe nothing has really changed from the last report.
I feel that it was a little bit more concise. Obviously, you're trying to move through it as quickly as possible. That is much Appreciated, but it's worth showing the community that this is important to us.
and even if we can't take any action or we already have steps in place, It's good to remind the community and ourselves as the court that we have the staff
in place. We have all this work in place, the policies that we're working on in place to Make sure that these oversights don't happen again,
or that we're reducing any risk for any potential fraud or any other malfeasance.
so we're doing what we need to do, and we've been doing that. We've been on that path for over a year now. So, I mean, I think, yes.
are we getting anything different today than maybe we did before? Maybe not. But is it worth reminding everyone?
I think it is. So, I mean, thank you for your time and for this feedback because this is Good to to put that in our heads because we are asked these questions from time to time,
just in general, just from maybe the media, when they're talking about a whole different Story than they'll ask and jump back on this.
so that's important. But also to you know, we're not dealing at the same level like the City.
but yesterday was some controversy with the city council and just some issues that they're Going on. We're nowhere near that. But I think in the end, the public wants to know, is
there something criminal going on? We need to have that response. And I think at this point there there's nothing that's been found other than policies that Need to be corrected,
plans that need to be adjusted, new staff in place, All those things that we've been taking and we,
I would say policed ourselves, but we once we became more aware of these issues, Took proactive steps to make that change.
and so I think that's the biggest message today that we've been proactive. And you and your firm have done excellent work.
so thank you for that. And thank you all. Thank you. Go ahead. Just one more thing. Yes, I'm interested in seeing a traditional response that You would normally see from,
you know, we've got an outside auditor. You're our internal auditor. They have findings that they're going to submit to you and your management response to Each one of those findings back in a,
in a written format, you know, what is going to be implemented to address the findings.
and you know what your recommendations are going to be, What policy changes need to be made.
traditional auditor's response is what I'm looking for. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. And and just as commissioner says, Let me remind everyone is like we have policies that are in
place that were not being followed. Now we're aware of that, And all of us are being more diligent in watching out for these kind of things.
we have new people and new positions. We have divided up groups that were in there.
so just for the general public's, you know, there's no one that has done any criminal Activity here.
there are policies that were not followed and new procedures that we need to put into Place.
so we are better equipped for these kind of things and budgets and moving forward and what We have and planning for the future.
so thank you. We appreciate you being here. Yes.
item number five. Moving on to discuss and consider authorizing a contract from february 1st,
2026 to december 2026 for our legislative consultants, Joel romo and patricia shipton, for strategic planning,
consulting and government services related to the 90th legislative session.
we do know those interim committee charges have already gone out. We do know legislation is already being presented and discussed and committees are Meeting.
I am a firm believer that you are behind the curve if you wait until january for this.
I, as a person who served up there, I know that these decisions are already being Discussed and moving forward.
so I think commissioner and I spoke about this, And we felt it was necessary to put this on at our interim rate for both of
them, each of them at the $2,500 rate. And it is a budgeted item and I would move for Approval.
second discussion. Yes. Go ahead. It's budgeted. We budgeted at 27,000 each or what? I thought we just budgeted 2500 for three months or Whatever it was.
it's it's budgeted commissioner at the regular annual rate. There's about I think 120,000 in total. Even though we do five k 2500 interim.
you know, we we change it up. So the cushion is there. So the funds are available and budgeted. I don't remember that one, But I know we had those for three months.
last time. We said it for three months, but that was for special sessions when the Governor called multiple special sessions.
yes. That's me. Right. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Are you done?
yes. Judge I for me, it's a balance of you being able to to deliver in the price point That we
have budgeted. And so I know that, mr. Roman, Miss shipton had the, you know, obviously, the political background,
the lobbying background, the previous staffing levels that they served at the capitol to Have that team is I'm very proud of representing nueces
county. And I agree, judge. I mean, the race is now the marathon doesn't start, You know,
next january. It starts now in the interim to start lining up exploring potential bills, Bill's issues.
funding sources for the next session that's already beginning. You know that you have been a part of that. In fact, They were supposed to be on and they had to step out to a meeting that they couldn't be on
for waiting. So that it's important that we remind ourselves why we're doing this when This session is,
not when the legislators are not in session. Right? They're technically not, but they still go to meetings. If you asked any of our Delegation,
they're up in austin pretty often. And so we have to keep pushing our agenda and making Sure that we're monitoring other counties,
other governmental entities, what they're doing, Maybe best practices or teaming up on potential threats that we have in legislation that
can undermine us on on the ability to seek revenue and all the other challenges that are Coming down from austin.
so I support it. I would like, though, I don't know, We have been renewing and my vote today is going to be to support them,
but I don't know if it's the court's mindset to maybe look in the future. If not, I'm fine with who we have, but it's always good to go out.
but at this, like I said, we I think we found a good price point we're able to afford in Our budget and what skill level that we're able in access that we're able to get with
joel and patricia. So I just wanted to throw that out there if no one else is interested. But I think it's always good to go out kind of for a new bid.
right. Like we do that in insurance, michael and everything else. We go out for bids from Time to time just because we want to test the market and see what we have out there.
but that's just a john just thinking off the top of his head, Not necessarily a statement about what the work is being done for us.
we go out for bids or proposals. I stood down, I'm sorry. Proposals. Yeah. Yeah. But that's that's for another day.
I'm just saying for now I do support this item. But if we if we want to do the future, we might talk about doing that pretty soon.
if we do, I know there are highly respected there and very much in touch with us and Communicate with us on a regular basis,
have been excellent in communication with me and setting up meetings in austin and making Very useful of my time when I
do have to get away, because it is hard to get up there and they schedule everything. So I appreciate the comments and I think we always need to look at going out for what is The best plan moving forward.
but right now, in the interim, I think this is our best plan. This is a good price and I think we have a motion and a second if there's oh go ahead.
yeah, please. Thank you. I would like to see if we could as, As a court come together.
each of us has priorities that we would like to see the legislature work on, And they contact everyone to if you have any
issues, they contact all the elected officials as well. If you have something you want them to address.
well, no, that's not what I was going to say. What I'd like to do is say, If we could come together as a court and put those concerns or wishes
into a resolution and then or something report whatever you want to do, Present it to our consultants.
we have priorities. We do look at that. And and also to go along with that, Let's have the judge or a couple of
commissioners here go meet with our respective legislative delegation members and say, Here's what our
priorities are, and we'd like for you to carry the ball.
okay. Yes. You and commissioner martin want to do that? I'm fine. No, we just have done it in the past.
I'm saying we do actually do that, but that's excellent. Anyone else that wants to go and meet with them personally, Especially our local delegation here.
well that is a great point. But, you know, for example, I've somehow or another, I don't know how I got appointed to the
rules committee this past year for the legislative session because you were probably Absent.
probably. I think that's what it was. I didn't go to a meeting. I was supposed to. And but anyway, we had a series of meetings, And one of the things that we came out of that meeting with is we
want we want counties to be eligible to collect hotel motel tax.
and we got very close in the last legislative session. And, and I think representative villalobos is ready to carry that legislation for us if we Want to do it.
and I think we can get there. And I think that's really, Really, really important for this county.
and we met with the ways and means committee up there. And I mean, this is this is all great. And having someone else who is interested in the Legislative process,
too, and who is willing to go to austin is a great plan. So okay, anyway, that's my $0.02. We have a motion and a second.
all those in favor say I, I, I abstain. No one abstain.
one, no. And three eyes. The motion passes. Thank you very much.
moving on to item seven. Discuss and consider designating the london tax increment Reinvestment zone to seven board members and vice
chair. As per the nueces county church policy and all related matters.
if anyone does anyone have their appointee they would like to appoint?
I know I have mine today. I would like to appoint rob leone.
anybody else have someone appoint jaime garcia? Garcia? Anybody else? I don't have mine yet. Ready, But I will still stay on then until you have yours ready.
yes, but I don't intend to stay on. Yes, I've got plenty to do.
and I'll stay on. Yes. I'd like to nominate john myers as the vice chair for our nueces County tourist policy for the london tours.
number seven. Second, we have a motion and a second, Whoever you got staying on it.
he wants to stay on. The rest of us are appointing someone in our place. So we okay? Yes. All those in favor say aye. Aye.
any opposed? I would say no. Congrats and welcome.
and then I will make the motion to appoint rob leone in my place.
and jaime garcia and commissioner designation. Oh, it's a designation. We don't have to vote on it. I mean, I don't think we did last time. If you want to, we can,
but I'll second the motion. I want to, I thought last week or it's just a designation, But we can do whatever you want,
judge. Okay, well, we're doing those two people for the two of us.
we have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
the motion carries. And just a non-action commissioner is still going to be on that for Now.
goodbye. And please, vice chair item number eight discussing.
consider. Excuse me. Judge. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So according to the city secretary, the nueces county is supposed to appoint a board Member by statutory rate and nominate four others.
they have to approve. The four hour appointee will be the vice chair commissioner.
and they will. They will have to approve others. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Yes. We'll let her know.
and we can make that as part of the motion to to make him vice chair. I'll amend my motion to make him vice chair and to make him the the statutory member Member of the board.
second, and maybe that motion should include if there is a county commissioner or judge That plans to
serve, that they be the preferential choice for our vice chair position.
did we put that on there? Did we put it in the future because it's a statutory position.
so maybe that should be our motion to do what? Added that. No. Did we add that in the policy?
not sure what the question is. It's a new to make on all of our appointees in the future.
if there is a commissioner or county judge, if there is a sitting person that wants to Serve on that,
that it must be one of them as the vice chair instead of one of our appointees.
we would just need to amend the policy to do that. But I mean, Okay, if we can, we don't have to.
we can bring it. Never mind. Bring that back. I mean, I don't think we need to bring it back. I think we will always vote on the sitting member preferentially.
yeah, okay. I think it's a good idea. Yeah, just bring it back. The goal was to have the vice chair would always be a part of this group.
okay, we'll bring it back. Somebody. But we did we did vote on.
yeah, we voted on him being vice chair, so we don't need to. Now we're on item number eight. It's a related matter if you want to make it as an Amendment to the policy,
I think we I mean, the policy is to back up. It's a related matter if you want to make That. I thought it was already in the policy. Well, Not.
she's saying she's making it even more specific. Okay. Well that's fine if you want to make that as a motion, I think we can, because we've got the policy background.
we we have to resign the the policy and all of that and send it back to the city for all Of that approval.
I don't think we need it right now. I think we're all fine, You know? Let's just move forward. Good. Good choice. I've number eight.
discuss and consider upcoming commissioners court meeting dates, Workshop dates and related matters.
is there anything anyone wishes or has a conflict with on the commissioners court?
there being none, nobody speaking, we will move on to can we skip really quick because Kristen has to leave to coastal park?
see one discussing consider approval of large scale no dune protection permit.
determination and exemption. Request for proposed single family home.
and before you even get up there. Bmac. And coastal parks recommend approval, So I'd make the motion to approve.
second. We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion?
all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. I know you've done that a while back.
so sorry. No. You enjoyed being here all this time? Exactly. Yes. Everything. You're fine. No, no.
sit down, birthday boy. I'd also make a motion that we approve.
be one, two and three at one time. D one, two and three.
I, I only have one and two. B as in boy b oh, Sorry.
sorry. B as in boy. Yeah, yeah. One, two. I second that.
we have a motion to approve b one, two and three under the sheriff's office.
and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye.
aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.
and moving on to d grants. Your honor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve.
item d one and two. I'll second your motion. Any discussion?
all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
the motion passes unanimously. I'm done. Moving on to public works.
thank you. And happy birthday, scott. Thank you. Thank you.
yes. Discuss and consider approval of certificate of substantial completion for the Courthouse,
jail and wastewater line replacement. Replacement?
commissioners are recommending approval. We have a motion and a second.
any other discussion, jen? I did the motion. He did the second.
yes. Are you recommending approval on the other items you have here? Yes, sir. Okay. Okay. Second one, two, three and four.
second. Sorry. Motion. And a second. I'll withdraw mine and move.
any discussion? I'd just like to make the comment that one is a deductive change.
order. We are happy to see that. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. All those in favor say aye. Aye aye. Any opposed?
the motion passes unanimously. Item f one. Thank you, George.
thank you. Commissioner. Thank you. Thank you.
f one budget. Discuss and consider approving budget amendment number three.
we just have one item on this budget amendment number three, And we recommend approval.
so moved. Second. Motion. And a second. All those in favor say aye.
aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. Item two, Discuss and accept for record purposes,
internal budget amendment number two. And all related matters just for record purposes.
yes. I will make the motion to approve. We have a motion and a second.
any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye.
any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. Item number three.
discuss and consider authorizing project budget amendment number four and all related Matters.
yes. So this item is being made to align the funds that we talked about at the last Meeting to make sure all the projects are aligned correctly.
and we recommend approval for this one. Okay.
and. This is so moved. Second. Motion. And a second.
any discussion? Yes. Go ahead commissioner. G.
excuse me, judge, can I just make a note that that this particular capital project, It's arpa,
it's the projects being created. And then it's also a capital project for the old Courthouse.
is this one on three. Yes, ma'am. And that's what I wanted to comment on.
your honor I had visited with teresa and constance about setting up a a capital
project, a capital project for the 1914 courthouse so that we can track all funds that are Going to be spent on that project as we go through it.
and that way, at the end, we'll know exactly what we spent, You know, who we spent it with,
etcetera, etcetera. So constance said they were okay with doing that.
if you're if you're the court's okay with it, I'd like to see us do that.
I, I agree, I was. I know I had volunteered some funds before to pay for some of the stuff Too.
and my discretionary I think the goal was they initially we were going to pull that out of Reserve funds.
and and we're paying for this with certificates of obligation.
and that may or may not be what we intended the ceos to be spent on.
so I think it's better we set up a separate capital project and track all those, And we can fund that capital project
out of reserve funds for now, and I'll have an item on the next agenda that will have the Projections for the engineering costs through the completion of the
project, and then we'll move forward from there.
why would we not want to use ceos if they could be used for something?
I mean, I have I'm just saying some ceos that I can use of mine that's instead of Countywide.
no, no, I'm just saying that any money that can be. Yeah. Okay. That's fine. We just want a separate account for this.
and however I just want to be able to track it all. Absolutely all costs being separated for this.
yes okay I misunderstood. Sorry. Thanks. You're fine.
thank you. I think we already had a motion and a second on this. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?
the motion passes. Item g one. I need to table to the february 11th.
as per mr. Granberry asked me to do that. I need a second.
second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. Item two.
discuss, consider and take action on the award and execution of a service agreement with Daxko services corporation for alcohol controlled substance and specimen testing program.
this is funded by 1280 and motion. I'll second your motion.
any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.
item number g three. Discuss and consider adopting an order approving request for Proposals under local government code 262.030
as a method of procurement for pharmacy benefit management program services.
authorizing the purchasing agent to publish a notice and delegate an evaluation authority To an evaluation committee and related matters.
and this motion will need to be for all three things at once, Like we have done in the past.
thank you. Michael. Motion. Motion to approve all three three items.
yes, judge. Yes. We have a motion and a second.
any other discussion? Quick to point out. We we have been meeting on this.
appreciate michael and our team. And mr. Landers understands the importance of this.
we met was it last week I think to expedite this. We mentioned it in our last court. So we're moving about as aggressively as we can within The timeframes.
he knows that I'm pushing for end of march. Is that what we said? Possibly. Right. Is it? Is this. Well, this is pbm.
I'm sorry. Yeah, it's a little different. This is different okay. It's different. This is Different okay. But we are moving on it.
and so we appreciate michael's work on this. And mr. Landers thank you. We have a motion and a second.
all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously. It looks like we are ready to go to executive session.
did I miss anything or. We're. Nope. You're good. Wow. Okay. Executive session. Public notice is given that the commissioners court may Elect to go into executive session any time during the meeting to discuss
matters listed anywhere on the agenda. When authorized by the provisions of the open Meetings act,
chapter 551 of the texas government code. To the extent there has been a past practice of Distinguishing items for public deliberation and those for executive session,
the public is advised that the court is departing from that practice and reserves the Right to discuss any listed agenda items in executive session when authorized by law to do
so. In the event the commissioners court elects to go into executive session regarding Agenda item,
the section or sections of the open meetings act authorizing the executive session will be Publicly announced by the presiding officer in accordance with,
in accordance with the authority of the texas government code. Vernon's texas code, section 551.071551.072551.073551.074551.0745551.076551.086551.087551.089.
the commissioners court will hold an executive session to consult with the attorneys, Including matters related to litigation deliberate regarding real property,
prospective gifts, personnel matters including termination, County advisory bodies, security devices and or economic development negotiations and
other matters that may be discussed in an executive session. Upon completion of the executive session, the commissioners court may, In an open session,
take such action as appropriate on items discussed in the executive session.
item a today consult with the county attorney on legal matters related to cause number 225 Cv 0037 michelle therese
bronson versus nueces county and nueces county sheriff j.c. Hooper and related matters, texas government code 551.071.
discuss, consider, and take action and regular session if needed.
item b today consult with the county attorney on legal matters related to structure and Appointment to the nueces county child welfare board and related matters.
texas government code 551.071. Discuss, consider and take action in regular session if Needed.
item c consult with the county attorney on legal matters related to employee Reimbursements for overpayment and related matters.
texas government code 551.071 discuss, consider and take action in regular session if Needed.
item de deliberate in closed session regarding the purchase, Exchange, lease or value of certain real property for potential acquisition or future sale
and all related matters. Texas government code 551.072.
take action in open session if necessary and it is 1127 and we are going to executive.
thank you. My we are back from executive session.
it is 1:00 and I will call this meeting back to order.
there are no action items from executive session today.
do we have any adjournments in memory? Yes. Go ahead, Commissioner chesney.
mine turned red too. Just keep pushing on it. You just have to push the middle button. Yes.
okay. That worked. Yes. Mine today. Judges. Bradford, Lee.
kisner. He passed away peacefully on saturday, January 10th at his home in corpus christi.
survived by his wife, jane, and his children, Evan and sarah jane, and many grandchildren.
brad was born in enid, oklahoma. He graduated from enid high school in 1970, And earned a bachelor of arts from oklahoma state in 1974.
after a few years of teaching and serving in churches in oklahoma, He attended perkins school of theology at smu,
where he received a master's of sacred music in 1980. He met the love of his life, jane, in 1981 at a music and worship conference.
they were married in 1983 at perkins chapel at smu, And journeyed through life together for 42 years.
an accomplished pianist, organist and choral director, Brad lived out his faith in both church and community.
his ministry had a positive impact on countless people over the years, And he made long lasting friendships everywhere he went.
he served as the music director of first united methodist church, Midland in march in 95.
he and jane moved to corpus christi to begin their music ministry at first united Methodist church. There,
brad served as the director of music and fine arts for 24 years. After retiring from first united methodist in 2019, He was involved in the music leadership at first presbyterian church for several years.
additionally, he taught for 18 years at texas a&m corpus christi as an adjunct professor Of piano.
outside of his church work, he was involved in leadership for many arts and music Organizations.
over the years, he served on the board of the american guild of organists, The corpus christi symphony orchestra board and symphony guild, the arts commission of
corpus christi, and was involved with the american guild of english handbells.
celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. On friday, March 13th at first united methodist church.
our condolences to the family. Absolutely. Are there any others?
either of you? I have one monica perez, one of our employees her mother, Elida reyes, the funeral
service. I don't have the obituary or anything, But I do want to announce the funeral service will be held on january 31st,
2026, at the corpus christi funeral home. A public visitation will be held at 11 a.m.
that day, with a rosary service to begin at 1 p.m. And two men to follow at rose hill memorial park at 230.
and our sincere condolences go out to our nueces county family and monica and her entire Family.
very sorry for the reyes's. Are there any others?
then I would say this meeting is adjourned. It is 103 and we are adjourned.
holy cow!