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What is there? You getting one? Oh, yeah.

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Looks like we're in order. All right. Well, I want to welcome everyone. We love seeing all the faces here. It's Randall County Commissioner's Court, February 27, 2024. It's now officially in session. We're going to begin with an indication with Commissioner Robinson, and then we're going to fall with the pledges of allegiance. And then we have some certificates to hand out.

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Let's

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pray our most gracious Heavenly Father, we came to you this morning and ask you that

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in thanksgiving for our first responders throughout Randall County and the challenges

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that they will face with these inflamed weather that we're experiencing right now, please

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watch over all of our first responders and watch over all of our citizens that

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are at risk in a crucial day such as today.

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We thank you for the many resources that you have provided us in order to protect our citizens

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throughout Randall County.

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Dear Lord, we thank you for our democracy and for our right to vote in this fine country.

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We hope that all of our citizens will practice the right to vote.

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Dear Lord, please forgive us for our sins and thank you for Jesus Christ to our salvation

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In that name, we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the light 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.

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I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.

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So we'll start off with, and I'll probably put you this name, a Clay Coulter, two years

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from the fire department.

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We'll be here between the two.

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We'll connect

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this to one.

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Congratulations.

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Next is Ruston Scarborough,

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two years from the fire department.

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Linda Galvan, two years from the sheriff's department.

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This

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is Cody Mays.

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How

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do we miss him?

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I don't know.

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Brown, two years with Texel.

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I would say lovely.

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She just hurt more than she wore today.

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Thank you.

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Well,

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as Judge Dyer said,

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it's always exciting to have a full house here

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and we're so grateful that y'all are going to stay till the very end.

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And we hope you enjoyed that this morning.

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Now, in all seriousness, we're going to celebrate some folks who are celebrating five years

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and 10 years here.

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We're going to start at the youth center, five years, Eric Hulson.

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They

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come across farmers insurance, and they've seen a lot of you have seen a lot of us.

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The

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Sheriff's Office celebrating 10 years with us, Stephen Torres.

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We're

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excited for this.

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And

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the last person we're going to celebrate for 10 years at least at the youth center.

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A lot of youth center folks today, Jared, you must be pretty nice to them.

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Vicente Gonzalez.

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I'd like to echo what Tam said.

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I continually hear good things about random county employees.

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Thanks to each and every one of you for all you do each and every day.

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When I talk to people, citizens out there, they say everybody is so kind, they're so

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good, and they took care of my situation, so that's really appreciated.

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it. So, thanks again. Okay, from the mental health department. 15 years, we have Nan Smith.

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I don't ever think about that. Going to the courthouse, most times not very pleasant experience.

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Say they're going to, you're in trouble, or he's going to cost you money.

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And so, when we receive compliments from all of our,

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that's pretty powerful, because in

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In an environment like this, you make sometimes your professionalism and your training sure

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shows that thank you for all you do.

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Judge, tax office, 20 years of service, Paul and Meph are in this.

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I'm good.

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Thank you guys.

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Don't know Paul.

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She's one of the most playful kind.

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Always has a beautiful smile on her face.

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So we're very glad to have her.

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Thank you, Judge.

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So now you can see how we can send a crowd out.

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They got work to do.

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Right.

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We're going to begin with item one, discuss and take action,

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improving the minutes of the February 13th,

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2024 meeting of the Randall County Commissioner's Board.

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Has everyone had time for a view of the minutes?

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Yes, ma'am.

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Is there any corrections or changes?

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Hearing none.

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Then is there a motion?

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I'll move approved.

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I'll second it.

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Second.

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All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

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Hi.

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And the motion carries 5-0.

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Item number two, discuss, excuse me, discuss a request by Love's Travel Stop to discharge

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a fluent into the Arnot Road and County Road 34 right away.

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Good morning, our team from Love's.

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Good morning.

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We're going to have you come up and do your presentation.

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We also have some citizens here that want to speak afterwards, so come.

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Please sit down.

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Make yourself at home.

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Make yourself at home.

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Absolutely.

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What we would have asked for you to do is go around and identify each other for the court

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and for the record.

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Yes.

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Good morning, commissioners.

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My name is Boyd Mouse.

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I'm the counsel for Love's Travel Stops.

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We're going to have each person identify who they want.

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I'm Amelia Jordan.

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I'm with APEX companies for consulting engineers for Love's.

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I'm Chris Welden.

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I'm one of the environmental managers for Love's.

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Gerald Haney environmental manager for loves. Thank you all. Thank you. So we're here today. I understand we're not on a gender

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Action item per se rather here just to have a discussion

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introduced commissioners

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What we will be requesting down the line

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But just for I'm going to do a little bit of brief background and I'm going to turn it over to

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Jordan

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Loves has had a store, this is the I-40 West store

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near Arnott Road, west of Amarillo for decades.

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In 2020, Loves did a substantial upgrade

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and remodel of that store.

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And I think that was rolled out in December of 2020.

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In connection with that, prior to that substantial upgrade,

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all of the wastewater was contained on site.

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In connection with the upgrade, Love's put in a wastewater treatment plant to treat the

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waste as a fluid.

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And then in connection with that, for any of that wastewater fluid to be released off

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site, Love's applied for and was granted a permit from the Texas Commission of Environmental

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quality TCEQ to do just that and that was in 2018 about five just over five years

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ago. Also in connection with that the route of the effluent that would be

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leaving the loves property to travel on right-of-way property, property initially

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along the road on Arnott Road and we're gonna have some maps for you here in a

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minute to give you a little more context and Ms. Jordan will go through those but

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The affluent would travel solely on right-of-way property initially in Potter County crossing

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over going south into Randall County and then turning east for a good distance.

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So for the first 1.4 miles of that route, that's solely on right-of-way, county right-of-way.

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In connection with updating the facility, Loves has plans to make substantial updates

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to its wastewater treatment facility, and those were kicked off last year. In connection with

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that process, it was discovered that five years ago, Love's never approached Randall County for

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any authorization or any affluent to travel across any of its right-of-way should the

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affluent get that far. And so we discovered that last year,

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and that's basically why we're

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today to introduce ourselves to discuss that. So prior to that Potter County

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did give a resolution. The Commissioner's Court passed a resolution five years ago

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granting loves permission to discharge this treated wastewater onto the right

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away in Potter County. But due to an oversight love did not approach Randall

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county for that same permission. The initial path, based on the top of

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graphical maps, showed that the effluent would go east, cross the Randall

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the Potter County right away only briefly, and then perhaps go east on the

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neighboring property. But in connection with the updated application process, we

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saw what was happening. It's going down our net road, which it's been

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doing that for a number of years. So in connection with all that, we want to come to Randall

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County to let you know the status. We have applied for an additional permit which Ms.

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short and can walk you through.

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For our upgraded facility and upgraded discharge parameters. The TCEQ has

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ordinarily held public comment. Numerous parties have had opportunity to comment,

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including some here from Randall County. And the TCEQ just recently, a couple weeks ago,

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the executive director found and concluded that Love's upgraded permit, if you will,

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meets all legal requirements. So there's going to be an additional period for

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parties to be heard if they wish with the TCEQ, but we're heading towards

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approval with the TCEQ. So with that said, I'm going to be real honest. We're going

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to be asking one for permission or affluent to be coming across the

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right away Randall County and just to be real honest need to have for a little

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forgiveness too because there was an oversight five years ago they're just

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floods so Miss Jordan is going to go over some maps with you and kind of show

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you the flow path what's what has occurred what we proposed to occur and

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it's it's bottom line it's this would have to travel one point four miles

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before entering any private property we'll lay that out for you on the

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primary path. So with that said I'm happy once we've heard from Ms. Jordan and our

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other folks to follow back up with answering questions you may have but with

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that said I would turn it over to Ms. Jordan. Ms. Jordan before you begin I

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just want to talk to the clerk. So Brandon you have that thumb drive will

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you be able to pass that on to the clerk for the official record for

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whatever they're presenting.

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So as Boyd mentioned, lots of rules and

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operates a waste management plan on the Hormat Road on the west of town.

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It's permitted for 15,000 gallons per day treatment capacity and over the years

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traffic has increased and the flows have increased that are produced by the store.

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Hormat was granted for five years in 2018. It was up for renewal last year so

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when we went for the renewal we also asked for an increase of flow. So the

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The flows that we are asking to be permitted for is 22,500 gallons per day to the right of discharge.

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As Boyd mentioned, as we were going through the permit, we discovered the flow path was not –

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the original permit was not correct, and now that has been corrected and put in public notifications

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and publications on newspapers.

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As part of the increased traffic and increased flows, we are doing some improvements

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to the property. So, yeah, that one. So, in the red clotted area, that is the new equipment

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that's going to be going in. There's a solid separation tank, some additional tanks to more

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thoroughly treat the existing system, which is just south in the kind of the gray or

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lighter gray. That's what's there now. And then a new train that includes membrane

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treatment, which is highly treated effluent. It's very clean effluent at that point,

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and we're going to blend those two flows for average daily flow of 22,500 gallons per day.

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And that only happens in the summer, and it only happens once in a while, and it's at 22,

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but they've gone over their 15 so many times that they need an increase for the average.

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They typically run around 10,000, 9 to 10,000 gallons a day

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during most of the year. So we're looking at finding an additional treatment

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train improvements to the existing plant to more thoroughly treat the water and it's going to have

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membranes in the new system.

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So if you want to put the one that says with irrigation,

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there's

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one that says

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with irrigation, there's two maps like that. There you go. So let's put in an irrigation system

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a few, a couple years ago and it irrigates approximately 9 to 10,000 gallons per day,

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So most of the effluent stays on site most of the time and that irrigation system is

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going to be revamped and make more efficient to even door more water on site if possible.

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And so if they're irrigating the path that the water takes at 22,500 gallons per day,

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which like I said only happens occasionally during the summer, is the blue line that

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goes down Arnot Road and just gets to the intersection of County Road 34. So

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you see across it goes about 900 feet down Potter County right away and then

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down through the Randall County right away on County Road 34. It stops

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approximately the intersection of those two roads. The purple line is 40,000

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gallons per day. That's their peak. So that's the peak about that the plant

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that would be able to treat efficiently.

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So that's not a permitted level, but it'll be our peak

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that the designers go to call for.

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So if on occasion it gets that high for whatever reason,

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the purple line shows where the affluent goes.

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So it goes part of the way down,

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kind of around 34 to the east,

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there's a culvert that also goes south on Arnot Road

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that we just discovered as well during the purring process.

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Our rental company was kind enough to go out

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and investigate that for us and say yes,

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Indeed there is water that goes culver cycle in two directions and so as you can see the water never gets on the any

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properties stays in the right way

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And this was done through modeling hydraulic software

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It's called SWMM. I believe is the RSWM. I didn't do the modeling, but anyway, if that's the model that's done based on

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percolation nitrogen loading and

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So, this is a scientific model that is run based on the topography in the area and the

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films we're looking at discharging.

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So, I just want to point out the county line.

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I wish we had a pointer.

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Yeah, the county line is there just south of the property for the RV park.

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It's off to the east there.

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So that's where it crosses over to Moreno County.

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So where

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we're at right now is, as Boyd mentioned, TCEQ has approved the draft permit, has heard

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00:21:56,470 --> 00:22:01,290
all comments, and has determined that we were recommending a final permit to issue the next

236
00:22:01,290 --> 00:22:02,150
30 to 60 days.

237
00:22:02,290 --> 00:22:06,570
They could get another 30 days period to have parties be heard if they wish.

238
00:22:08,350 --> 00:22:11,750
And so that will be, hopefully finalized in the next 30 to 60 days.

239
00:22:12,590 --> 00:22:16,330
As Boyd mentioned, also Potter County has granted permission to, and he granted

240
00:22:16,330 --> 00:22:24,430
in 2018 to discharge their to their right away and so where we are right now is

241
00:22:24,430 --> 00:22:29,070
we're just about to finalize our permit and we're here to talk to you about

242
00:22:29,070 --> 00:22:33,670
requesting permission to discharge to Randall County right away from the

243
00:22:33,670 --> 00:22:38,510
distance it goes. To have a question you said that Potter County had approved

244
00:22:38,510 --> 00:22:44,290
it in 2018 but it doesn't it come before them again now? They haven't

245
00:22:44,290 --> 00:22:49,990
requested. It wasn't dated with the limit. I can address it. Yes, there was there was

246
00:22:49,990 --> 00:22:56,390
a resolution passed back in 2018 by Potter County to discharge specifically into the

247
00:22:56,390 --> 00:23:02,830
right of way. Resolution doesn't have a sunset period. You've had to be

248
00:23:02,830 --> 00:23:07,850
occasions with Potter County. We've been to the commissioners meeting as well.

249
00:23:07,950 --> 00:23:11,870
They're spoken with the county attorney as of right now that that

250
00:23:11,870 --> 00:23:15,870
resolutions in place maybe the official records just weren't correct but I

251
00:23:15,870 --> 00:23:19,450
thought what I saw was that it was on their agenda and then they decided they

252
00:23:19,450 --> 00:23:25,090
were not going to take it up the county took no action on there was an agenda

253
00:23:25,090 --> 00:23:30,550
item in December to revoke the resolution and the county took no action

254
00:23:30,550 --> 00:23:38,160
yes so therefore the resolution remains in place as a result of comments

255
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:43,480
that were received by Potter County they elected to reach out to TCEQ for public

256
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:50,320
hearing and TCEQ denied that and then had to just review the permit and address

257
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:56,900
the comments that were brought forward and found that they would have raised

258
00:23:56,900 --> 00:23:58,500
a speciality in

259
00:24:01,090 --> 00:24:07,130
compliance with the regulations. Correct. The county made

260
00:24:07,130 --> 00:24:11,190
comments through council during the review process. And those comments were addressed

261
00:24:11,190 --> 00:24:18,150
by the executive director of the TCEQ. And the final comment concluded that

262
00:24:18,810 --> 00:24:24,790
loves a dated application meets all requirements. So the county did come forward with the TCEQ.

263
00:24:25,170 --> 00:24:31,950
The 2018 plan that you submitted, you said it, you initially thought that it was going to go

264
00:24:31,950 --> 00:24:36,090
through Potter County, never go anywhere else, and then flow across into another private

265
00:24:36,090 --> 00:24:42,070
property owner? Who is that private property owner and did you get permission from them as well?

266
00:24:43,850 --> 00:24:50,070
No, your honor. Again, this is back in 18. Permission was only given by Potter County.

267
00:24:50,630 --> 00:24:56,670
What actually happened on the ground was that it never entered east of the facility,

268
00:24:56,990 --> 00:25:02,950
the love store. It always went down the right away. So the only approval obtained was Potter

269
00:25:02,950 --> 00:25:13,590
So if you look at the EPA water map or maps, it shows a path that's actually occurring in the topography that goes across the, right across the street is the Oasis RV Park.

270
00:25:13,950 --> 00:25:27,170
It's that gray area that's just north of the cutting line. Again, what actually happens because it probably improvements to the road and some ditches being dug, it actually rerouted the down south.

271
00:25:27,170 --> 00:25:32,030
So if that permit was done by a different engineering firm, it apparently was an oversight.

272
00:25:32,690 --> 00:25:41,410
They were looking at the maps that the EPA presents, and we noticed it goes south by just somebody being there

273
00:25:41,410 --> 00:25:44,450
and seeing where the route has actually changed.

274
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:49,360
Please proceed.

275
00:25:50,220 --> 00:25:51,020
That's all I have.

276
00:25:51,340 --> 00:25:51,580
All right.

277
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:52,200
Anyone else?

278
00:25:54,390 --> 00:25:54,590
All right.

279
00:25:54,630 --> 00:25:55,950
And see a request to Randall County?

280
00:25:56,970 --> 00:25:57,410
Yes.

281
00:25:57,570 --> 00:25:59,550
I'd like to follow up with a few more comments if I may.

282
00:26:00,010 --> 00:26:01,450
So I know we have property owners here.

283
00:26:01,450 --> 00:26:06,670
we've dealt with some of those property owners in connection to Potter County. I just want to

284
00:26:06,670 --> 00:26:11,510
point out a couple of things on that. We're here. We'll ultimately be requesting an action item,

285
00:26:11,590 --> 00:26:19,650
I suppose, at a subsequent meeting for Randall County to approve via resolution permission

286
00:26:20,170 --> 00:26:28,190
or loves to discharge treated wastewater. If it should get that far on to Randall County

287
00:26:28,190 --> 00:26:36,010
right away along the routes that we said, which would be along highway or county road 34 and then further south on or not road.

288
00:26:36,130 --> 00:26:43,270
I just have one comment about that. So we did submit quantity and quality information to the roads and bridges department at Randall County.

289
00:26:43,790 --> 00:26:50,870
To give them an idea of what was going to be in the water, how much water we're talking about, and they came back with no questions.

290
00:26:51,130 --> 00:26:52,530
So they were satisfied with what we presented.

291
00:26:52,530 --> 00:26:57,380
What I wanted to point out was, I know we're going to hear from some landowners.

292
00:26:57,580 --> 00:27:06,700
I just want to make clear that per the CEQ specifically provides that it's the responsibility

293
00:27:07,260 --> 00:27:15,200
of loves to obtain property rights from any affected landowners as may be necessary.

294
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:17,740
If they're affected as may be necessary.

295
00:27:17,740 --> 00:27:24,780
Our analysis has been that the given that this stays on the right-of-way for up to 1.4 miles

296
00:27:25,300 --> 00:27:31,480
Before it turns into under a culvert and up to even I think 1.75 miles down our not road

297
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,680
Our position has been we want to be a good neighbor. We'll talk to any property owners

298
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,000
We've had some dialogue with some property owners

299
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:43,600
But as of yet our position is that nothing is necessary in terms of

300
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,600
for acquiring any other rights from any private property owners.

301
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,520
And we're always happy to have dialogue with any property owners.

302
00:27:50,940 --> 00:27:56,180
If they feel there's any impact in the image or anything of that nature,

303
00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:57,600
we're not aware of any of that evidence.

304
00:27:57,780 --> 00:28:01,020
I haven't seen any, but I just want to point out what we're going to be asking

305
00:28:01,020 --> 00:28:05,020
the commissioners is for approval just on the commissioners right away.

306
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,340
The TECQ provides that.

307
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:12,000
If anything additional is necessary, one of two things, whatever may be necessary.

308
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,640
and two, if a property owner believes they're affected,

309
00:28:15,860 --> 00:28:16,900
they have common law rights.

310
00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:20,300
If they think there's been any issue with any discharge

311
00:28:20,300 --> 00:28:23,320
or this treated wastewater on their property,

312
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:24,780
they have common law rights.

313
00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:26,760
And so I just want to make clear of that.

314
00:28:27,020 --> 00:28:28,040
Love's wants to be a good neighbor.

315
00:28:28,260 --> 00:28:29,720
We'll talk to any and all property owners.

316
00:28:30,220 --> 00:28:31,920
We believe based on our analysis,

317
00:28:32,540 --> 00:28:34,280
this stays within the right-of-way.

318
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:35,800
And-

319
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,040
If it leaves the store at all,

320
00:28:37,100 --> 00:28:39,340
right now it's surprised it's not even discharging.

321
00:28:39,500 --> 00:28:40,060
It's been here again.

322
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:41,060
Sure, sure.

323
00:28:41,060 --> 00:28:45,600
So a lot of this is discharged on site for sprinkler systems, which are being upgraded.

324
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,160
So Loves wants to do everything he can to keep it on site.

325
00:28:48,540 --> 00:28:49,600
That's always goal one.

326
00:28:49,900 --> 00:28:55,340
We know there are peak times that can't happen, but so there is some discharge hence the

327
00:28:55,340 --> 00:28:59,100
need for the permission from the applicable counties for the right one.

328
00:29:00,180 --> 00:29:06,500
So there has been some frustration since 2017 in Randall County with commissioners

329
00:29:06,500 --> 00:29:11,760
who had landowners who reached out to them, who had concerns, met with the loves representatives

330
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:17,100
in TCEQ and were dismissed and told that they had no voice in this matter.

331
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:23,580
And so there are a lot of questions from this Commissioner's Court because we've had

332
00:29:23,580 --> 00:29:28,620
to sit silent, but yet take the water as they came down our thoroughfare.

333
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,280
So I'm going to begin with Commissioner Clarnes, and each Commissioner will be able

334
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:40,520
to ask loves. The questions that are on their heart at this time. I will point out, I saw

335
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:45,060
your book open. That is not a presentation from them. It was one that was delivered from

336
00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:46,060
a propion. Okay.

337
00:29:46,340 --> 00:29:52,840
Okay. All right. I think you mentioned in the beginning you had permission to discharge

338
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:57,940
15,000 gallons per day and then got it up to 22,000.

339
00:29:58,180 --> 00:29:59,300
That's what they were going to do for a minute.

340
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:06,920
Business increased and you went up to 22.5. You know, just looking at this and the big picture,

341
00:30:07,420 --> 00:30:12,640
I'm wondering how this all came about in the first place. If you put any loves in anywhere,

342
00:30:13,100 --> 00:30:19,660
they have to have an issue like this to take care of. If Joe Smith puts in a 50,000 foot warehouse

343
00:30:19,660 --> 00:30:25,660
that he does business out of, he has to have a way to discharge that sewage. So

344
00:30:25,660 --> 00:30:31,440
So, I don't understand how this works, that's why I'm asking, why is this an issue now?

345
00:30:31,820 --> 00:30:37,100
And we have photos here that show, as you say, from citizens that show the sewage out there

346
00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:39,580
and they have complained about it, which I would too.

347
00:30:40,260 --> 00:30:43,380
So how did it come to happen in the first place?

348
00:30:44,580 --> 00:30:49,080
Well, first off, it's treated, it's a fluid, it's treated wastewater, first off.

349
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:54,360
So yes, at times there will be moisture or water or treated a fluid in the right

350
00:30:54,360 --> 00:31:01,660
away. For sure. And I would just point out the city of Amarillo treats its

351
00:31:01,660 --> 00:31:07,340
wastewater and discharges down plain if you will. So it's not an uncommon thing.

352
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:14,580
Loves is a one very small contributor here to what this is. This is a natural

353
00:31:14,580 --> 00:31:19,200
thing. This happens with large municipalities. So for that reason the

354
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:24,340
DCEQ steps in and governs this and they have stringent requirements and

355
00:31:24,340 --> 00:31:27,780
And that's what we have done to satisfy those requirements.

356
00:31:28,180 --> 00:31:33,380
So yes, there will be water in the right-of-way on occasion, or it will be.

357
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:35,880
That's contemplated.

358
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,780
That was contemplated in Potter County when we got there at Ruble, for certain.

359
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:42,900
So let's go to the loves on the east side of town.

360
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,600
Can anybody address how that's handled over there?

361
00:31:47,220 --> 00:31:49,220
Do we have any issues like that?

362
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:50,280
Do we have people complaining?

363
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:52,580
No, they have city sewer services.

364
00:31:52,740 --> 00:31:53,340
City sewer.

365
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,440
So is that the key to all of it?

366
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,260
Loves would love to be on city utilities.

367
00:31:59,420 --> 00:32:02,960
There just aren't any available out at this location.

368
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,740
Okay, you take it loves on I-40 between here in Oklahoma City.

369
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:08,580
How do they handle it?

370
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,320
It's case by case, whether they have services or not.

371
00:32:11,900 --> 00:32:12,220
They don't have.

372
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,760
So LUS has quite a few wastewater treatment plans.

373
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:15,120
Right.

374
00:32:16,060 --> 00:32:19,620
So it just depends on the location and circumstances.

375
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,860
And for example, as I mentioned before, this store was substantially upgraded and expanded.

376
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,880
It had its own leach field on site, was able to handle everything on site.

377
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,340
So many occasions, that's what you want to try to do first, of course, if you can.

378
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:36,820
So that's how it's handled on many occasions.

379
00:32:37,060 --> 00:32:43,980
But as Ms. Jordan mentioned, LUVS has multiple wastewater treatment facilities and various

380
00:32:43,980 --> 00:32:47,640
jurisdictions where we have to get the approvals before anything can leave off

381
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:47,940
site.

382
00:32:47,940 --> 00:32:52,840
I think what happened here is the store was substantially modeled and the showers were added.

383
00:32:53,300 --> 00:32:53,660
Is that correct?

384
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:55,900
The showers were added in more space.

385
00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:58,660
So that's why there was an increase in flow.

386
00:32:59,300 --> 00:33:03,760
And you're not even going to keep it all on site because there's limits to percolation.

387
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:04,800
There's limits to vibration.

388
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:08,440
There's limits because there's a well across the street at the RV park.

389
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:10,380
So you have the setbacks for, you know,

390
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,360
if you're in compliance with setbacks for property lines, for irrigation even.

391
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,260
So, that's why the flow is increasing by there.

392
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,860
They were not able to catch them.

393
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:22,520
I'm

394
00:33:26,070 --> 00:33:26,690
good for the moment.

395
00:33:27,630 --> 00:33:28,470
Mr. Robinson.

396
00:33:29,150 --> 00:33:32,030
Can we agree that the borrower ditch belongs to Randall County?

397
00:33:32,650 --> 00:33:33,070
Excuse me?

398
00:33:33,410 --> 00:33:36,750
The borrower ditch, commonly called borrower ditch.

399
00:33:37,070 --> 00:33:38,450
Correct terms, the borrower ditch.

400
00:33:39,130 --> 00:33:42,370
Are we in agreement that that belongs to Randall County?

401
00:33:43,010 --> 00:33:44,210
I believe it's in the right of way, yes.

402
00:33:44,210 --> 00:33:47,050
The borrowed ditch belongs to Randall County.

403
00:33:48,130 --> 00:33:48,610
Okay.

404
00:33:49,130 --> 00:33:52,850
Now tell me how you maintain a wet borrowed ditch.

405
00:33:53,830 --> 00:33:57,410
How are we supposed to maintain a muddy borrowed ditch?

406
00:34:00,070 --> 00:34:01,490
The majority of the time it's not,

407
00:34:01,630 --> 00:34:03,710
there's not going to be F1 going down the back.

408
00:34:04,710 --> 00:34:06,490
Right now I walked it out of the polyester.

409
00:34:06,630 --> 00:34:08,090
There's no F1 leaving the plan.

410
00:34:08,230 --> 00:34:08,370
There's no-

411
00:34:08,370 --> 00:34:10,350
You're asking for a quarter, one and one,

412
00:34:10,370 --> 00:34:12,610
one and one fourth miles, right?

413
00:34:13,070 --> 00:34:14,270
In Randall County.

414
00:34:14,270 --> 00:34:20,730
before it gets to its destination. And you're saying that at times it will be wet.

415
00:34:21,350 --> 00:34:22,890
How do we maintain that ditch?

416
00:34:25,070 --> 00:34:31,830
For the safety and for the of our citizens. You're

417
00:34:31,830 --> 00:34:37,750
the engineers. How do we do it? I'm not asking about it. I'm saying about a wet

418
00:34:37,750 --> 00:34:43,830
ditch. I'll get to the water quality in a minute. If I may. So this has been

419
00:34:43,830 --> 00:34:50,410
being done it for since 2020. And if there are any issues with with maintenance, I think

420
00:34:50,410 --> 00:34:56,090
with any other ditch, I don't think you can mow it when it's wet or or shape it or do whatever

421
00:34:56,090 --> 00:35:01,770
anything else. Right. But the question I think you maybe get is how often Randall County with

422
00:35:01,770 --> 00:35:07,910
that ditch have standing discharge or rainwater things of that nature. I don't know

423
00:35:07,910 --> 00:35:12,730
without going out there and actually looking at it, but it would be maintained just like

424
00:35:12,730 --> 00:35:17,170
the county would maintain any other ditch. I suppose when it's wet you can't

425
00:35:17,170 --> 00:35:21,790
mow it. But the question really is how many days, you might be asking, how many

426
00:35:21,790 --> 00:35:27,410
days out of the year has this impacted Randall County's ability to maintain its

427
00:35:27,410 --> 00:35:31,710
bar ditch? I don't know the answer. We haven't had any complaints. I don't

428
00:35:31,710 --> 00:35:35,330
think from Randall County. We're happy to address any.

429
00:35:36,350 --> 00:35:40,550
To be clear also, that's also the stormwater ditch. And so with storms,

430
00:35:40,550 --> 00:35:45,550
Here, there's about a thousand acres that drains into that same ditch.

431
00:35:46,590 --> 00:35:52,590
So love's piece of that is initial, compared to what a storm would create for wetness.

432
00:35:53,330 --> 00:35:57,330
So that's, I mean, we're talking orders and orders of magnitude, like 20,000 gallons

433
00:35:57,330 --> 00:35:57,690
a minute.

434
00:35:58,090 --> 00:36:02,030
In addition to that, you know, we have to have weak control.

435
00:36:02,930 --> 00:36:10,390
In our intersections, which there's a major one right there, the weak control prevents

436
00:36:10,390 --> 00:36:19,190
sites lines or stop signs etc okay and so I just don't I've got a real problem

437
00:36:19,190 --> 00:36:27,260
with that okay I got a problem that permission was never so soft from us and

438
00:36:28,780 --> 00:36:32,220
I've been around there's quite a bit of time and most of the time you need to

439
00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:39,360
keep your wastewater on your own property okay so we're accepting you're

440
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:46,560
asking us to accept the excess water that's not being able to be held on the property.

441
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:47,240
Is that correct?

442
00:36:48,460 --> 00:36:48,880
All right.

443
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:57,460
Why don't you expand your property to take care of your waste water on your further irrigation?

444
00:36:58,140 --> 00:36:58,960
That's certainly an option.

445
00:36:59,500 --> 00:37:02,520
They would have to, they're locked in with property owners all around them.

446
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:07,160
So that's certainly, let's maybe speak to that more, but there's been some discussion

447
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:12,580
about talking to the next door neighbor to the west or to irrigate from their

448
00:37:12,580 --> 00:37:14,360
property. So that's certainly it.

449
00:37:16,620 --> 00:37:20,060
Okay next thing I'm very concerned about is

450
00:37:20,060 --> 00:37:27,040
water quality and what is the procedure for monitoring water quality in the

451
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:33,200
borrower ditch in Randall County? So the responsibility of LOVES is to monitor

452
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:40,360
their influence at their discharge point. So it's on, it's right at the pump fault.

453
00:37:40,940 --> 00:37:47,260
So the permit is for 10 milligrams per liter of BOD, which is biological demand of oxygen.

454
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:55,620
So it's very, very low. There's 15 parts per million of solids, which is, you know, it's

455
00:37:55,620 --> 00:37:58,760
almost nothing. And very, very low. It's chlorine and water, so it's going to have

456
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,280
very, very low bacteria, it's actually plant stormwater.

457
00:38:01,900 --> 00:38:05,280
So it's, we've got the data from the city of Amarillo.

458
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,120
It's cleaner than their stormwater, their outfalls.

459
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,120
So because we're putting in membranes,

460
00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:14,360
is it going to be better quality than it currently is?

461
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:18,880
So they have to monitor, I believe, monthly for clothes

462
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,060
and for their various contaminants,

463
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,820
which would be like ammonia, biological VOD,

464
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:26,840
and suspended solids.

465
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:35,480
So that's, they have an operator, a server operator that runs the plant, it's there at least three or four days a week running the plant and maintaining it and taking samples.

466
00:38:37,340 --> 00:38:44,780
And in addition to what you do as far as monitoring the flood, the TCEQ does also?

467
00:38:45,460 --> 00:38:47,020
Yes, they report the TCEQ.

468
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:49,760
They report by city of Cattie Hill.

469
00:38:50,540 --> 00:39:00,380
They report to the TCQ their quality of water and their flow every month and they actually monitor it continuously.

470
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:06,600
There's a continuous flow meter that's on the plant right now and so they can tell you at any time what the flow rate is

471
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:10,460
and you can go out there and take ramp samples and they do it weekly, I believe.

472
00:39:10,980 --> 00:39:15,740
They test for BOD, ammonia, TSS, I believe every week.

473
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:21,620
Yeah, if I understood your question, the TCQ doesn't generally come in and take their

474
00:39:21,620 --> 00:39:22,000
own scene.

475
00:39:22,180 --> 00:39:22,740
No, they can.

476
00:39:22,940 --> 00:39:23,860
They have the right to do that.

477
00:39:23,980 --> 00:39:30,980
I can't call the last time the TCQ did that anywhere if that was your question.

478
00:39:31,140 --> 00:39:31,300
Yeah.

479
00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:36,960
And the destination for this water is, apply your lake.

480
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:40,100
It stays in the right-of-way.

481
00:39:41,060 --> 00:39:43,820
The destination where does it end up?

482
00:39:44,420 --> 00:39:45,160
In the right-of-way.

483
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:51,540
If it kept going, that right away leads to a storm.

484
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:52,560
Okay.

485
00:39:53,300 --> 00:39:57,580
And was permission from the landowner of that lake gained from love?

486
00:39:58,980 --> 00:40:02,360
No, that's 1.4 miles downstream.

487
00:40:03,660 --> 00:40:06,000
And I addressed that originally.

488
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:11,560
But let me also clarify, when you ask for ultimate destination, I'm reading from the existing permit.

489
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,080
And the TCEQ has to look at the flow path.

490
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,540
It doesn't just stop at the Playa Lake.

491
00:40:17,740 --> 00:40:22,080
They have to take into account the entire potential blowback.

492
00:40:22,580 --> 00:40:29,080
So from the permit here, and this is the one that was issued on October 24th, 2018,

493
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:35,660
it has a little blurb here on the blowplath, very general, but just to perhaps address

494
00:40:35,660 --> 00:40:40,020
your question, it says to the roadside drainage, then it's to a Playa, then

495
00:40:40,020 --> 00:40:45,340
to a drainage, then it's to a playa, then it's to spring draw, then it's to

496
00:40:45,340 --> 00:40:51,120
Palo Duro Creek, then it's to every upper Prairie Dogtown Red Fork River in

497
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:58,920
segment number 0229 of the Red River basin. So I'm not a scientist. I don't know

498
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:03,480
how far treated wastewater from this love's facility would actually make

499
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:11,780
it down that path. We don't know. But what we do know is the TCEQ takes that into account

500
00:41:11,780 --> 00:41:20,200
because they map this out as well as to where this potential treated effluent could go. And

501
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:25,080
it would be the same thing for the city of Amarillo's effluent that is also discharged

502
00:41:25,780 --> 00:41:29,180
many, many, many more times in terms of volume.

503
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:36,140
Can we agree that the first major place in the destination is the place you like?

504
00:41:37,660 --> 00:41:39,620
I'll let you address that again.

505
00:41:40,020 --> 00:41:43,980
So the whole route includes, if there's stormwater, any kind of storm,

506
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:45,920
and that's many, many times more magnitude of flow.

507
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:50,180
I mean, that's, yes, stormwater would go that way.

508
00:41:50,380 --> 00:41:52,300
It would go all the way to the red river.

509
00:41:54,260 --> 00:41:56,560
And it feels like we're going further.

510
00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:02,260
Because if you get a major storm, yes, the water will go down, but the piece that's

511
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:06,080
contributed by logs is like eight gallons a minute.

512
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:08,700
I have no idea how much the plow you like, okay?

513
00:42:09,300 --> 00:42:12,720
I do not know that, so I'm not afraid of it.

514
00:42:12,900 --> 00:42:21,240
Was permission gained from the landowner of the plow you like to absorb the logs

515
00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:21,760
of loot?

516
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:27,680
The only permissions that were obtained were the Putter County right away.

517
00:42:28,220 --> 00:42:32,980
The question that you're asking is, how far downstream does one need to ask for permission?

518
00:42:33,500 --> 00:42:38,760
That's left, as the CEQ says, as may be necessary under applicable law.

519
00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:41,060
What does that mean?

520
00:42:41,220 --> 00:42:46,380
It's left to the common law, for example, if a property owner thought some portion

521
00:42:46,380 --> 00:42:51,180
of their property was being contaminated by a fluence or by anything for that matter.

522
00:42:51,180 --> 00:42:56,860
fertilizer plan, anything that might be in business. But property owners have rights to

523
00:42:56,860 --> 00:43:03,860
assert if they can prove damage. So that has always been out there for any business,

524
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:08,400
any property owner who's agreed or thinks their land has been impacted or affected.

525
00:43:08,820 --> 00:43:13,680
They have common law rights. And that's what the TCQ says. So it's difficult to answer your

526
00:43:14,300 --> 00:43:20,360
questions specifically, Commissioner, as to whether or not this affluent is ultimately

527
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:25,400
is housed in the Playa. We don't believe so. We don't believe really it gets there and if it does,

528
00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:31,160
it's in infinitesimal amounts. When you talk about the watershed, when we do have rain here,

529
00:43:32,180 --> 00:43:37,340
there's thousands of acres that drain on this same path in that Playa. So you're talking about

530
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:44,020
in the grand scheme of things, just a spec compared to everything else that comes in there,

531
00:43:44,020 --> 00:43:53,040
fertilizer from barns, cattle. Who knows? Who knows? But yeah, all that stuff with gravity,

532
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:59,900
gravity, gravity takes over. And so all property owners have rights, if they think they've been

533
00:43:59,900 --> 00:44:05,160
infringed upon in terms of their rights to go out and address that. And that's what the TCEQ

534
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:11,820
essentially says, that we're going to give you a permit to discharge up to this amount of

535
00:44:11,820 --> 00:44:18,100
treated, a fluid, treated in accordance with the TCEQ specifications. It doesn't leave that property

536
00:44:18,100 --> 00:44:24,560
until it meets the specs. That's what the permit does. And then as far as anyone downstream,

537
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:32,580
it's as whatever is reasonably necessary is required by law. So, love your position.

538
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:38,720
And that's reason, initially, in all these laws that we've dealt with in the last 50 years

539
00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:46,760
is you better off keeping only own property correct that's what most of the

540
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:51,380
state it takes his laws were designed for to put it on keep it on your own

541
00:44:51,380 --> 00:44:58,840
property yes yes that's why the TCEQ has these provisions I understand that

542
00:44:59,520 --> 00:44:59,680
Thanks.

543
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:05,660
And not, but love wants to be a good neighbor. We want to be a good neighbor. If we have any

544
00:45:05,660 --> 00:45:09,800
inkling or any evidence from a property owner down the street that something

545
00:45:10,340 --> 00:45:14,460
untoward is going on, we want to investigate. But we're part of a large

546
00:45:14,460 --> 00:45:19,680
watershed as well. It's kind of a, it's very difficult. You got fertilizers, you

547
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:23,440
got common dirt, you got everything. But we want to be a good neighbor. If

548
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:28,380
someone wants to come forward to love as a property owner with evidence that

549
00:45:28,380 --> 00:45:29,700
Hey, there's an issue here.

550
00:45:30,100 --> 00:45:31,380
We want to try to deal with it.

551
00:45:31,820 --> 00:45:34,660
But at this point, we're not aware of that.

552
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:36,780
But what we're saying is,

553
00:45:37,340 --> 00:45:39,700
we want to have a dialogue with folks if there's evidence.

554
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:42,140
It raises interesting questions.

555
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:45,140
How far, you have a little love's store here

556
00:45:45,140 --> 00:45:46,780
in relation to the entire watershed.

557
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:49,240
How far downstream is one?

558
00:45:49,260 --> 00:45:51,740
Some people want to map it all the way

559
00:45:51,740 --> 00:45:55,520
to the Gulf of Mexico, but I know what you're saying.

560
00:45:55,520 --> 00:46:02,340
That's, that's, but to address your question, I'm sure that's the, that's, that's, it's

561
00:46:02,340 --> 00:46:09,300
difficult to, to determine where, where does this portion of the fluid end up, but the

562
00:46:09,300 --> 00:46:13,480
law will say if there's damage caused property owners have, have rights.

563
00:46:14,240 --> 00:46:20,760
Uh, and, uh, especially when we deal with the fluid, we have to be concerned about

564
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:21,400
the water quality.

565
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:22,480
Yes.

566
00:46:24,940 --> 00:46:30,780
Thank you. I have a question. You're reading where this flows since it's public meeting.

567
00:46:30,940 --> 00:46:34,740
I wanted to make sure that I understood it correctly and everybody else did too. When

568
00:46:34,740 --> 00:46:40,140
you left off with the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River, then after that I thought on

569
00:46:40,140 --> 00:46:45,420
the permit it stated like Tangwood and then again into the Prairie Dog Fork of

570
00:46:45,420 --> 00:46:45,940
the Red River.

571
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:50,580
I'm reading directly off the permit that from October 24, 2018.

572
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:53,840
I'm talking about the new permit.

573
00:46:54,180 --> 00:46:54,660
New permit.

574
00:46:54,900 --> 00:47:00,240
Yeah, I mean, I think there's two additional things that they're anticipating that it could touch.

575
00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:04,220
And the final prairie dog fork of the Red River is Paladora Canyon.

576
00:47:05,380 --> 00:47:08,020
It flows through there and then into Armstrong County.

577
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:09,260
Very well.

578
00:47:09,420 --> 00:47:10,680
Very well could be.

579
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:12,540
I just wanted to read the existing permit.

580
00:47:12,740 --> 00:47:13,780
Everything else is proposed.

581
00:47:13,780 --> 00:47:21,060
If they added additional flow pad, then that's what they looked at, I'm not sure.

582
00:47:21,300 --> 00:47:21,720
All right.

583
00:47:21,940 --> 00:47:28,440
And then if you're out of, you talked about that you make sure that you monitor your water.

584
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,160
Let's say that you're out of compliance.

585
00:47:31,540 --> 00:47:32,340
What's the procedure?

586
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:33,420
What happens with that?

587
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:35,940
You realize that you've had a failure.

588
00:47:36,100 --> 00:47:39,720
We've had some Hollywood wastewater treatment from the city of Amorella that's had some

589
00:47:39,720 --> 00:47:40,800
difficulties and struggles.

590
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:43,080
What would be your procedure?

591
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:50,320
Well, we evaluate what's going on, take some samples and get better data and evaluate what's

592
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:55,560
coming in and make sure that we figure out what's wrong with the system, because the

593
00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:56,280
system's working right.

594
00:47:56,360 --> 00:48:00,540
We shouldn't be busting those limits, and if we've – like we've increased our

595
00:48:00,540 --> 00:48:05,520
flow in the 2018 permit, we realize we were having problems because we were simply

596
00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:11,120
doing more business than we anticipated, so we would follow the procedures to ask

597
00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,700
for more emission, in this case, for more flow.

598
00:48:15,500 --> 00:48:18,240
And then if we're best in a specific BOD limit,

599
00:48:18,460 --> 00:48:21,300
we'll figure out what's coming in into the system

600
00:48:21,300 --> 00:48:22,500
that might be causing that.

601
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,860
And see if there's something we can do on the operation side,

602
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:27,200
like they changed cleaners,

603
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:28,620
if they're using a different type of cleaner.

604
00:48:28,980 --> 00:48:31,520
During COVID, everybody was cleaning, you know,

605
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:33,020
20 times more than they used to.

606
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:36,340
We were overloading some of these systems with cleaners

607
00:48:36,340 --> 00:48:38,680
and messing up the ammonia content.

608
00:48:38,980 --> 00:48:40,500
So we had to get some special cleaners.

609
00:48:41,100 --> 00:48:43,500
at sites where we have wastewater treatment plan.

610
00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:47,820
We just evaluate and make changes that need to be made,

611
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:49,560
and in this case, we're adding basically

612
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:53,500
another treatment plan for all intents and purposes

613
00:48:53,500 --> 00:48:54,920
with this membrane system.

614
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:59,120
We're adding more treatment to fix all the problems.

615
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,600
So Randall County doesn't have treatment facilities.

616
00:49:02,060 --> 00:49:04,320
So forgive me if I ask a stupid question,

617
00:49:04,720 --> 00:49:06,700
but the point of my question was,

618
00:49:06,940 --> 00:49:09,280
if there's a failure and you release solids

619
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:14,920
that could be harmful to to the citizens. I know with the City of Amarillo, if they have a failure

620
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:20,020
like that, they have a notification and they have to go out and they have to sanitize and

621
00:49:20,020 --> 00:49:27,580
treat the area. To my knowledge, I saw that there were some moderate failures that you guys had.

622
00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:32,020
I don't know how they became aware of it, the TCU, but they had it in their records.

623
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:37,060
How would the notification come to Randall County on the right of way that there could

624
00:49:37,060 --> 00:49:43,140
be harmful contaminants in the right way. How would we find that out and then what would

625
00:49:43,140 --> 00:49:46,680
be the procedure to be able to treat it to keep it healthy?

626
00:49:47,700 --> 00:49:51,200
I can address the first part. How would you find out if you were to grant this permission?

627
00:49:51,900 --> 00:49:58,440
We could gladly build that into whatever resolution or approval that if there is a red flag

628
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:02,460
or a violation. Randall County ought to know about it.

629
00:50:03,340 --> 00:50:06,920
Can you speak to the cleanup that was done in the very small?

630
00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:09,140
I don't honestly remember.

631
00:50:10,780 --> 00:50:14,760
In general, we've had a, if we have a sewage release from it,

632
00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:17,520
we have systems where we just have lift stations that go to the city sewer,

633
00:50:18,100 --> 00:50:22,620
but those lift stations malfunction and overflow and you have raw sewage spill out.

634
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:27,440
We have procedures to, we would call an environmental response company

635
00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:32,460
company that's trained in that personnel and basically what they would come out and do is

636
00:50:33,100 --> 00:50:39,160
shovel up what they could and haul it away and then treat the area with line to sanitize

637
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:45,200
it in a sewage situation. Now with nitrates, if we're best in our limit by a few parts

638
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:49,660
per million, honestly, I don't know that there's a remediation for that by the time

639
00:50:49,660 --> 00:50:52,460
you know about it. It's in the Gulf of Mexico.

640
00:50:53,180 --> 00:51:00,220
So, to address violations and within overages. So, there was a consent order that loves to

641
00:51:00,220 --> 00:51:04,360
act with TCEQ, which means that they were fined and they had, because they had some violations,

642
00:51:05,020 --> 00:51:10,460
and they were required to come up with a compliance schedule, and a compliance proposal.

643
00:51:12,380 --> 00:51:16,760
You know, they looked at their operations and changed the ways, some of the things

644
00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:20,320
that they were done, like the cleaners. They looked at cleaners. They looked at

645
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:27,240
how the plant is operated. And so, those was in monthly contact with TCEQ on their progress

646
00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:34,560
to improve the affluent. So, they do monitor, TCEQ does monitor and require and let's take

647
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:40,480
action if there are some overages, excuse me, violations. And what actions are doing

648
00:51:40,990 --> 00:51:45,080
is adding some treatment to the existing system and then adding some more treatment

649
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:51,320
that's even higher quality and so coming out of that to handle the higher flows.

650
00:51:52,180 --> 00:51:59,360
So TCEQ is very involved with how the plant is operating and what kind of plants they're producing.

651
00:52:00,300 --> 00:52:08,860
Okay, so what you're telling me is that you had found the original design was not adequate

652
00:52:08,860 --> 00:52:13,720
and then had had violations enough from the TCEQ

653
00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:18,040
that they monetarily penalized you or penalized, okay.

654
00:52:18,980 --> 00:52:21,900
And then that's why you redesigned it

655
00:52:21,900 --> 00:52:24,540
and what is the plan that you're bringing to us

656
00:52:24,540 --> 00:52:27,160
is that it would be more efficient,

657
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:28,820
it would be able to clean the water better.

658
00:52:30,020 --> 00:52:35,080
Now, if we, okay, my still my concern is

659
00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:37,500
if we have a problem, what is the procedure

660
00:52:37,500 --> 00:52:43,800
that would go through and how we could work together on that because the ultimate goal

661
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:49,960
is that the citizens are safe and our downstream partners. One of the things the City of Emeril

662
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:58,380
experienced was extraordinarily a lot of problems whenever we had our flooding in May. There

663
00:52:58,380 --> 00:53:02,040
was a lot of water that came in, which allowed their treatment facility to not

664
00:53:02,040 --> 00:53:08,640
operate correctly. And I was just wondering, with that in the month of May of last year,

665
00:53:09,140 --> 00:53:12,760
how did your your plant operate? And did you see any difference?

666
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:19,680
Well, it shouldn't affect. We should be not treating stormwater. So it shouldn't affect

667
00:53:20,160 --> 00:53:21,180
our discharge at all.

668
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:24,820
It would. Well, I would think that it would increase it because the soil would be saturated.

669
00:53:25,380 --> 00:53:29,020
Well, we're not taking water from the soil. I mean, this is just what I'm trying to

670
00:53:29,020 --> 00:53:34,320
Like when you flush your toilets and your showers, that's what's being treated here.

671
00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:35,440
There shouldn't be.

672
00:53:36,820 --> 00:53:38,340
So there's no drain field.

673
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:41,960
So when it comes out of the store, where does it go?

674
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,060
It goes directly into the treatment plant.

675
00:53:45,260 --> 00:53:46,620
And how does that operate?

676
00:53:46,780 --> 00:53:47,680
And then when does it come out?

677
00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:53,860
And I'm asking a 30,000 foot view at home.

678
00:53:54,400 --> 00:54:00,880
If you went and explained how expert you are, it would take too long and we wouldn't understand it.

679
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:06,520
But essentially it goes into a holding tank that is, and then goes from there or tell me how it works.

680
00:54:06,540 --> 00:54:08,560
I believe it goes, there's a knockout tank.

681
00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:15,220
It goes into, it goes into a stair screen to take out the major floor, just rags and things like that that comes through.

682
00:54:15,620 --> 00:54:22,540
And then it goes into an aeration tank, which carries the ammonia and it's really ammonia.

683
00:54:22,540 --> 00:54:26,140
And it takes care of the biological load that's coming in.

684
00:54:26,820 --> 00:54:29,240
And then it goes to – that's done.

685
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:33,560
And that's designed around the worst case scenario for the highest flows for the –

686
00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:41,620
and we've gone around, was went around and tested water or raw sewage from a thousand different storms

687
00:54:41,620 --> 00:54:44,240
from the country, looked at what they're producing.

688
00:54:44,460 --> 00:54:46,240
So we knew, you know, what's the worst case scenario?

689
00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:47,320
What should we be designing around?

690
00:54:47,460 --> 00:54:49,600
This is not normal sewage.

691
00:54:49,620 --> 00:54:50,600
It's very high strength.

692
00:54:51,240 --> 00:54:56,140
Because it is a system that's contained, it's not, we're not getting dilution from

693
00:54:56,140 --> 00:55:01,260
other places, and so it is higher concentration than what a city would see.

694
00:55:01,820 --> 00:55:06,900
So we take all that into account when we design and look at the highest worst case

695
00:55:06,900 --> 00:55:13,340
scenario for ammonia, for beauty, and design the aeration system to take care of the

696
00:55:13,340 --> 00:55:14,040
worst case scenario.

697
00:55:14,660 --> 00:55:18,960
And so that, it goes through that, it goes through a clarifier which takes out cells

698
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:23,560
off the solids that are remaining and then it's chlorinated and it goes either to the

699
00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:28,620
irrigation or whatever the irrigation can't take, it goes out to the right way.

700
00:55:31,140 --> 00:55:36,800
And we're going to be adding some additional treatments to the existing system to handle

701
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:37,960
the nitrogen that's produced.

702
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:42,500
So the nitrogen is going to be very low coming out of there as well and the membrane plant

703
00:55:42,500 --> 00:55:43,720
is also going to have some benefits.

704
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:48,720
I remember nitrogen is our problem, one of our problems that we learned.

705
00:55:48,720 --> 00:55:56,300
There's no limit on nitrogen, but they're adding nitrogen removal to even treat the higher quality that is required.

706
00:55:56,920 --> 00:55:59,700
They're doing more than it is required by their purpose.

707
00:56:00,980 --> 00:56:09,760
My last question, I guess, I was under the understanding that there is a city of Amarillo water main that's about a mile from there.

708
00:56:10,100 --> 00:56:10,720
Is that correct?

709
00:56:12,620 --> 00:56:14,100
Excuse me, a sewer main.

710
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:32,980
There could be. There's been water towers just down the road. I drove to yesterday. I don't know what the law is in Texas, but I know if you're within so many feet, the law will read that if you're within so many feet of a main, you have to connect.

711
00:56:32,980 --> 00:56:39,600
and loves and loved to. That usually is not more than 600 feet, so that's very

712
00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:44,580
expensive to do miles and miles. So if you look at that when they're looking at

713
00:56:44,580 --> 00:56:48,320
all the different options, because TC can requires that you look at all of your

714
00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:52,440
options. You look at a leach field, you look at treated plants, you look at and

715
00:56:53,820 --> 00:56:58,800
analyze the costs and the effects and the you know design required, and you

716
00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:02,200
go through all that analysis and TC can requires that that you look at all

717
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:12,340
of that. But if it's a mile or two away, that's $2 million, probably, to connect to that sewage.

718
00:57:12,500 --> 00:57:16,120
So usually it's 200 to 600 feet of your required to connect.

719
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:19,600
It would love it if it came up that close to the door.

720
00:57:19,900 --> 00:57:23,580
And also, this was done, I mean, you got to remember this was done in 2018.

721
00:57:23,780 --> 00:57:28,200
This permit was, so how far was that sewer line there in 2018?

722
00:57:28,220 --> 00:57:29,920
Or was it expanded after that?

723
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:32,460
No, it's my understanding. It was there. So yeah

724
00:57:35,740 --> 00:57:40,100
Commissioner well a couple of my big questions have been asked, but I'm gonna keep digging a little bit

725
00:57:40,100 --> 00:57:42,500
So to your knowledge did I hear correctly that?

726
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:48,460
To your knowledge no affluent has landed or crossed any private property

727
00:57:50,620 --> 00:57:51,420
Okay, so

728
00:57:51,420 --> 00:57:57,400
This is my precinct and I've I've fielded a lot of complaints that it has and so I know that they've reached out to me

729
00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:00,440
when they reached out to me, I've asked if they've reached out to you guys, which they

730
00:58:00,440 --> 00:58:00,760
had.

731
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:07,020
So, if they have had complaints and they have reached out to you, how have you not heard

732
00:58:07,020 --> 00:58:07,420
about them?

733
00:58:07,640 --> 00:58:12,100
I mean, is there just such a filter that those complaints don't get to where they need

734
00:58:12,100 --> 00:58:12,360
to go?

735
00:58:12,620 --> 00:58:18,180
I can address what I have knowledge of, the Sodiowsky family, they're on the south

736
00:58:18,180 --> 00:58:19,520
side of County Road 34.

737
00:58:21,060 --> 00:58:24,780
And they have counsel, I didn't see them here today, there may be counsel from

738
00:58:24,780 --> 00:58:26,020
from another firm, the Chris Jensen,

739
00:58:26,240 --> 00:58:29,560
attended the Potter County commissioners meeting,

740
00:58:29,780 --> 00:58:32,220
submitted a proposal, submitted a position paper.

741
00:58:32,540 --> 00:58:33,360
I'm sure you have one.

742
00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:34,640
I didn't get copied on that one.

743
00:58:35,540 --> 00:58:39,200
But following that meeting, I spoke with Mr. Jensen.

744
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:41,040
This was December, I believe.

745
00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:45,200
And basically along the lines of what we had said earlier,

746
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:47,000
hey, do you have any evidence

747
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:49,840
that there's anything contaminating the property?

748
00:58:50,780 --> 00:58:51,660
Do you have anything?

749
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:55,480
We want to be a good neighbor. We want to listen.

750
00:58:56,320 --> 00:58:58,460
And so that was the last call in December.

751
00:58:58,980 --> 00:59:01,560
The answer was no at that time.

752
00:59:04,300 --> 00:59:05,540
And that was it.

753
00:59:05,700 --> 00:59:09,360
And that's what I can speak to, that I was involved in in December.

754
00:59:09,580 --> 00:59:13,160
I have not heard, I believe, from Mr. Jensen since that time.

755
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:17,060
If there are other complaints, they certainly have not made it to me

756
00:59:17,560 --> 00:59:20,580
or to folks here and to my knowledge loves.

757
00:59:20,580 --> 00:59:25,740
I think I would have heard about them, but I certainly did not hear any from the Soviet

758
00:59:26,780 --> 00:59:30,760
Council based upon that December conversation we had.

759
00:59:31,060 --> 00:59:31,200
All right.

760
00:59:31,700 --> 00:59:36,960
Yeah, and I think we could agree that neither party would lie about, you know, if a private

761
00:59:36,960 --> 00:59:41,060
landowner did have some affluent on their land, they wouldn't lie.

762
00:59:41,160 --> 00:59:44,740
But even if they didn't have proof, you know, they wouldn't go through all this

763
00:59:44,740 --> 00:59:48,540
trouble to have council if there wasn't some history of that actually happening.

764
00:59:48,540 --> 00:59:54,200
But in the agreement, it doesn't say that there has to be contamination or damage or anything like that.

765
00:59:54,300 --> 00:59:59,780
It's if the affluent crosses their property, correct? If it gets on their land, they're supposed to have permission.

766
01:00:00,460 --> 01:00:05,260
They were to have granted permission for that to have happened.

767
01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:06,820
And that's why we did the modeling.

768
01:00:07,020 --> 01:00:19,220
That's what may be necessary. It's a gray area to be frank with you. It is because it's hard to know how far down could you actually take that.

769
01:00:19,380 --> 01:00:26,320
You take it to the Gulf of Mexico under that premise. So it's a gray area, understandably.

770
01:00:27,620 --> 01:00:35,940
Loves has done some modeling, Amelia touched on that briefly up here, but it's not exact

771
01:00:35,940 --> 01:00:36,420
science.

772
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:43,120
But am I inaccurate in reading the agreement that, again, it just has to be if the affluent

773
01:00:43,120 --> 01:00:48,280
crosses their private property, that there has to be a signed agreement by that property

774
01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:49,440
owner to allow that to happen?

775
01:00:49,560 --> 01:00:50,880
I don't necessarily agree with that.

776
01:00:50,880 --> 01:00:59,580
I don't believe so, but it's the first part of your question, as a fluid from that location is it crossing the property?

777
01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:02,760
I'm not the scientist.

778
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:13,240
Whether it is or isn't. If it were to cross onto private land, isn't there supposed to be a signed allowance by the property owner for that to happen?

779
01:01:14,640 --> 01:01:20,040
Or if the property owner believes they're damaged or have been trespassed upon, I'm not trying to dodge your question.

780
01:01:20,040 --> 01:01:27,360
sure. Then they have rights. And if if if a court were to determine yes you

781
01:01:27,360 --> 01:01:31,340
haven't agreed to have an agreement based upon this evidence and that would be the

782
01:01:31,340 --> 01:01:36,640
answer but I'm not trying to dodge it. No I'm just trying to find it. I want to end up here and say

783
01:01:36,640 --> 01:01:41,600
something as an absolute because that affluent traces of it which are we're

784
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:45,240
talking about treated a blue. Sure. Traces of it could be in the Gulf of

785
01:01:45,240 --> 01:01:49,180
Mexico so I don't want to sit up here and bind loves and say we have to go

786
01:01:49,180 --> 01:01:53,280
agreements all the way to the Gulf. Sure. I'm just trying to find the lowest common denominator.

787
01:01:54,060 --> 01:01:57,920
I think there's a great area there. TQQ is not getting all the civil matters.

788
01:01:58,480 --> 01:02:05,920
So they would be exactly safe as needed. So that's a state that they've told me, I asked them that.

789
01:02:06,260 --> 01:02:10,480
And they said that's a civil matter. And so it's kind of a gray area.

790
01:02:10,900 --> 01:02:15,420
And like what it was touching on, that court might require, there's nothing that says you have to have a signing agreement.

791
01:02:19,330 --> 01:02:25,050
Okay, because like I said to find a lowest common denominator my understanding is that if any

792
01:02:25,050 --> 01:02:31,670
of that affluent were to be on private property outside of the right of ways, which we also

793
01:02:31,670 --> 01:02:36,110
know was not given approval at least in Randall County, that there would have to be a signed

794
01:02:36,110 --> 01:02:38,810
agreement from every person in which that affluent touched.

795
01:02:39,870 --> 01:02:41,790
I'm not going to sit up here and say yes to that.

796
01:02:41,930 --> 01:02:42,230
Okay.

797
01:02:44,950 --> 01:02:52,970
That's a different question for the simple reason that I don't know anyone I don't know how you would determine that other than if you have testing and some evidence

798
01:02:52,970 --> 01:03:00,230
but it could be and I'm not the scientist. Fluent from that low, theoretically it's treated to flu, good quality.

799
01:03:01,090 --> 01:03:08,110
That being the Gulf of Mexico perhaps. And so under that premise it's hard to answer that question.

800
01:03:08,110 --> 01:03:10,570
and you're trying to get to, it would be great

801
01:03:10,570 --> 01:03:12,290
if we all had a crystal ball, okay?

802
01:03:12,810 --> 01:03:14,030
Here's where we think it's going.

803
01:03:14,250 --> 01:03:18,030
Here's where that affluent would most likely travel

804
01:03:18,030 --> 01:03:18,810
how far down.

805
01:03:18,970 --> 01:03:21,590
If we had a crystal ball and then in the law

806
01:03:21,590 --> 01:03:24,830
were to say, okay, you're discharging a fluid,

807
01:03:25,030 --> 01:03:26,930
you have to get agreements from all those folks.

808
01:03:27,370 --> 01:03:30,270
We just don't have that certainty that we'll be in the ball

809
01:03:31,030 --> 01:03:33,390
perhaps even in science, I don't know.

810
01:03:33,650 --> 01:03:34,750
Well, from my understanding,

811
01:03:34,750 --> 01:03:35,830
that's what the complaints are

812
01:03:35,830 --> 01:03:37,470
from the people living in my precinct

813
01:03:37,470 --> 01:03:41,570
was that, you know, that was the agreement that, or that was the understanding that they had,

814
01:03:41,670 --> 01:03:46,030
that's what the paperwork showed, and they had not been approached to have that agreement signed.

815
01:03:46,530 --> 01:03:52,870
Now, you also mentioned that there could be a fertilizer that could be common or that can cross,

816
01:03:53,090 --> 01:03:56,290
obviously from neighboring lands, neighboring sections, if somebody's got horses or whatever,

817
01:03:56,450 --> 01:04:03,130
that's fine. My issue is that there's nothing regulatory with their neighbors that say that

818
01:04:03,130 --> 01:04:07,790
that that can't happen, but there is an agreement with LOVES for this discharge and for this

819
01:04:07,790 --> 01:04:10,250
affluent where it does need to be considered.

820
01:04:10,430 --> 01:04:12,230
So I don't think those two things can be compared.

821
01:04:13,130 --> 01:04:13,530
Right?

822
01:04:13,610 --> 01:04:15,310
Well, we're just saying what effect it would have on downstream.

823
01:04:16,090 --> 01:04:16,370
Sure.

824
01:04:16,730 --> 01:04:18,610
The comment was, look at the watershed.

825
01:04:19,170 --> 01:04:20,410
It's a large watershed.

826
01:04:20,990 --> 01:04:21,650
That was the comment.

827
01:04:22,390 --> 01:04:24,110
A granite, yes, is a horse farm.

828
01:04:24,330 --> 01:04:29,810
I suppose a certain size or feedlot might have to have some things in place.

829
01:04:30,270 --> 01:04:32,910
But the general comment is we're talking about a large watershed.

830
01:04:33,470 --> 01:04:40,650
which loves on this particular page, and it's an infinitesimal contribution when you talk about the watershed.

831
01:04:41,670 --> 01:04:49,230
Yeah, that's a great point. So since it's so infinitesimal, and I know that you've mentioned it numerous times that love wants to be a good neighbor,

832
01:04:49,990 --> 01:04:52,110
have you considered keeping all this on your own property?

833
01:04:52,670 --> 01:04:55,170
If it's infinitesimal, then it shouldn't be that hard to do, right?

834
01:04:55,170 --> 01:04:58,030
In the testable, meaning the contribution in the watershed,

835
01:05:00,150 --> 01:05:04,790
obviously, first preface will be to always look into the city.

836
01:05:06,770 --> 01:05:08,490
Second, can we keep it on site?

837
01:05:09,950 --> 01:05:13,010
And third, if we think there are times when we can't,

838
01:05:13,010 --> 01:05:14,690
we have to go to the TCEQ.

839
01:05:15,430 --> 01:05:18,210
So sure, ideally, you can keep it all on site.

840
01:05:19,470 --> 01:05:21,870
It's limited by setbacks, that's the problem.

841
01:05:21,870 --> 01:05:29,110
It's a large area that we can't use for irrigation because of setbacks from all the water supply wells.

842
01:05:29,310 --> 01:05:34,950
And I suppose, yes, any business, truck stop or whatever, I guess you could acquire 10, 20 acres and do that.

843
01:05:36,030 --> 01:05:40,930
But if you can't, that would, that'd be difficult for a lot of business to operate on I-40.

844
01:05:41,090 --> 01:05:43,230
If you had to have that much front edge or back, you would.

845
01:05:43,690 --> 01:05:45,510
I mean, the market probably wouldn't bear that out.

846
01:05:45,870 --> 01:05:49,630
And so we have the law that comes in and says, okay, let's discharge.

847
01:05:50,350 --> 01:05:52,090
All of the TCU requirements.

848
01:05:52,610 --> 01:05:52,790
Correct.

849
01:05:53,010 --> 01:05:53,610
TCU requirements.

850
01:05:54,250 --> 01:05:58,710
And just for clarity, and so it's on record, there is a response to public comment given

851
01:05:58,710 --> 01:06:02,490
by the executive director, which states on page five.

852
01:06:02,650 --> 01:06:05,290
And if you don't have a copy of this, we're going to give you, yeah, the front page

853
01:06:05,290 --> 01:06:09,090
of the draft of TPDES permit states that the permit, if granted, does not grant

854
01:06:09,090 --> 01:06:13,170
the right or does not grant to the applicant the right to use private or public property

855
01:06:13,170 --> 01:06:17,330
for conveyance of wastewater along the discharge route described in the draft permit that

856
01:06:17,330 --> 01:06:21,190
includes, but it's not limited to property belonging to any individual partnership, corporation

857
01:06:21,190 --> 01:06:22,030
or other entity.

858
01:06:22,630 --> 01:06:27,610
Neither does the draft permit allow the applicant to invade any personal rights or violate any

859
01:06:27,610 --> 01:06:29,290
federal state or local laws to the regulation.

860
01:06:29,570 --> 01:06:33,670
It is the applicant's responsibility to acquire any property rights that are necessary

861
01:06:33,670 --> 01:06:35,090
to use the discharge route.

862
01:06:35,550 --> 01:06:39,950
So if there wasn't any clarity on where that came from, that's where it can be

863
01:06:39,950 --> 01:06:40,170
found.

864
01:06:40,830 --> 01:06:46,810
And the last question that I have is, if you're sitting on our – obviously, we – you

865
01:06:46,810 --> 01:06:50,870
know, there's obviously many benefits for us to be able to discharge this, and we want

866
01:06:50,870 --> 01:06:51,750
to be good neighbors as well.

867
01:06:52,570 --> 01:06:55,610
The reason that it's come to this point where it's in court is because we've had

868
01:06:55,610 --> 01:06:57,630
a lot of complaints from our citizens.

869
01:06:59,730 --> 01:07:05,390
Could you explain if you were on this side of the bench why we would want to allow

870
01:07:05,390 --> 01:07:06,090
you to do this?

871
01:07:06,630 --> 01:07:06,990
Sure.

872
01:07:06,990 --> 01:07:09,470
So, first off, great question.

873
01:07:10,530 --> 01:07:16,150
We're asking for permission through the county's right-of-way, and only the county's right-of-way

874
01:07:16,150 --> 01:07:16,910
for these purposes.

875
01:07:18,240 --> 01:07:20,750
You've got to balance your decision, of course, with your constituents.

876
01:07:21,350 --> 01:07:21,930
I understand that.

877
01:07:22,030 --> 01:07:22,710
You're elected officials.

878
01:07:23,350 --> 01:07:24,110
I understand that.

879
01:07:26,390 --> 01:07:28,870
I would say, again, as loves,

880
01:07:30,950 --> 01:07:34,430
is there evidence of issues or damage or anything

881
01:07:34,430 --> 01:07:36,910
of that nature that the common law might address?

882
01:07:36,910 --> 01:07:41,190
Are there serious questions? Is there evidence that we need to look at?

883
01:07:41,950 --> 01:07:45,550
Okay. We're not aware of any. We're happy to look at it.

884
01:07:45,930 --> 01:07:53,290
So, at some point, Loves is operating a business. You've got to balance your concerns with

885
01:07:53,290 --> 01:08:01,010
your constituents. I understand that. But again, I would say this, we've complied

886
01:08:01,010 --> 01:08:07,090
with the TCEQ permit requirements. We think they're going to issue an expanded permit.

887
01:08:07,650 --> 01:08:15,170
They do say acquire property rights as are reasonably necessary. And that's where the

888
01:08:15,170 --> 01:08:18,630
devil's in the details. What is necessary? What does the law say? I'm just here to

889
01:08:18,630 --> 01:08:24,150
say it's quite great. It just is. It's not that developed under these questions.

890
01:08:24,150 --> 01:08:31,750
So you're the elected official, we're asking for permission to use Randall County's right

891
01:08:31,750 --> 01:08:31,970
away.

892
01:08:32,230 --> 01:08:32,470
Sure.

893
01:08:32,650 --> 01:08:37,990
We don't believe it gets very far downstream, but we don't know for sure, but we're asking

894
01:08:37,990 --> 01:08:40,470
for permission to Randall County to grant his loaves.

895
01:08:40,550 --> 01:08:46,130
He's a good citizen, a great business, a very corporate partner in numerous states.

896
01:08:47,170 --> 01:08:52,570
I would at the end of the day just submit, you've got to be cognizant of your constituents

897
01:08:52,570 --> 01:08:57,810
absolutely. But at the end of the day, if there's not any evidence before us, I would

898
01:08:57,810 --> 01:09:04,770
say let the common law govern between private citizens on these issues.

899
01:09:08,070 --> 01:09:08,310
Thank

900
01:09:08,310 --> 01:09:08,450
you.

901
01:09:13,140 --> 01:09:17,540
I think my head's got a spin in here. So, yeah.

902
01:09:21,030 --> 01:09:22,950
How common of a method is

903
01:09:22,950 --> 01:09:29,850
this to use this type of discharge? You're putting on on to a public right

904
01:09:29,850 --> 01:09:30,590
of why, correct?

905
01:09:32,860 --> 01:09:39,620
Is that common? It's very common to do that for small

906
01:09:39,620 --> 01:09:44,340
flows. You know if you're a city you're obviously going to have to find everywhere

907
01:09:44,340 --> 01:09:49,960
that produces wastewater has to treat it. Everybody treats most if you have

908
01:09:49,960 --> 01:09:56,800
discharged it is treated very high quality. For a business this size it's

909
01:09:56,800 --> 01:10:01,220
It's not unusual to have a small stream leaving the site.

910
01:10:01,360 --> 01:10:02,440
So it is very common.

911
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:04,340
And this is the way wastewater is treated everywhere.

912
01:10:05,100 --> 01:10:07,860
So how many love stores exist?

913
01:10:09,040 --> 01:10:10,040
650-ish.

914
01:10:10,700 --> 01:10:13,400
How many do water discharge like this?

915
01:10:14,500 --> 01:10:22,400
I mean, maybe we have about, I guess, 20, 25,

916
01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:23,920
they have discharge.

917
01:10:29,280 --> 01:10:32,040
Have there been complaints about this from other storage?

918
01:10:33,360 --> 01:10:39,720
Well, nationwide we've had, I mean, there's always instances that we've addressed those

919
01:10:39,720 --> 01:10:40,260
complaints.

920
01:10:41,360 --> 01:10:46,320
Honestly, I can't think of any other than just flow, just having water flow in a ditch

921
01:10:46,320 --> 01:10:53,660
has been a complaint in some places and cleared out some ditches and made them flow better

922
01:10:53,660 --> 01:10:54,980
and things like that.

923
01:10:54,980 --> 01:10:59,100
and I'm standing over it, just as needed and reactive to complain.

924
01:11:01,260 --> 01:11:05,700
But by the time it discharges, it's not like it's, you know, gross.

925
01:11:06,040 --> 01:11:10,060
It's not stinky and, you know, it's just clear water.

926
01:11:10,480 --> 01:11:11,620
It discharges.

927
01:11:12,060 --> 01:11:15,100
Is there any hazard whatsoever to this discharge?

928
01:11:15,820 --> 01:11:15,960
No.

929
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:19,820
And by the time it goes two feet down the ditch,

930
01:11:20,120 --> 01:11:24,660
it's picked up contaminants from runoff to the per stormwater,

931
01:11:24,660 --> 01:11:26,940
You know, like the horse arms or the...

932
01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:33,600
The membrane technology, we went as a team into their factory because we're trying to

933
01:11:33,600 --> 01:11:36,580
find a standard to use because we're getting more and more of these.

934
01:11:37,060 --> 01:11:41,140
And the big selling point for the membrane, the guys that generate the membranes, when

935
01:11:41,140 --> 01:11:46,800
you get done with the tour of their factory, you can choose to drink homemade beer that

936
01:11:46,800 --> 01:11:51,820
they brew on site from their treated wastewater that they're real proud that they, it's

937
01:11:51,820 --> 01:11:52,500
so clean.

938
01:11:52,640 --> 01:11:53,180
You can drink it.

939
01:11:57,200 --> 01:12:03,720
So what you're saying is this would flow down the what I call a bar

940
01:12:03,720 --> 01:12:12,860
ditch and you're saying it's gonna either stop soak in evaporate before it hits

941
01:12:12,860 --> 01:12:19,520
private property how often first of all how often does it go into the bar

942
01:12:20,540 --> 01:12:27,060
So it depends on the season, because they monitor their flow continuously.

943
01:12:27,880 --> 01:12:34,080
And so in the summertime, they will have times when the water flow gets up to 15, 20,000 gallons

944
01:12:34,080 --> 01:12:34,540
per day.

945
01:12:35,000 --> 01:12:39,620
In those instances, there may be times when the small amount leaves the property, but

946
01:12:40,380 --> 01:12:42,680
about 10,000 will stay on the property with irrigation.

947
01:12:43,580 --> 01:12:47,420
So most of the time, most of the year, they're around 10,000 gallons a day.

948
01:12:48,420 --> 01:12:53,120
The reason they have to ask for the 22.5 is because there are times when, in the summer,

949
01:12:54,020 --> 01:12:56,840
there's, yeah, like, ranch just on the street and it's a big, you know, it's just a big draw.

950
01:12:59,480 --> 01:13:03,920
So I would say maybe 5% of the time it leaves the property.

951
01:13:06,630 --> 01:13:09,950
Like I said, I walked it yesterday, it's bone dry. There's nothing leaving the property.

952
01:13:11,150 --> 01:13:13,590
So who monitors this charge?

953
01:13:14,430 --> 01:13:15,190
Who monitors it?

954
01:13:15,730 --> 01:13:17,230
Does love monitor it?

955
01:13:17,370 --> 01:13:18,230
Our operator, yeah.

956
01:13:18,230 --> 01:13:20,690
Does the state come in and monitor it?

957
01:13:21,450 --> 01:13:23,410
No, we submit our results to the state.

958
01:13:23,910 --> 01:13:27,470
So we post-sample, the operator post-sample sends it to a certified lab,

959
01:13:27,850 --> 01:13:31,670
and those results are submitted to the state every month.

960
01:13:32,530 --> 01:13:37,190
So they do monitor it, and those monitors, their operator monitors the quality every week.

961
01:13:37,570 --> 01:13:42,570
So they're taking weekly samples for beauty, for pneumonia, for the solids.

962
01:13:43,690 --> 01:13:48,470
Just coming, and we're kind of at a disadvantage because we just got some of this, but something

963
01:13:48,470 --> 01:13:50,330
through here says that we're all sewage released.

964
01:13:51,110 --> 01:13:57,450
There was an instance where there was a small release. It was noticed by a citizen. It was

965
01:13:57,450 --> 01:14:04,990
reported to the field office of TZQ. Mr. Khaki came out, he's their field guy, came out.

966
01:14:05,670 --> 01:14:08,470
They addressed it immediately within hours. It was like Christmas Eve.

967
01:14:11,090 --> 01:14:15,890
And they cleaned up the area, got a sanitized, corrected the problem with a pipe that cracked

968
01:14:15,890 --> 01:14:20,430
because of the corns, and had it resolved within the day.

969
01:14:20,510 --> 01:14:21,950
That was not, was that in the ditch?

970
01:14:22,550 --> 01:14:23,650
It was at the off-fall, I think.

971
01:14:23,890 --> 01:14:27,390
That was like on our property, or it wasn't into the ditch.

972
01:14:28,110 --> 01:14:29,690
No, it shouldn't go into the ditch, I don't believe.

973
01:14:30,030 --> 01:14:34,010
Yeah, that wasn't treated, that was pre-treated or admitted.

974
01:14:34,010 --> 01:14:34,850
It might have been, yeah.

975
01:14:36,130 --> 01:14:37,170
I'm aware of a complaint.

976
01:14:37,170 --> 01:14:43,710
I think Mr. Deshaun, this was addressed, Murphy was addressed with Potter County.

977
01:14:44,090 --> 01:14:47,050
At one point there was a pipe bus. It was unusually cold.

978
01:14:47,750 --> 01:14:50,190
It was a break. It was a crack.

979
01:14:51,070 --> 01:14:54,970
And so if you have some materials there, you may be reading some of that,

980
01:14:55,170 --> 01:14:58,890
but things do happen. Loves jumped on all over that one.

981
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:03,000
All over that one, you got it resolved quickly.

982
01:15:05,910 --> 01:15:06,510
So,

983
01:15:09,140 --> 01:15:16,480
of course, we're very early in the stages here, but if this is denied, where does love go with this?

984
01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:20,120
If we look at the other options.

985
01:15:21,120 --> 01:15:23,880
Well, what are the other options?

986
01:15:24,040 --> 01:15:34,140
The option would be to try to find and buy some additional land to request to irrigate on neighboring land, to haul.

987
01:15:34,140 --> 01:15:37,500
They could haul the water. It's extremely expensive to do any of these things.

988
01:15:37,920 --> 01:15:45,160
But like I said, the amount of time it actually would leave the property is very minimal.

989
01:15:45,940 --> 01:15:50,720
So those are their options. They could haul very, very clean water,

990
01:15:51,020 --> 01:15:57,340
or they could find some more land or ask a – get an agreement with a neighbor to irrigate their property.

991
01:15:59,450 --> 01:15:59,630
Okay.

992
01:16:03,300 --> 01:16:06,840
Thank you for answering these questions. I don't know if there are questions, Judge.

993
01:16:06,840 --> 01:16:12,320
I have one more quick question, and I think it would be important to let you have a break. You've been being grilled for quite a while.

994
01:16:14,100 --> 01:16:22,880
Did you ever explore the option of actually taking this down the I-40 right away? And if so, why did you choose not to move that direction?

995
01:16:24,140 --> 01:16:33,440
You know, it was my understanding that the grade and the elevations out there that the slope would not maintain.

996
01:16:33,440 --> 01:16:35,220
And some hill, and some hill.

997
01:16:36,320 --> 01:16:37,040
Are the hills in?

998
01:16:37,940 --> 01:16:41,580
You know, it looks flat, but...

999
01:16:41,580 --> 01:16:43,300
It's not almost out, almost out.

1000
01:16:43,720 --> 01:16:43,920
Yeah.

1001
01:16:44,360 --> 01:16:46,660
It would be a poor thing if we didn't have to pump it.

1002
01:16:48,970 --> 01:16:50,910
I think at this time it's 10.15.

1003
01:16:51,170 --> 01:16:53,910
John, may I ask another question before we leave this?

1004
01:16:54,110 --> 01:16:55,490
Yes, we will come back to it.

1005
01:16:55,870 --> 01:16:57,070
Oh, we're just going to take a break.

1006
01:16:57,410 --> 01:16:58,690
I think it would be fine.

1007
01:17:00,670 --> 01:17:01,970
So it's 10.15.

1008
01:17:02,230 --> 01:17:03,970
I think the court will take a five-minute recess.

1009
01:17:03,970 --> 01:17:06,890
I want to offer each of you, there's water and coffee in there.

1010
01:17:07,230 --> 01:17:09,110
You've been talking for a long time, you're welcome to.

1011
01:17:09,350 --> 01:17:10,010
Thank you.

1012
01:17:10,770 --> 01:17:12,110
We'll be back in five minutes.

1013
01:19:16,710 --> 01:19:17,670
Appreciate it.

1014
01:19:17,690 --> 01:19:19,010
Right, it is 1024.

1015
01:19:19,370 --> 01:19:20,890
The break was a little longer than we thought.

1016
01:19:21,170 --> 01:19:23,710
Randall County Commission Court is now back in session.

1017
01:19:25,190 --> 01:19:29,110
And we left off with our left representatives here and the

1018
01:19:29,110 --> 01:19:31,970
commissioners asking some questions, have better understanding of your project.

1019
01:19:32,530 --> 01:19:33,690
Commissioner Carnes has a follower.

1020
01:19:34,930 --> 01:19:39,770
So I would like to say we appreciate y'all being here and we would love to find an answer

1021
01:19:39,770 --> 01:19:44,370
that's good for everyone, you know, understand what you're doing, representing loves, and

1022
01:19:44,370 --> 01:19:46,390
we're trying to do the best to represent our citizens.

1023
01:19:46,870 --> 01:19:50,110
So, you know, I think if we can all kind of common ground, it'd be great.

1024
01:19:50,430 --> 01:19:54,670
So Commissioner Barry was saying there were a lot of complaints he has received.

1025
01:19:55,350 --> 01:19:58,830
And then Commissioner Boatler asked if there was an unusual number of complaints.

1026
01:19:59,070 --> 01:20:00,690
And I want to follow up on that.

1027
01:20:00,690 --> 01:20:06,990
The complaints we've had the number which I don't know what that number is is that higher than usual?

1028
01:20:07,390 --> 01:20:09,110
And if so, why do we think that is?

1029
01:20:11,070 --> 01:20:11,590
So

1030
01:20:12,410 --> 01:20:17,190
We're what I would encourage your constituents to do if they have complaints reach out the loves as well

1031
01:20:17,190 --> 01:20:21,010
The complaints that I was aware of we addressed in the Potter County

1032
01:20:21,810 --> 01:20:24,150
meeting the so the Oskies

1033
01:20:25,980 --> 01:20:27,220
Sean the Sean

1034
01:20:28,780 --> 01:20:34,900
And so we address those, and so I can't answer your question as to the volume of complaints

1035
01:20:34,900 --> 01:20:40,220
because those are the ones we've addressed, but what I would say just in general to each

1036
01:20:40,220 --> 01:20:45,460
of you, I would encourage your constituents to reach out to us with more specific information

1037
01:20:45,460 --> 01:20:47,960
so we can address those complaints as well.

1038
01:20:49,740 --> 01:20:53,000
And if I answered your question, how did those complaints compare to the other applications?

1039
01:20:53,000 --> 01:20:55,520
I'm just wondering if this is an unusual amount of complaints.

1040
01:20:56,760 --> 01:21:04,020
I'm aware of the couple. So I can't answer. Can you, gentlemen? No. I mean, to my knowledge,

1041
01:21:04,200 --> 01:21:07,400
you know, we don't hear about everything. We're all over the country. So we have other

1042
01:21:07,400 --> 01:21:16,420
guys in other regions that might know more about their specific places. But like I said,

1043
01:21:16,480 --> 01:21:21,180
I can think of a couple of complaints we've had just about water flow just because we're

1044
01:21:21,180 --> 01:21:22,900
discharging pure water,

1045
01:21:23,180 --> 01:21:24,520
they didn't want the water on their property.

1046
01:21:25,300 --> 01:21:26,440
And we dealt with that.

1047
01:21:28,320 --> 01:21:31,900
I'd say there's usually one or two pure

1048
01:21:34,040 --> 01:21:35,680
or two on average.

1049
01:21:38,360 --> 01:21:44,360
I can't think of the one that was about health hazard,

1050
01:21:44,640 --> 01:21:45,460
imminent health hazard.

1051
01:21:46,500 --> 01:21:48,600
Yes, I've got to keep in mind that I believe

1052
01:21:48,600 --> 01:21:51,100
the complaints that you've had a bit from,

1053
01:21:51,740 --> 01:21:54,040
there might be many, but it's from one or two individuals.

1054
01:21:54,520 --> 01:21:55,220
It's our understanding.

1055
01:21:56,680 --> 01:21:58,140
So when this water leaves

1056
01:21:59,200 --> 01:22:05,000
Loves and starts down the bar ditch. It is treated affluent water and supposedly safe

1057
01:22:06,620 --> 01:22:11,660
Normal times, you know, we have some photos that show a sewage in the bar ditch

1058
01:22:11,660 --> 01:22:16,880
And it doesn't look like it's not overflowing. So it's not like a rainy season

1059
01:22:16,880 --> 01:22:23,260
And I understand that when we have flooding like we had last spring all bets are off because everything's coming into there

1060
01:22:23,260 --> 01:22:24,500
so oh

1061
01:22:24,500 --> 01:22:25,260
Oh,

1062
01:22:27,760 --> 01:22:34,920
yeah, I want to ask how often does is that bar ditch wet all the time or based on what you said it shouldn't be

1063
01:22:37,320 --> 01:22:46,720
Okay, but normal times you're keeping a lot of it on your property. So normal times it would be basically dry

1064
01:22:54,420 --> 01:22:57,940
Yeah, we just have some photos and they're kind of ugly and it's that must have been

1065
01:22:57,940 --> 01:23:00,580
when the sewage discharge was so I don't know.

1066
01:23:00,980 --> 01:23:03,200
It could have been that incident when it was really cold.

1067
01:23:03,320 --> 01:23:09,820
I don't have those in front of me, but don't deny you have a photo there or something

1068
01:23:09,820 --> 01:23:16,000
in the bar, but I believe it was that incident when it was really cold and it was addressed.

1069
01:23:16,000 --> 01:23:16,140
Yes.

1070
01:23:16,860 --> 01:23:17,340
Okay.

1071
01:23:17,660 --> 01:23:17,880
Thank you.

1072
01:23:20,500 --> 01:23:21,240
I'm sure I'll answer.

1073
01:23:22,060 --> 01:23:24,280
Do you use trickle channels on your property?

1074
01:23:25,380 --> 01:23:26,320
Crickle channels?

1075
01:23:26,740 --> 01:23:28,620
Do you use that on your property?

1076
01:23:29,040 --> 01:23:30,420
Concrete the bottom of the ditch?

1077
01:23:31,840 --> 01:23:33,500
Concrete the bottom of the ditch?

1078
01:23:33,700 --> 01:23:34,800
Do you use that on your property?

1079
01:23:37,190 --> 01:23:38,330
Not on this property.

1080
01:23:39,330 --> 01:23:41,570
We do run off from the parking lot.

1081
01:23:41,910 --> 01:23:42,710
For erosion control?

1082
01:23:43,370 --> 01:23:43,890
Correct.

1083
01:23:43,890 --> 01:23:52,670
You know, one of the best sterilizers is fresh air to sunshine, so we keep you in the limit.

1084
01:23:53,570 --> 01:23:57,890
I was just wondering if you would recommend our using those in the bottom of our ditch.

1085
01:24:00,040 --> 01:24:03,240
Well, we're relying on percolation too. So,

1086
01:24:06,020 --> 01:24:06,320
yeah.

1087
01:24:07,340 --> 01:24:15,360
One of the things I would address, obviously we're in a very flat area. Whatever is in the bar ditch, I think Amelia touched on this, we're in a flat area.

1088
01:24:15,360 --> 01:24:21,580
Most of it's going to be concentrated in the barge with evaporation, absorption, because

1089
01:24:21,580 --> 01:24:24,480
we're not in a steep incline area.

1090
01:24:24,860 --> 01:24:30,540
So that further lends itself to the modeling that we had done about how far do we think

1091
01:24:30,540 --> 01:24:31,140
this gets.

1092
01:24:31,820 --> 01:24:32,880
And that's one factor.

1093
01:24:33,240 --> 01:24:36,880
I would think if we did put concrete in the barge, I think it would be expensive,

1094
01:24:37,400 --> 01:24:38,040
number one.

1095
01:24:38,160 --> 01:24:44,680
But yes, that would remove the advantage of having that being diffused and or absorbed

1096
01:24:44,680 --> 01:24:49,820
or evaporated in the barge that those are just my couple of thoughts off the

1097
01:24:49,820 --> 01:24:54,500
top of my head so even the topography here it's it's flat and that goes into

1098
01:24:54,500 --> 01:24:59,460
that modeling we showed you first you were mentioning first year in

1099
01:24:59,460 --> 01:25:03,940
sunshine being good disinfected by the time it's it's there it's extremely

1100
01:25:03,940 --> 01:25:09,180
it's treated it doesn't need any more treatment so what did you

1101
01:25:09,180 --> 01:25:17,320
salt limit or salinity on your plant? There's no permit limit on that. There's no what? There's no

1102
01:25:17,320 --> 01:25:24,880
permit limit on the on TDS. We agree salt is sterling. Excuse me? Salt can be used as sterling

1103
01:25:24,880 --> 01:25:26,820
on ground. Do you agree with that?

1104
01:25:29,180 --> 01:25:33,580
Salt can be. I don't know. I think so. It is. It'll kill

1105
01:25:33,580 --> 01:25:41,880
Yeah, go look at the mineral block around any cow places, but salt is sterling.

1106
01:25:42,320 --> 01:25:45,180
As far as I know, there's not high levels of salt in this part.

1107
01:25:45,380 --> 01:25:48,440
This is chlorinated, too, as the final treatment. It's chlorinated.

1108
01:25:50,020 --> 01:25:53,760
Yeah, to follow up on what he was saying, the City of Emerald there, again, they used

1109
01:25:53,760 --> 01:25:57,080
seriflant water and they were treating it on some farmland. And it actually,

1110
01:25:57,080 --> 01:26:09,520
the heavy selenium in it ended up sterilizing the farmland and causing problems and so that's why I think Commissioner Robinson was asking the questions he was.

1111
01:26:09,640 --> 01:26:11,280
Well, where the sprinklers are sprinkling it's green.

1112
01:26:11,800 --> 01:26:12,120
What?

1113
01:26:13,000 --> 01:26:15,760
Where our property, where the sprinklers are sprinkling it's green.

1114
01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:16,360
It stays green.

1115
01:26:17,160 --> 01:26:19,000
It stays green.

1116
01:26:19,680 --> 01:26:20,180
It's green.

1117
01:26:20,560 --> 01:26:20,980
Green.

1118
01:26:21,900 --> 01:26:23,040
Any further questions?

1119
01:26:23,360 --> 01:26:23,520
No.

1120
01:26:23,520 --> 01:26:24,880
Any further questions?

1121
01:26:25,080 --> 01:26:25,360
No, I'm good.

1122
01:26:25,760 --> 01:26:26,500
Any further questions?

1123
01:26:29,740 --> 01:26:31,160
I don't think so, George.

1124
01:26:31,340 --> 01:26:31,680
Thank you.

1125
01:26:32,220 --> 01:26:37,460
So we want to thank you so much for coming in and doing your presentation for being part

1126
01:26:37,460 --> 01:26:38,140
of our community.

1127
01:26:39,200 --> 01:26:43,580
I'd like for you to, if you have the time, to have a say, we're going to ask the property

1128
01:26:43,580 --> 01:26:47,300
owners to be able to come up and have their concerns heard.

1129
01:26:47,840 --> 01:26:50,500
And then also our Road and Bridge and our engineer.

1130
01:26:52,480 --> 01:26:52,940
Thank you.

1131
01:26:53,240 --> 01:26:53,760
Thank you all.

1132
01:26:53,760 --> 01:26:54,600
All right.

1133
01:27:06,770 --> 01:27:18,410
And then now if we have any property owners that are here, I'd like for you to come up and be able to have your voice heard as well in this matter. And this obviously we have Mr. Deshaun with us. Welcome.

1134
01:27:19,990 --> 01:27:33,290
You'll find in front of you a blue folder that Mr. Deshaun delivered to us with information in it. I think it was yesterday that he delivered it. We tried to scan it and make sure that everyone had it.

1135
01:27:33,290 --> 01:27:36,650
And it was a complete record for the official records as well.

1136
01:27:38,650 --> 01:27:39,130
Welcome.

1137
01:27:39,550 --> 01:27:42,890
Well, I'd like to thank you all for allowing me the time

1138
01:27:42,890 --> 01:27:44,090
to come before you this morning.

1139
01:27:45,310 --> 01:27:46,350
My name is Murphy Deshaun.

1140
01:27:46,490 --> 01:27:50,210
I live at 7614 Catskill Avenue in Amarillo, Texas.

1141
01:27:51,530 --> 01:27:55,510
I've attempted to provide all the documentation for the items

1142
01:27:55,510 --> 01:27:57,250
I'll bring up today in that blue folder

1143
01:27:57,250 --> 01:27:58,490
that you have in front of you.

1144
01:27:59,630 --> 01:28:02,410
This permit has been plagued with numerous complaints.

1145
01:28:02,410 --> 01:28:03,850
in violations.

1146
01:28:05,920 --> 01:28:11,520
On 2-1 of 21, I filed a complaint with the TCEQ that the wastewater in the roadside

1147
01:28:11,520 --> 01:28:18,000
ditch was not flowing. Somewhere around the end of March of 2021, I received a response

1148
01:28:18,540 --> 01:28:25,160
stating that the TCEQ does not have jurisdiction to address stagnating water issues, and its

1149
01:28:25,160 --> 01:28:30,160
only function is to protect the water quality of the state's water. In other words, this

1150
01:28:30,160 --> 01:28:36,360
was not the TCEQ's problem, even though they approved the route for the permit. The pictures

1151
01:28:36,360 --> 01:28:43,880
labeled complaint one in the folder were taken on 331 of 2021. Those photos represent what

1152
01:28:43,880 --> 01:28:48,760
the ditch looked like when I filed the complaint and what the ditch looks like any time there

1153
01:28:48,760 --> 01:28:51,540
is water in that area where the water does not fall.

1154
01:28:51,940 --> 01:28:56,740
Let me ask you something real quick. I hate to interrupt, but since we may have

1155
01:28:56,740 --> 01:29:00,720
some follow-up questions for loves. Do you have an extra one of these that Mr. Mouse

1156
01:29:00,720 --> 01:29:07,300
might have? I think it might be helpful for him to be able to see what it is that

1157
01:29:07,300 --> 01:29:13,540
your concerns are. These would be the photos I was talking about. Thank you,

1158
01:29:13,620 --> 01:29:13,760
Murphy.

1159
01:29:25,760 --> 01:29:31,760
On 12-23 of 22, I filed an complaint for this raw sewage from the facility entering

1160
01:29:31,760 --> 01:29:38,780
of the drainage addition. Upon investigation by the TCEQ, it was discovered that the underground

1161
01:29:38,780 --> 01:29:43,400
pipe running from the lift station to the treatment plant had ruptured within a few

1162
01:29:43,400 --> 01:29:49,680
feet from the plant's roadside discharge point where it actually comes out of the plant

1163
01:29:49,680 --> 01:29:57,400
and goes into the ditch. The TCEQ rules state that for a spill to be reported to

1164
01:29:57,400 --> 01:29:59,320
to anyone other than the TCEQ.

1165
01:29:59,760 --> 01:29:59,960
Thank you.

1166
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:04,340
It must be greater than 50,000 gallons and be within a half mile of a well.

1167
01:30:05,640 --> 01:30:09,580
If it's not within a half mile of a well, it has to be 100,000 gallons.

1168
01:30:11,180 --> 01:30:15,360
To my knowledge, accordingly, no one was notified of this bill.

1169
01:30:16,880 --> 01:30:22,660
To my knowledge, no testing was done to see if any contamination had occurred in the discharge route.

1170
01:30:23,460 --> 01:30:29,120
The TCQ simply had love for care of the pipe, then a spread line around the break to control

1171
01:30:29,120 --> 01:30:29,540
order.

1172
01:30:30,780 --> 01:30:36,360
The pictures labeled complaint two were taking on the day of the spill and showed the condition

1173
01:30:36,360 --> 01:30:37,500
of the water in the ditch.

1174
01:30:38,520 --> 01:30:43,120
Due to the color of the water, I firmly believe there was raw sewage in that ditch.

1175
01:30:44,060 --> 01:30:50,100
The TCQ representative stated at that time the color was due to drain water runoff.

1176
01:30:50,100 --> 01:30:54,500
There was no reported grain water from the month of December of 2022.

1177
01:30:55,660 --> 01:30:59,800
This facility is unmanned except for approximately one hour each day.

1178
01:31:00,920 --> 01:31:06,680
If there's some kind of remote monitoring system, it did not report this failure because I had

1179
01:31:06,680 --> 01:31:07,220
to report it.

1180
01:31:08,380 --> 01:31:15,380
On 815, 2023, I filed a third complaint stating the facility did not have the required property

1181
01:31:15,380 --> 01:31:18,220
authorization and is in violation of the permit.

1182
01:31:18,220 --> 01:31:24,730
The permit states that the issuance of the permits does not grant the permit a fee to

1183
01:31:24,730 --> 01:31:28,010
write to the public or private property for

1184
01:31:31,340 --> 01:31:33,900
the conveyance of wastewater along the discharge

1185
01:31:34,700 --> 01:31:39,600
route, and it is a responsibility for the permit fee to require such rights.

1186
01:31:40,440 --> 01:31:47,400
I found that loads had only gotten authorization from Potter County on 11-2 of 2023, a received

1187
01:31:47,400 --> 01:31:54,000
response from the TCU on this claim. Love was issued a notice of violation and

1188
01:31:54,000 --> 01:32:00,220
given them till 12 29 of 2023 to get the required authorizations from

1189
01:32:00,220 --> 01:32:05,760
property owners and Randall County. Love did not meet this day as evidenced by the

1190
01:32:05,760 --> 01:32:12,200
fact we're here today two months past the compliance date. When I contacted the

1191
01:32:12,200 --> 01:32:17,180
TCU about love's not responding to this issue before the required date, I

1192
01:32:17,180 --> 01:32:21,240
was told that since Loves was attempting to respond, there would be no repercussions.

1193
01:32:22,580 --> 01:32:27,780
The response states that Loves must obtain authorizations from all property owners along

1194
01:32:27,780 --> 01:32:36,440
the wastewater discharge route in Randall County. It has nothing to say in that response.

1195
01:32:37,160 --> 01:32:44,080
It's only limited to the first file. It specifically says all Randall County property

1196
01:32:44,860 --> 01:32:46,280
and you have a copy that

1197
01:32:52,710 --> 01:32:59,490
loves and not reached out to any Randall County property owners other than Randall County.

1198
01:33:00,230 --> 01:33:03,890
I've visited with a rodent rich superintendent, Tim Sorrell, about this matter.

1199
01:33:04,610 --> 01:33:10,990
He informed me that he had questioned loves authority to discharge water into the ditch without first contact in Randall County

1200
01:33:10,990 --> 01:33:12,970
when the plant first started operating.

1201
01:33:13,590 --> 01:33:19,170
He was told by a T.C. for representative that since Loves had a permit and authorization

1202
01:33:19,170 --> 01:33:22,450
from Potter County, there was nothing that could be done about the water.

1203
01:33:22,990 --> 01:33:27,970
That was definitely incorrect since we're here today discussing that very matter after

1204
01:33:27,970 --> 01:33:32,950
Loves was issued a violation, not on their own, if it wasn't a hiccup, it had to be

1205
01:33:32,950 --> 01:33:38,030
issued a violation for getting the required permissions from Randall County property

1206
01:33:38,030 --> 01:33:38,290
owners.

1207
01:33:39,150 --> 01:33:45,090
It is my understanding that the roadside ditch was designed to provide runoff for rainwater,

1208
01:33:45,290 --> 01:33:51,610
not continuous water flow, or for an open-air drain field, is what they're proposing.

1209
01:33:53,210 --> 01:33:56,250
As such, it cannot be maintained with water standing in it.

1210
01:33:56,930 --> 01:34:02,010
During the public comment period for the renewal application, there were two comments piled

1211
01:34:02,010 --> 01:34:02,630
on this matter.

1212
01:34:02,630 --> 01:34:10,330
The response to the comments from the executive director was the TCEQ's only response for the quality of the water.

1213
01:34:11,090 --> 01:34:17,290
The executive director further indicated it is up to nearby property owners to use their own time and money

1214
01:34:17,290 --> 01:34:24,710
to seek common law remedies such as trespass and nuisance to correct a problem created by the TCEQ.

1215
01:34:26,130 --> 01:34:33,050
On 4.26 to 23, Loves filed for renewal of this permit with a major amendment.

1216
01:34:33,890 --> 01:34:41,170
The amendment was to upgrade the facility from a maximum daily average of 15,000 gallons per day to 22,000 gallons per day.

1217
01:34:41,830 --> 01:34:47,790
On 6.18 to 23, DCEQ issued a preliminary decision for the renewal of the permit.

1218
01:34:48,550 --> 01:34:54,690
Upon review of the new requirements and discrepancies were found, on page 10 of the application,

1219
01:34:55,190 --> 01:35:00,710
gloves indicated that no treated wastewater would be discharged to a city, county, or state right away.

1220
01:35:01,330 --> 01:35:07,290
The map for the discharge route in the application showed the discharge somehow crossing Carnot Road,

1221
01:35:07,450 --> 01:35:13,630
then going to the middle of the Oasis RV park, then proceeding south along an open field

1222
01:35:13,630 --> 01:35:18,030
to a culvert that crosses under 34th Street onto Section 109.

1223
01:35:19,070 --> 01:35:23,750
The route the discharge actually uses is from the discharge point south

1224
01:35:23,750 --> 01:35:26,970
in the west barred edge part on a road to 34th Street.

1225
01:35:27,570 --> 01:35:32,390
Then turns east and runs north in the north ditch of 34th to a culvert

1226
01:35:32,390 --> 01:35:37,050
that crosses under 34th onto the Playa Lake

1227
01:35:37,630 --> 01:35:41,170
located on Section 109, which is owned by the Sapinski family.

1228
01:35:41,170 --> 01:35:48,210
The pictures included with the application clearly show the discharge in the boots alongside

1229
01:35:48,210 --> 01:35:49,870
R&I crossing R&I.

1230
01:35:50,290 --> 01:35:58,870
On 11-10 of 23, the DCEQ had to issue a revised preliminary decision since some landowners

1231
01:35:58,870 --> 01:36:01,610
were not notified because of this wrong discharter.

1232
01:36:01,610 --> 01:36:10,310
From a public comment on the TCEQ website on 12.5 of 2023, the TCEQ again had to issue

1233
01:36:10,310 --> 01:36:16,090
another revised decision to change where the public could view the application since the

1234
01:36:16,090 --> 01:36:19,670
North Branch of the Amarillo Public Library was closed for remodeling.

1235
01:36:20,230 --> 01:36:26,470
I want to point out here that that application is signed and certified document from LUBS.

1236
01:36:28,420 --> 01:36:37,600
On 4-29 of 2021, a record review was conducted on the wastewater treatment facility.

1237
01:36:38,380 --> 01:36:44,080
The review indicated that for the month of December of 2020, the facility will not comply

1238
01:36:44,080 --> 01:36:45,500
for a single grant roll.

1239
01:36:46,700 --> 01:36:51,680
In January of 2021, the facility was compliant with only three parameters.

1240
01:36:51,680 --> 01:36:58,060
On 6-7 of 2021, the TCEQ issued a notice of enforcement to gloves.

1241
01:36:58,860 --> 01:37:06,100
A glove agreed to pay a fine in the amount of $36,250 for that violation.

1242
01:37:07,040 --> 01:37:13,960
Even though the violation, as described in the notice of enforcement, as people or environmental receptors

1243
01:37:13,960 --> 01:37:18,420
have been exposed to pollutants which exceed the levels that are protective,

1244
01:37:18,420 --> 01:37:23,780
Not a single person or entity along the discharge route was notified of the discharge.

1245
01:37:25,880 --> 01:37:33,680
The TCEQ did not require those to do any testing to see if there was any contamination of the discharge that might require remediation.

1246
01:37:35,600 --> 01:37:41,880
There's an active violation on the current permit for not having a backup power supply in case of a power failure.

1247
01:37:42,780 --> 01:37:48,060
It's my understanding the backup power supply is scheduled to be installed as part of the plan expansion.

1248
01:37:48,060 --> 01:37:56,880
On current PERMIT in the section labeled Operation Requirements paragraph 4, the PERMIT

1249
01:37:56,880 --> 01:38:03,080
T is responsible for installing prior-to-plant startup and alternate power source.

1250
01:38:03,860 --> 01:38:09,040
LUVS has been in violation of this requirement since the very first days to install back-up

1251
01:38:09,040 --> 01:38:14,080
power supply was installed prior to startup and still has not been installed.

1252
01:38:15,180 --> 01:38:21,460
Here again, the TCEQ stance is that since Luz is supposed to install a backup generator

1253
01:38:21,460 --> 01:38:24,680
with an upgrade, it's all right to do without wanting to deal with that.

1254
01:38:25,680 --> 01:38:28,200
I also filed a public comment on this matter.

1255
01:38:28,540 --> 01:38:33,140
During the comment period of the renewal application, the TCEQ did not even respond

1256
01:38:33,140 --> 01:38:33,680
to the comment.

1257
01:38:35,580 --> 01:38:40,540
Before I start on this next section, I want to emphasize what was being said this

1258
01:38:40,540 --> 01:38:40,720
one.

1259
01:38:40,880 --> 01:38:42,820
This was clear, pure water.

1260
01:38:43,800 --> 01:38:44,700
Keep that in mind.

1261
01:38:44,700 --> 01:38:52,740
As of today, there are 20 violations listed on the DCEQ website for this facility.

1262
01:38:53,380 --> 01:38:59,340
Of those violations, 17 are prepared to meet the limit of one or more permit encounters.

1263
01:39:00,920 --> 01:39:07,580
The ADA Excedence Report, which is online, shows the details behind these violations.

1264
01:39:08,220 --> 01:39:12,160
There are 91 instances where the limits were exceeded.

1265
01:39:12,160 --> 01:39:16,160
some of these excesses are as much as 18 times.

1266
01:39:19,200 --> 01:39:21,040
These numbers I just focus, don't

1267
01:39:21,040 --> 01:39:25,520
match what's in the folder, and the reason why is when I checked the website this

1268
01:39:25,520 --> 01:39:30,000
morning, there had been another one added for the month of November 2023.

1269
01:39:35,380 --> 01:39:40,740
Love's has a second water quality permit that for this same location that

1270
01:39:40,740 --> 01:39:45,660
uses the same discharge route. That permit is for the stormwater and

1271
01:39:45,660 --> 01:39:51,820
water used to clean with the fueling base. And in answer to your question, Mr. Ruff's,

1272
01:39:52,200 --> 01:39:56,380
that particular trickle path is concreted on their problem.

1273
01:40:01,730 --> 01:40:06,570
The second permit has two violations for exceeding the permit parameters. An exceedance

1274
01:40:06,570 --> 01:40:12,190
report from the second permit shows four instances of the permit parameters being exceeded

1275
01:40:12,190 --> 01:40:14,910
by as much as three times over the limit.

1276
01:40:17,530 --> 01:40:20,710
If a violation does not meet the TCEQ

1277
01:40:20,710 --> 01:40:28,550
enforcement initiation criteria only a notice of violation is issued. For a

1278
01:40:28,550 --> 01:40:34,090
violation to trigger enforcement, the permit parameters must exceed, must be

1279
01:40:34,090 --> 01:40:39,590
exceeded by 40% or more for any two or more months during a six-month

1280
01:40:40,370 --> 01:40:46,780
consecutive period. That ain't a mouthful. Once a violation is past the six-month

1281
01:40:46,780 --> 01:40:51,900
period without a second violation to trigger enforcement, it will show as

1282
01:40:51,900 --> 01:40:56,620
resolved on the TCEQ website with no further action to be taken.

1283
01:40:57,520 --> 01:41:05,780
A good example of how inadequate this is on TIFF 31-2023, the EPA excedence report shows

1284
01:41:05,780 --> 01:41:10,120
that the E. coli parameter was 18 times over the limit.

1285
01:41:12,070 --> 01:41:16,510
There will be no enforcement action taken unless there's a second occurrence that goes

1286
01:41:16,510 --> 01:41:19,430
over 40% within the six month window.

1287
01:41:20,150 --> 01:41:31,750
The EPA website sternly warns that there should not be any contact with water that exceeds the limit-free coli as it has the potential to harm both humans and environment.

1288
01:41:32,650 --> 01:41:40,430
Simple tasks such as picking up trash or trying to mow the ditch are not safe since no one knows when the parameters are over the limit.

1289
01:41:41,530 --> 01:41:47,970
The second permit also has the same two violations as the first one for not having authorization

1290
01:41:47,970 --> 01:41:49,130
for property owners.

1291
01:41:49,930 --> 01:41:55,370
For the discharge route and no backup power supply, these two permits were issued four

1292
01:41:55,370 --> 01:41:56,210
years apart.

1293
01:41:57,470 --> 01:41:59,190
That's not just being overlooked,

1294
01:42:01,840 --> 01:42:03,920
as it was reported to you all this morning.

1295
01:42:04,880 --> 01:42:09,860
Recently, laws have started to use the irrigation system on their own property disposal

1296
01:42:09,860 --> 01:42:15,520
of the waste water. And it answered some of y'all's question, that ditch was continuously

1297
01:42:15,520 --> 01:42:21,760
under water until this was started. Now, since it has started, I'll get to that here in a

1298
01:42:21,760 --> 01:42:29,320
minute, the water has entered the ditch four times since irrigation started. As I stated

1299
01:42:29,320 --> 01:42:35,840
last, it's requested the flow to be upgraded to 22,000 gallons per day. Since there's

1300
01:42:35,840 --> 01:42:40,040
water going into the ditch now, it would follow that once the upgrade is up and

1301
01:42:40,040 --> 01:42:44,760
running, a lot, if not all, of the increased amount will be going into the

1302
01:42:44,760 --> 01:42:48,820
ditch. The new equipment for the upgrade is to be located in what they're

1303
01:42:48,820 --> 01:42:53,740
currently using for an irrigation field. That will reduce the size of the field

1304
01:42:53,740 --> 01:42:57,720
and the application shows no provision to offset the reduction of the field

1305
01:42:57,720 --> 01:43:02,660
side. There's no provision for protecting the irrigation system that

1306
01:43:02,660 --> 01:43:04,640
that would allow it to be used during freezing weather.

1307
01:43:05,220 --> 01:43:07,140
Should the irrigation system freeze,

1308
01:43:07,660 --> 01:43:10,540
then all the wastewater will have no place to go but the ditch.

1309
01:43:11,080 --> 01:43:12,460
This proved to be correct,

1310
01:43:12,720 --> 01:43:15,300
since water went in the ditch for several days

1311
01:43:15,300 --> 01:43:16,780
during the last cold snap.

1312
01:43:17,940 --> 01:43:19,200
During that same period,

1313
01:43:19,600 --> 01:43:22,820
the Sabinsky family had an environmental report

1314
01:43:22,820 --> 01:43:25,180
performed on the water that had entered the ditch.

1315
01:43:25,940 --> 01:43:28,820
The report showed that the water exceeded the daily average

1316
01:43:28,820 --> 01:43:31,580
for several of the permit parameters in particular,

1317
01:43:31,580 --> 01:43:39,240
total suspended solids, and again, ego line. The executive director of the TCEQ has made

1318
01:43:39,240 --> 01:43:45,200
the decision that the permit has met the requirements of the applicable law. The final decision will

1319
01:43:45,200 --> 01:43:49,800
be considered by the commissioner at a regularly scheduled meeting before any action is taken

1320
01:43:50,120 --> 01:43:56,180
on the application. I am filing a request for reconsideration of the executive director

1321
01:43:56,180 --> 01:44:01,840
for decision, I feel that the conditions and requirements stated in the permit were not

1322
01:44:01,840 --> 01:44:07,360
applied by the executive director concerning the backup power supply for the property rights

1323
01:44:07,360 --> 01:44:08,900
along the discharge route.

1324
01:44:09,760 --> 01:44:16,620
The one thing I want to stress here is even if the TCEQ grants this, it puts absolutely

1325
01:44:16,620 --> 01:44:22,080
no obligation on any property owner or entity to allow wastewater to cross their

1326
01:44:22,080 --> 01:44:24,000
property without their authorization.

1327
01:44:25,200 --> 01:44:30,540
There are several alternatives to discharge in treating wastewater into the roadside edge.

1328
01:44:31,040 --> 01:44:37,000
The alternatives keep the wastewater on less property and make any risk associated with

1329
01:44:37,000 --> 01:44:39,980
the wastewater less problems, not everyone else's.

1330
01:44:41,060 --> 01:44:45,560
It became apparent to me that the citizens of the state of Texas cannot depend on the

1331
01:44:45,560 --> 01:44:49,460
TCEQ to protect the rights and health of the public.

1332
01:44:49,460 --> 01:44:55,560
They approved a discharge route that had very little hope of actually flowing and is being

1333
01:44:55,560 --> 01:44:59,960
used simply as an open-air grain fuel and it is not their problem.

1334
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:05,120
As long as it meets the water standards, they'll allow an entity to change a sign and

1335
01:45:05,120 --> 01:45:07,760
certified application when errors are pointed out.

1336
01:45:08,520 --> 01:45:11,320
Their treatment plan should have never been allowed to start up

1337
01:45:11,320 --> 01:45:17,360
without a backup power supply. When this violation was found during an

1338
01:45:17,360 --> 01:45:20,300
inspection, the solution was to give loves more time.

1339
01:45:20,960 --> 01:45:24,640
The same solution was given in the case of not having proper authorization

1340
01:45:24,640 --> 01:45:29,940
from landowners. The compliance deadline came and went without any repercussions.

1341
01:45:30,600 --> 01:45:35,620
They issue violations that do nothing to prevent the reoccurrence of the same

1342
01:45:35,620 --> 01:45:41,620
violation. As a citizen of Randall County, I would hope there would be some

1343
01:45:41,620 --> 01:45:46,280
benefit to Randall County citizens. When the county grants the right to use

1344
01:45:46,280 --> 01:45:51,720
County property, with all I presented here today, I can see a single solitary

1345
01:45:51,720 --> 01:45:57,180
benefit in granting loves the use of Randall County property. As such, I

1346
01:45:57,180 --> 01:46:01,820
request the Commission not grant loves the right to have wastewater across

1347
01:46:01,820 --> 01:46:10,780
Randall County property. I have a question for you, Mr. Gore. This would

1348
01:46:10,780 --> 01:46:14,800
fall into an agenda item with public comments. So can the Commissioners

1349
01:46:14,800 --> 01:46:21,220
engage with Mr. Dachon? Commissioner Collins, do you have any questions? So big

1350
01:46:21,220 --> 01:46:27,960
picture, you've had ongoing issues that just haven't been resolved on and on and

1351
01:46:27,960 --> 01:46:29,760
on. Is that pretty well sum it up?

1352
01:46:29,940 --> 01:46:31,180
That one will sum to that history.

1353
01:46:31,940 --> 01:46:32,480
Thank you.

1354
01:46:32,540 --> 01:46:37,820
You know, the fact of this, we want to be a good neighbor. I want to point out that

1355
01:46:37,820 --> 01:46:43,260
at the Potter County Middy that was mentioned, Commissioner Coffee brought up

1356
01:46:43,260 --> 01:46:46,700
the fact that he thought it would be beneficial if we could all get

1357
01:46:46,700 --> 01:46:50,740
together and work out a compromise. Loves agreed to that and agreed, said

1358
01:46:50,740 --> 01:46:55,300
they would call the meeting amongst everybody involved and we're all still

1359
01:46:55,300 --> 01:46:57,540
waiting for that meeting. Never

1360
01:47:00,480 --> 01:47:04,320
contacted me, never contacted the

1361
01:47:04,960 --> 01:47:07,560
Savinsky's, never contacted Potter County.

1362
01:47:10,580 --> 01:47:11,660
We're all still waiting for that meeting.

1363
01:47:13,980 --> 01:47:22,300
That's your good neighbor. Thank you. Your recommendation is for loves to

1364
01:47:22,300 --> 01:47:26,720
handle their foot on their own property. Yes, you need to be fine with it.

1365
01:47:27,040 --> 01:47:35,340
As long as it's within the law. That is one thing I do want. I've never seen an actual

1366
01:47:35,340 --> 01:47:42,840
plaque of what they're proposing to put in. And I've got a feeling that it's not

1367
01:47:42,840 --> 01:47:48,700
in compliance with the law. What I saw this morning was it has to be 150

1368
01:47:49,300 --> 01:47:53,500
away from any property line. And I'm pretty sure with that one item that

1369
01:47:53,500 --> 01:47:59,000
that they're putting on the West End of what's existing is going to be within, it's not going

1370
01:47:59,000 --> 01:48:03,020
to be within, it's going to be too close. But I'd actually like to ask you.

1371
01:48:03,700 --> 01:48:07,240
Mr. Maus, have you all got a plat with you by chance?

1372
01:48:07,700 --> 01:48:09,640
I just wanted to have it put up on the screen.

1373
01:48:09,960 --> 01:48:10,180
Okay.

1374
01:48:12,220 --> 01:48:15,460
The one that's on the screen, all right,

1375
01:48:17,470 --> 01:48:20,830
well, no, but Brandon, then this is our

1376
01:48:20,830 --> 01:48:25,230
I.T. Director Brandon, if you're there in possession of that, could you print a plat

1377
01:48:25,230 --> 01:48:26,830
for Mr. Deshaun before you leave?

1378
01:48:26,830 --> 01:48:31,330
The very first drawing that you put up, it shows where all the equipment you put in.

1379
01:48:31,330 --> 01:48:38,090
After the meeting, can you print symptoms for him so that he can have that, everybody,

1380
01:48:38,470 --> 01:48:44,770
I think communication on both sides, everybody having all the information will help us navigate

1381
01:48:44,770 --> 01:48:45,290
this better.

1382
01:48:50,100 --> 01:48:50,620
Perfect.

1383
01:48:51,020 --> 01:48:52,020
Any other questions?

1384
01:48:52,820 --> 01:48:58,280
So, can you tell the Commissioner's Court where Love Sets and how far your property

1385
01:48:58,280 --> 01:48:58,940
is from it?

1386
01:48:59,720 --> 01:49:00,300
Okay.

1387
01:49:00,560 --> 01:49:07,180
My Love Sets on the 80 acres that's right there in the corner of Arnott Road and I-40

1388
01:49:07,180 --> 01:49:07,440
was

1389
01:49:09,610 --> 01:49:14,530
owned by Tripoli and just south of them is my property.

1390
01:49:14,970 --> 01:49:20,570
Now, I did sell the section that is right up against their fence back earlier in

1391
01:49:20,570 --> 01:49:25,890
a year to the same people that own the rest of the 30 acres that surrounds my place.

1392
01:49:26,590 --> 01:49:33,650
But I'm the second actual, I'm with them, what is that, I think it's 200 feet of their

1393
01:49:33,650 --> 01:49:34,550
fence line.

1394
01:49:36,640 --> 01:49:36,820
Okay.

1395
01:49:37,000 --> 01:49:38,040
So it's 200 feet south.

1396
01:49:38,380 --> 01:49:40,560
What was that address, 7614, what?

1397
01:49:40,920 --> 01:49:42,520
No, that's where I live.

1398
01:49:42,920 --> 01:49:43,080
Okay.

1399
01:49:43,180 --> 01:49:45,880
The property I own is 2760 Carnot Road.

1400
01:49:46,140 --> 01:49:46,420
Okay.

1401
01:49:47,040 --> 01:49:56,520
And so to follow up on that, because I know that this has been a concern for you for years that you have a busy life.

1402
01:49:56,960 --> 01:50:09,760
And you don't go out and look for problems. How did you come across this that you're finding the water in the ditch you're finding what I was told before smells problems.

1403
01:50:10,400 --> 01:50:11,760
How did that come to your attention.

1404
01:50:11,760 --> 01:50:17,000
Well, I'm out there every single day, even though I'm retired, that's my retirement.

1405
01:50:17,680 --> 01:50:21,740
I go out there and I have a motorhome, my wife trains dogs.

1406
01:50:22,280 --> 01:50:25,720
She has a building next to my building, where we store the motorhome.

1407
01:50:25,840 --> 01:50:27,500
She has a building where she trains her dogs.

1408
01:50:29,600 --> 01:50:33,400
And I try real hard to keep anything that's mine, nice and neat.

1409
01:50:34,240 --> 01:50:37,580
I've mowed that bar ditch since the day I bought that property.

1410
01:50:37,580 --> 01:50:42,440
I've actually, before love's put this in, I was going to the bar to come up to their

1411
01:50:42,440 --> 01:50:48,760
property, up to their store, because I just didn't like that Russian thistle that grew

1412
01:50:48,760 --> 01:50:53,160
up down through that bar ditch, which is an invasive weed, of course, with the state

1413
01:50:53,160 --> 01:50:55,240
of Texas, and I hate it with fashion.

1414
01:50:58,060 --> 01:51:02,380
I've always maintained that bar ditch, so when water started being in the bar ditch,

1415
01:51:02,540 --> 01:51:07,380
there was no way for me to maintain it, and then you could see from the pictures

1416
01:51:07,380 --> 01:51:14,320
years, then, you know, it got to the point that because it wasn't moving, it was stagnant

1417
01:51:14,320 --> 01:51:18,740
water that it became, I knew something had to be wrong.

1418
01:51:20,080 --> 01:51:20,800
Thank you.

1419
01:51:21,380 --> 01:51:23,640
And that's where I started, that's how I got involved.

1420
01:51:26,540 --> 01:51:31,880
Well, again, thanks for showing up this morning and being so well prepared. You heard the

1421
01:51:31,880 --> 01:51:36,100
questions that we asked representatives for loves and their counsel. Now, the first

1422
01:51:36,100 --> 01:51:39,620
The first question I asked was if they were aware of any of this affluent crossing under

1423
01:51:39,620 --> 01:51:44,800
personal property and you heard the answer was to their knowledge they were not aware

1424
01:51:45,580 --> 01:51:49,560
as well as any complaints about any of this which they were not aware.

1425
01:51:50,400 --> 01:51:55,820
Up until this point, up until today, I know that you filed numerous complaints with TCEQ.

1426
01:51:55,980 --> 01:51:59,760
Did you ever reach out to loves and try to get a response from them for anything?

1427
01:51:59,760 --> 01:52:10,540
The very first complaint that I filed, the one on 2021, Kevin Nichols from Loves, made

1428
01:52:10,540 --> 01:52:15,240
a phone call with me and basically asked me what Loves needed to do to make me go away.

1429
01:52:16,440 --> 01:52:22,230
So I would set up the goal and that's the only response I ever got.

1430
01:52:22,650 --> 01:52:24,410
And was there any follow-up after that?

1431
01:52:24,650 --> 01:52:27,110
Did you give them an answer?

1432
01:52:27,750 --> 01:52:28,470
Yeah, I did.

1433
01:52:29,490 --> 01:52:35,270
They could keep their water on their own property, which I believe is what should be done.

1434
01:52:37,350 --> 01:52:41,230
Individuals spend thousands of dollars to put in their own septic system.

1435
01:52:41,710 --> 01:52:43,690
It has a covered grainfield.

1436
01:52:44,810 --> 01:52:49,670
Loves and won't use Grandville County Bar Bridge as an open-air grainfield.

1437
01:52:50,290 --> 01:52:55,730
That's all it is. No matter how fancy you make it sound, that's what it is.

1438
01:52:55,730 --> 01:53:03,390
It's an open-air grainfield because even if it doesn't make it to the Zabitsky's, which,

1439
01:53:03,530 --> 01:53:06,670
you know, I don't know what it would take to make it to the Zabitsky's.

1440
01:53:06,730 --> 01:53:08,690
I'm not a scientist, no more than they are.

1441
01:53:09,570 --> 01:53:15,630
But to have an open-air grainfield, when other people have spent thousands of millions

1442
01:53:15,630 --> 01:53:18,210
of dollars, I haven't spent just recently myself.

1443
01:53:18,770 --> 01:53:23,850
When I sold that property, I had to move my grainfield, and I spent $4,000 to

1444
01:53:23,850 --> 01:53:24,970
had it not covered,

1445
01:53:29,700 --> 01:53:30,920
it had to meet the requirements,

1446
01:53:32,020 --> 01:53:32,820
all that kind of stuff.

1447
01:53:33,240 --> 01:53:36,400
What this is is nothing but an open air drain filter.

1448
01:53:37,660 --> 01:53:38,600
So you felt like that.

1449
01:53:38,600 --> 01:53:39,400
There's no other way to put it.

1450
01:53:39,500 --> 01:53:41,480
You feel like that complaint didn't go any further

1451
01:53:41,480 --> 01:53:43,080
than that one contact.

1452
01:53:43,400 --> 01:53:44,580
It didn't go up the.

1453
01:53:44,920 --> 01:53:45,380
It didn't go up.

1454
01:53:45,600 --> 01:53:47,300
Every other contact I've had with them

1455
01:53:47,300 --> 01:53:50,360
is through the, through the TCEQ by filing a formal.

1456
01:53:51,220 --> 01:53:54,420
Is there a reason you didn't contact loves again

1457
01:53:54,420 --> 01:53:56,180
directly outside of TCEQ?

1458
01:53:56,280 --> 01:53:56,960
Did you just feel like?

1459
01:53:56,960 --> 01:54:01,720
Well, I felt like it was a waste of my time because of what was said when Kevin Nichols

1460
01:54:01,720 --> 01:54:03,100
called and talked to me.

1461
01:54:03,400 --> 01:54:04,680
And I know he's not here today.

1462
01:54:05,000 --> 01:54:08,160
He was with them when they came up to the park.

1463
01:54:08,960 --> 01:54:09,400
Okay.

1464
01:54:09,580 --> 01:54:10,360
Thank you.

1465
01:54:14,080 --> 01:54:15,740
Did you put this together?

1466
01:54:16,060 --> 01:54:16,520
Yes, I did.

1467
01:54:17,040 --> 01:54:20,520
You wrote a very fine job on that.

1468
01:54:20,800 --> 01:54:21,240
Thank you.

1469
01:54:21,260 --> 01:54:21,760
Very impressive.

1470
01:54:22,340 --> 01:54:23,700
You've done a good job on that.

1471
01:54:26,340 --> 01:54:31,180
Do you mind if we could have a copy of that, your letter that you've read today with the

1472
01:54:31,180 --> 01:54:31,800
reading issue?

1473
01:54:33,100 --> 01:54:37,080
I'd like to have that also, if we could, sometime we could see.

1474
01:54:37,240 --> 01:54:38,860
Yeah, I'm on public speaker, I had to write it down.

1475
01:54:38,980 --> 01:54:41,200
Yeah, leave it with us, but I'd like to go over that.

1476
01:54:44,580 --> 01:54:47,600
But other than that, I have no questions other than that.

1477
01:54:47,780 --> 01:54:48,140
Thank you.

1478
01:54:49,460 --> 01:54:50,900
Any questions for secondary?

1479
01:54:50,900 --> 01:55:00,100
Do you have neighbors, friends having the same issues that have brought this up, I mean that you visit with on a regular basis out there?

1480
01:55:00,140 --> 01:55:15,040
I visited with Carson Ward. He's the one that's put in the big fancy grain site that says GW Seeds. It's in the southeast corner of 34th and Arnott.

1481
01:55:15,040 --> 01:55:20,640
And he definitely agrees that this should not have happened.

1482
01:55:21,100 --> 01:55:28,480
He can't say anything about it because the flow doesn't, you know, when I visited with Mr. Sorrell's,

1483
01:55:28,980 --> 01:55:36,120
they told me the water had no chance of being able to go south along Arnott past 34th.

1484
01:55:36,780 --> 01:55:40,020
There is a covered there, but they assured me it could.

1485
01:55:40,740 --> 01:55:47,260
Now, if that was actually in the plan, then he would have had a right to say something

1486
01:55:47,260 --> 01:55:49,660
because he was on that side of the road.

1487
01:55:50,460 --> 01:55:55,060
Since he's not on the right, on the south side, since he's on the south side,

1488
01:55:55,700 --> 01:55:58,980
instead of the north side, he's not going to be able to say anything

1489
01:55:59,880 --> 01:56:02,520
as he'll be able to actually cross to the south side.

1490
01:56:02,620 --> 01:56:05,700
But you feel other neighbors have the same concerns you do?

1491
01:56:06,160 --> 01:56:06,540
I don't know.

1492
01:56:08,820 --> 01:56:16,380
They had several complaints to managers about smelting, which, according to the DCEQ, that's

1493
01:56:16,380 --> 01:56:17,220
not supposed to happen.

1494
01:56:18,140 --> 01:56:19,340
They're not supposed to be able to smell it.

1495
01:56:19,600 --> 01:56:24,880
And answer to one of your questions, Judge Hire, those units are open to that system.

1496
01:56:25,380 --> 01:56:26,600
They don't have tops on them.

1497
01:56:27,100 --> 01:56:27,820
They're open air.

1498
01:56:28,800 --> 01:56:33,020
So if you get seven inches of rain, it's going in that sewage.

1499
01:56:33,720 --> 01:56:35,820
They're not closed units.

1500
01:56:46,360 --> 01:56:46,940
I'm sorry.

1501
01:56:50,160 --> 01:56:51,960
That must be allergic to sewer talk.

1502
01:56:53,640 --> 01:56:54,920
Thank you so much, Murphy.

1503
01:56:55,120 --> 01:56:55,860
We appreciate it.

1504
01:56:55,980 --> 01:56:58,360
I know this has been a passion for you.

1505
01:56:59,020 --> 01:57:03,500
It's been a concern for your voice hasn't had the opportunity to be heard as it should have been.

1506
01:57:03,620 --> 01:57:05,320
And I'm glad that we were able to do that here.

1507
01:57:05,660 --> 01:57:09,540
I'm glad that you've provided us the good documentation to be able to review.

1508
01:57:09,820 --> 01:57:12,180
I think it's a great starting spot for conversations.

1509
01:57:13,400 --> 01:57:14,040
Thank you.

1510
01:57:14,040 --> 01:57:24,470
At this time we have multiple agenda items. I'm going to go ahead and ask for the

1511
01:57:24,470 --> 01:57:30,530
Rodenbridge Department and our engineer from High Plains, a civil engineer, to

1512
01:57:30,530 --> 01:57:34,230
come forward and give us a brief assessment of your knowledge of the

1513
01:57:34,230 --> 01:57:39,650
situation with loves. Then we're gonna move on. I am so sorry. I know that I

1514
01:57:39,650 --> 01:57:43,190
have held some people here way past what you had expected. Normally our

1515
01:57:43,190 --> 01:57:44,530
Mr. Court is much shorter.

1516
01:57:50,980 --> 01:57:51,880
Good morning. Morning.

1517
01:57:56,620 --> 01:57:59,780
On the engineering side of things, I have some questions.

1518
01:58:01,800 --> 01:58:07,680
So you have an irrigation system for land application. How long can you guys go without

1519
01:58:07,680 --> 01:58:10,560
the storage? So

1520
01:58:15,200 --> 01:58:18,640
can you even go a day without? So you have to irrigate every day and if you

1521
01:58:18,640 --> 01:58:22,140
can. And then in the permit, do you have a

1522
01:58:24,760 --> 01:58:27,800
requirement on whether or not you can irrigate

1523
01:58:34,740 --> 01:58:36,340
But when the ground is frozen.

1524
01:58:36,720 --> 01:58:40,720
Would you mind since you're answering the questions to come up closer to the microphone

1525
01:58:40,720 --> 01:58:48,340
to make sure that they this if they're citizens online listen they can hear yeah we have a

1526
01:58:48,340 --> 01:58:59,060
zoom room but back there I'm not sure it could pick you up you're soft-spoken I know

1527
01:58:59,940 --> 01:59:07,540
whether or not you have to have a seat in order for definitely to have the vapor

1528
01:59:07,540 --> 01:59:13,920
transpiration. So the plan for the improvements is to, because right now

1529
01:59:13,920 --> 01:59:19,440
are laid out so that the radius touches each other, so we're gonna be overlapping

1530
01:59:19,440 --> 01:59:23,680
them. So some of the land that's earlier was taken over by the new

1531
01:59:24,780 --> 01:59:26,780
That'll be made up by having some more than I think.

1532
01:59:27,040 --> 01:59:31,080
And the plan is to have some vegetation there.

1533
01:59:31,140 --> 01:59:32,220
I believe it's because of the grass.

1534
01:59:32,560 --> 01:59:32,840
Not sure.

1535
01:59:33,980 --> 01:59:36,600
And then, is there a limit on that?

1536
01:59:39,600 --> 01:59:41,220
There's a number of...

1537
01:59:41,220 --> 01:59:41,520
No.

1538
01:59:42,380 --> 01:59:48,740
There's a number published now by CCQ that talks about

1539
01:59:48,740 --> 01:59:52,340
how many scales per day per square foot.

1540
01:59:52,620 --> 01:59:52,840
Yeah.

1541
01:59:53,140 --> 01:59:54,840
There is a limit of how much you can per foot.

1542
01:59:55,180 --> 01:59:55,560
Okay.

1543
01:59:55,560 --> 01:59:59,940
And so when it discharges,

1544
02:00:00,080 --> 02:00:06,180
I'm curious in your account for percolation in the barge, is that taking into account vegetation

1545
02:00:06,180 --> 02:00:12,820
there? Because in this area, we have a lot of plain, silty soil, so there's not a whole

1546
02:00:12,820 --> 02:00:18,960
lot of percolation unless it's cultivated or actually being seeded and constantly maintained.

1547
02:00:19,960 --> 02:00:25,560
Well, there's quite a bit of vegetation there. Yeah. Those are calculations done on how

1548
02:00:25,560 --> 02:00:34,560
much is actually seeping into the ground. And so you said you guys have a storage

1549
02:00:34,560 --> 02:00:40,020
tank of about 3,000 gallons so you can store a whole lot. You mentioned earlier

1550
02:00:40,020 --> 02:00:43,400
that only a small percentage of time it would be discharging.

1551
02:00:45,660 --> 02:00:46,540
Emma, you can

1552
02:00:46,540 --> 02:00:52,620
speak to this. Houghton, do you see their effluent in the barge? Well, we

1553
02:00:52,620 --> 02:00:55,760
you should see it quite a bit when it first started, but I guess if they're

1554
02:00:55,760 --> 02:01:00,980
irrigating it then that did slow it down as far as how far you know it made it

1555
02:01:00,980 --> 02:01:04,860
down to 34 down there. I don't think there was an irrigate. When did it get irrigated?

1556
02:01:05,720 --> 02:01:10,520
It wasn't even at the beginning. Right. We used to see it a lot more all the way

1557
02:01:10,520 --> 02:01:17,370
down to 34. And the irrigation, it says that's about 10,000 gallons a day. On peak days

1558
02:01:17,370 --> 02:01:21,350
you're going to be discharging about 10-12,000 gallons a day into that

1559
02:01:21,350 --> 02:01:28,600
barge and that's if it's not rainy or then you got on the stormwater how

1560
02:01:34,010 --> 02:01:34,330
it is a

1561
02:01:34,330 --> 02:01:38,550
stormwater ditch but a lot of the moisture that's observed in the ditch

1562
02:01:38,550 --> 02:01:44,810
and if you look on Google Earth it is it's in that part where the outlet

1563
02:01:44,810 --> 02:01:48,310
discharges so we don't get a whole lot of rain a lot of times what we do get a

1564
02:01:48,310 --> 02:01:52,230
lot and we don't be a lot long time without any rain but the barge is

1565
02:01:52,230 --> 02:01:57,370
still bright green and holding a lot of the moisture and that's why it's

1566
02:01:57,370 --> 02:01:58,590
causing a maintenance issue.

1567
02:01:59,150 --> 02:01:59,990
So it may not be often,

1568
02:02:00,110 --> 02:02:02,450
but it does cause a long-term problem

1569
02:02:02,450 --> 02:02:03,550
and it happens often enough.

1570
02:02:04,550 --> 02:02:07,050
I don't know that the regulation is happening

1571
02:02:07,550 --> 02:02:09,030
at the rate that you would expect,

1572
02:02:10,770 --> 02:02:12,090
but I don't know how I haven't seen

1573
02:02:12,090 --> 02:02:13,390
what would be that calculated.

1574
02:02:16,790 --> 02:02:18,570
On the permit, when you guys first applied

1575
02:02:18,570 --> 02:02:21,530
the discharge route with both of the oasis,

1576
02:02:21,730 --> 02:02:25,770
RV park, was there an amendment to that discharge route?

1577
02:02:25,770 --> 02:02:30,810
or you guys just discharged alternatively not according to the permit?

1578
02:02:31,270 --> 02:02:38,890
So the original permit was done by a different engineering firm, so I'm not sure what they did

1579
02:02:38,890 --> 02:02:46,170
when they filed the first permit, but if you look at the EPA water, it shows the path going

1580
02:02:46,170 --> 02:02:50,890
across that direction. That's not the way it goes because there's a barge there now.

1581
02:02:52,490 --> 02:02:55,470
So it actually discharges down the right way.

1582
02:02:56,210 --> 02:02:56,850
So was there a right way?

1583
02:02:56,850 --> 02:02:58,430
It was an amendment and it was republished.

1584
02:02:59,010 --> 02:03:02,510
Yes, it's all been republished to notify of the correct route.

1585
02:03:02,730 --> 02:03:04,270
So that route is now the route?

1586
02:03:04,430 --> 02:03:04,630
Yes.

1587
02:03:07,010 --> 02:03:09,150
And then we talked a lot about options.

1588
02:03:09,350 --> 02:03:12,430
A lot of people have questions about options and kind of want to go over some of them

1589
02:03:12,430 --> 02:03:13,990
just so they know what's available.

1590
02:03:14,550 --> 02:03:20,530
I do agree that, you know, wastewater discharges is a common method of discharging the treated

1591
02:03:20,530 --> 02:03:20,970
effluent.

1592
02:03:22,110 --> 02:03:26,190
Here in the Panhandle, we have a whole lot of land applications, so it's not as common

1593
02:03:26,190 --> 02:03:31,550
here as it is in other places, but it's a legitimate way of distressing wastewater.

1594
02:03:35,110 --> 02:03:41,750
If you guys have the ability to get more land, if you do more storage and land application

1595
02:03:42,370 --> 02:03:47,650
and just irrigate and keep it all on one site, then do you have the option to lease

1596
02:03:47,650 --> 02:03:51,530
the land to do that, like a long-term lease to irrigate the neighboring property.

1597
02:03:51,990 --> 02:03:56,630
I don't know if that's a question I'm sure people can look at, I'm sure.

1598
02:03:57,590 --> 02:03:59,610
You've been mentioned by Kevin Nicol, then.

1599
02:03:59,870 --> 02:04:04,730
Yes, I don't know if that's being considered, or just having a storage bond that'll allow

1600
02:04:04,730 --> 02:04:10,190
to hold and irrigate or continues.

1601
02:04:10,610 --> 02:04:13,750
There is not enough area for a storage bond. I mean, we cannot.

1602
02:04:13,750 --> 02:04:17,510
I mean, yeah, that's made it a choir, so you'd have to acquire land.

1603
02:04:17,610 --> 02:04:20,030
A lot of this continued on acquiring more property.

1604
02:04:20,350 --> 02:04:21,670
Because there's those well setbacks.

1605
02:04:22,150 --> 02:04:24,870
There's a 500 foot cell by setback for the RV level.

1606
02:04:25,670 --> 02:04:28,910
There's a little time that we'd make an alteration to the plan,

1607
02:04:29,150 --> 02:04:34,200
or that it would have to go to the DCEQ, and that's typical of it.

1608
02:04:34,380 --> 02:04:38,760
So, what about pumping the wastewater to the city

1609
02:04:38,760 --> 02:04:41,780
and discharging it to the city of Amarillo's wastewater?

1610
02:04:42,780 --> 02:04:51,760
Like we mentioned earlier, it's several miles away as far as, you know, it's 34th and helium

1611
02:04:53,040 --> 02:04:53,320
now.

1612
02:04:54,220 --> 02:04:55,120
We'll see.

1613
02:04:56,100 --> 02:04:59,940
There's an animal out there a couple miles away from the bushel and it's trying to get

1614
02:05:00,060 --> 02:05:04,240
You're talking about the sewer main for the bushel and elementary school?

1615
02:05:04,460 --> 02:05:04,660
Yeah.

1616
02:05:05,100 --> 02:05:11,280
Well, that runs down the north side of 34th from bushel and road and then it gets

1617
02:05:11,280 --> 02:05:17,720
the helium and then it turns and goes south and it ties into the city's sewer main on 58th which

1618
02:05:17,720 --> 02:05:25,780
would be hillside and either side of your hillside over there. I know this is just a rough in your

1619
02:05:25,780 --> 02:05:35,220
mind but what would be the distance between that line and the love's convenience store that

1620
02:05:38,480 --> 02:05:44,520
we're

1621
02:05:46,730 --> 02:06:00,570
What about acquiring property rights to, say, that Playa Lake, or not property rights, but permission to discharge there directly and pumping it to them so that you don't have any float in the portage?

1622
02:06:00,690 --> 02:06:01,410
It's a possibility.

1623
02:06:02,330 --> 02:06:07,070
For example, I'm just going to go through the option that's feasible or not, just so that there's options.

1624
02:06:17,350 --> 02:06:21,790
That's it for right now. I'm just trying to get an idea of how the plan operates.

1625
02:06:23,310 --> 02:06:27,110
We'd love to discharge more on-site. It's just those well-set backs, or, you know,

1626
02:06:27,270 --> 02:06:28,150
they've got most of the property.

1627
02:06:29,270 --> 02:06:37,190
So, it appears from his questions, is there a possibility Randall County's engineer can get a complete engineering plan for the facility?

1628
02:06:37,770 --> 02:06:43,790
That way, if he has any further questions, he can contact you directly, get a synopsis of any concerns that he has,

1629
02:06:43,790 --> 02:06:51,850
and be able to brief the court with whatever your opinion is once you've given it a thorough review.

1630
02:06:52,530 --> 02:06:52,970
Okay.

1631
02:06:53,210 --> 02:06:55,710
So there's a summary transmission that was prepared with plans.

1632
02:06:56,770 --> 02:06:58,950
And so I can provide that to you.

1633
02:06:59,650 --> 02:07:02,710
One question about the setbacks from the property that came up earlier.

1634
02:07:03,210 --> 02:07:07,230
There is a courier contacting that's shown on the plan,

1635
02:07:07,290 --> 02:07:09,150
and we're going to have to move that so it's not going to be too late.

1636
02:07:09,230 --> 02:07:11,270
So there are some things that are going to shift a little bit.

1637
02:07:11,270 --> 02:07:17,190
And the existing plan is within that 158, I don't know if it's grandfathered yet, or?

1638
02:07:17,810 --> 02:07:21,350
I think that applies to treatment units only, so it's not an actual treatment unit.

1639
02:07:23,100 --> 02:07:23,900
Brain contacting?

1640
02:07:24,180 --> 02:07:25,020
Corn contact will be.

1641
02:07:25,620 --> 02:07:27,920
But other headworks or screen may not, so.

1642
02:07:28,360 --> 02:07:33,680
Right, so if you're looking at that plan, just know that there's some things that are going to have to shift around the corner.

1643
02:07:34,240 --> 02:07:36,360
Okay, and so we need to keep this going.

1644
02:07:36,540 --> 02:07:39,140
We've got to get to some guests that are here as well.

1645
02:07:39,140 --> 02:07:45,200
Well, Tim, would you have any concerns that haven't been stated at this time or let us

1646
02:07:45,200 --> 02:07:48,200
do a little more investigation and then we'll have additional insight?

1647
02:07:48,600 --> 02:07:56,920
I think Commissioner Benton and myself met with a TCEQ representative back in 2017, mentioned

1648
02:08:01,050 --> 02:08:04,630
that how much water was going to be going down and we might not be able to mow it,

1649
02:08:04,750 --> 02:08:05,990
might not be able to keep it plated.

1650
02:08:05,990 --> 02:08:15,010
it is a paved road now, then it wasn't a paved road, but the barges are paved about maybe,

1651
02:08:15,230 --> 02:08:22,630
you know, contrary trickle channels that we just got told that it was a water county was

1652
02:08:22,630 --> 02:08:28,610
approved and basically that's all I've really had any contact with them as far as them

1653
02:08:28,610 --> 02:08:33,650
contacting the road bridge department in Randall County and asking us if we had any

1654
02:08:33,650 --> 02:08:40,570
issues I've never been contacted that way that I'm aware of or we would because if

1655
02:08:40,570 --> 02:08:45,050
they go over there 15,000 gallon which now they're gonna I don't guess you're

1656
02:08:45,050 --> 02:08:52,230
gonna double it but you are going to increase it a third you know in the

1657
02:08:52,230 --> 02:08:54,950
summertime that's when we do most of our mowing and if it's wet we can't get

1658
02:08:54,950 --> 02:08:59,270
in we have to leave it we just have to go on most somewhere else so the weeds

1659
02:08:59,270 --> 02:09:02,890
might get pretty tall over there from time to time and I guess you said

1660
02:09:02,890 --> 02:09:08,350
you've been mowing that over there so there if you know if we come by that's

1661
02:09:08,350 --> 02:09:11,910
why I didn't know if like a concrete trickle channel might be able to kind of

1662
02:09:11,910 --> 02:09:16,130
keep it going on down where it wouldn't be so wet where we could mow it but you

1663
02:09:16,130 --> 02:09:21,610
know the misuse never got addressed to anybody basically. Are you saying that you

1664
02:09:21,610 --> 02:09:25,010
didn't get any information about the climbing? We just were told down that

1665
02:09:25,010 --> 02:09:31,850
But I mean, you see, you see, you approve the permit and dealt with part of county.

1666
02:09:32,530 --> 02:09:34,650
That was in fact, that's what we got told that day.

1667
02:09:35,090 --> 02:09:37,450
We contacted the region one office about that.

1668
02:09:37,590 --> 02:09:38,410
That's what they told us.

1669
02:09:39,230 --> 02:09:40,310
So we got that.

1670
02:09:41,170 --> 02:09:43,390
We had a conversation with Mr. Gore.

1671
02:09:44,790 --> 02:09:46,250
We submitted him with this.

1672
02:09:46,770 --> 02:09:47,490
Kelly from my office.

1673
02:09:47,570 --> 02:09:48,050
Yes, yes.

1674
02:09:48,250 --> 02:09:51,890
So she submitted some information to you that was going to be submitted to the road bridge.

1675
02:09:52,670 --> 02:09:53,690
Two separate issues.

1676
02:09:53,690 --> 02:10:00,750
So I think that I think he's addressing 2017 and you're talking about current current situations. Yeah, we never I mean

1677
02:10:02,110 --> 02:10:06,470
I've never really dressing thing with anybody from loves or tcq since then on

1678
02:10:06,470 --> 02:10:10,210
On that permit. He was just it was permitted that was in though. So I

1679
02:10:14,850 --> 02:10:20,370
Think Richard said one that this meeting was going to take place. So I think that's where we're just gonna talk about it here

1680
02:10:31,270 --> 02:10:36,730
Yeah, and Amethyst contacted me and the information she sent has been included in the packet that

1681
02:10:36,730 --> 02:10:38,170
went to the Commissioner's Court today.

1682
02:10:38,550 --> 02:10:40,050
Tim has a copy, I think.

1683
02:10:40,190 --> 02:10:41,650
Adolfo, did you get that as well?

1684
02:10:43,370 --> 02:10:44,070
All right.

1685
02:10:44,650 --> 02:10:45,730
I appreciate everybody.

1686
02:10:45,730 --> 02:10:49,910
We will keep doing our new diligence if you'll get that engineering to him.

1687
02:10:50,110 --> 02:10:53,810
We'll be able to review it and you'll be able to give us a report.

1688
02:10:53,970 --> 02:10:55,030
The questioner's court hopefully.

1689
02:10:55,730 --> 02:10:59,510
So what your findings are and your recommendations, same with you, Tim.

1690
02:11:00,010 --> 02:11:01,990
I appreciate both of you being here.

1691
02:11:03,370 --> 02:11:04,030
Thank you.

1692
02:11:05,630 --> 02:11:06,150
All right.

1693
02:11:07,010 --> 02:11:09,690
You will see that item number three says a closed session.

1694
02:11:10,170 --> 02:11:11,290
We're going to move that.

1695
02:11:11,290 --> 02:11:18,150
We have people here that have spent a long time waiting to be able to come up and talk to us.

1696
02:11:18,830 --> 02:11:21,970
So item three will be a move to the end of the commissioner's court.

1697
02:11:22,170 --> 02:11:24,550
There's no action item you'll see on it after that.

1698
02:11:25,350 --> 02:11:28,170
And we will follow up with item number four.

1699
02:11:28,670 --> 02:11:32,410
The presentation acceptance of the annual comprehensive financial report for the year

1700
02:11:32,410 --> 02:11:36,750
ending, September 30th, 2023, by the independent audit firm of Dosha Pickens in

1701
02:11:36,750 --> 02:11:43,190
Francis. I want to welcome our guests and if anybody can make math exciting at

1702
02:11:43,190 --> 02:11:43,330
you.

1703
02:11:45,760 --> 02:11:48,740
Well thank you for that George. I've actually been told I didn't quite hit

1704
02:11:48,740 --> 02:11:53,660
Southwest flight attendant status on my humor so I've been told I didn't work on it.

1705
02:11:54,380 --> 02:12:00,040
Maybe if you sing it. You definitely don't know that. Raymondet told me that you

1706
02:12:00,040 --> 02:12:03,240
all received your booklets last week so maybe you've done the required reading.

1707
02:12:03,580 --> 02:12:06,820
I'll help with everything else you've been reviewing this weekend. Well you

1708
02:12:06,820 --> 02:12:08,020
to give me about two more weeks,

1709
02:12:08,180 --> 02:12:10,240
and I think I could absorb most of it.

1710
02:12:10,580 --> 02:12:14,060
I understand exactly that, it's a busy time.

1711
02:12:15,160 --> 02:12:17,260
So, for the record, my name is John Maris.

1712
02:12:17,360 --> 02:12:19,800
I'm the Auditor General of the Association of San Francisco

1713
02:12:19,800 --> 02:12:20,740
for a lot of years.

1714
02:12:20,880 --> 02:12:22,540
Before I begin, I do want to thank this board

1715
02:12:22,920 --> 02:12:24,600
for allowing us to once again come down

1716
02:12:24,600 --> 02:12:26,640
and serve Randall County in that capacity.

1717
02:12:27,260 --> 02:12:30,000
I believe our 20th year should be next year,

1718
02:12:30,040 --> 02:12:31,560
so am I going to get a certificate as well?

1719
02:12:31,820 --> 02:12:34,420
You are, it may be even a gold star.

1720
02:12:35,780 --> 02:12:39,420
But no, in all seriousness, I really do appreciate the fact that we'll continue to

1721
02:12:39,420 --> 02:12:43,500
trust us with that responsibility and coming to work with your auditor's office

1722
02:12:43,500 --> 02:12:46,360
and with all your officials and truaries of letters.

1723
02:12:46,940 --> 02:12:51,600
You have a commitment to really not stress that enough.

1724
02:12:51,880 --> 02:12:54,040
So without further ado, you've had a long morning.

1725
02:12:54,240 --> 02:12:56,860
I'm going to try very hard not to make it any longer.

1726
02:12:57,540 --> 02:12:58,920
So let's go ahead and dive into this.

1727
02:12:59,100 --> 02:13:00,920
Page number one is our initiative auditor support.

1728
02:13:01,360 --> 02:13:03,980
This has not changed significantly from the previous year.

1729
02:13:03,980 --> 02:13:08,940
So, I'm just going to hit kind of the highlights for you at the top of the page, it gives you

1730
02:13:08,940 --> 02:13:10,720
our opinions, what you've engaged us for.

1731
02:13:10,860 --> 02:13:16,360
That second paragraph is actually the statements and our opinion, the financial statements

1732
02:13:16,360 --> 02:13:18,780
are both particularly in all material respects.

1733
02:13:19,340 --> 02:13:22,060
With respect to financial position of the governmental activities, the business type

1734
02:13:22,060 --> 02:13:25,760
activities, the discreetly presented components unit, these major fund and the accurate

1735
02:13:25,760 --> 02:13:30,440
remaining fund information of Randall County, Texas as of and for the year until September 30th, 2023.

1736
02:13:30,440 --> 02:13:35,060
As to claims to being we can give, as I've already stated, your auditor's office is doing

1737
02:13:35,060 --> 02:13:41,580
a fantastic job at making sure all the information presented to you on a monthly basis is accurate

1738
02:13:41,580 --> 02:13:45,560
and as complete as possible for you to be able to make informed decisions.

1739
02:13:46,200 --> 02:13:52,380
We have a fantastic working relationship with them and truly stepped up and is doing

1740
02:13:53,200 --> 02:13:54,360
wonderful work for you.

1741
02:13:55,160 --> 02:13:58,520
The basis for opinions just tells you the standards that we use to conduct our

1742
02:13:58,520 --> 02:13:58,800
audit.

1743
02:13:58,800 --> 02:14:02,940
But the responsibility of management, this is Ray Burnett's favorite section because

1744
02:14:02,940 --> 02:14:08,220
it finally puts her on the list, but it does talk about that the management of the accounting

1745
02:14:08,220 --> 02:14:12,300
is responsible for the preparation of fair presentation of financial statements in accordance

1746
02:14:12,300 --> 02:14:16,140
with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, including

1747
02:14:16,140 --> 02:14:18,520
the design and implementation of control control to ensure

1748
02:14:21,500 --> 02:14:22,600
that what that translates to in

1749
02:14:22,600 --> 02:14:26,680
English is that these first three pages are mine, ideally the rest of this book

1750
02:14:26,680 --> 02:14:27,600
is supposed to be hers.

1751
02:14:28,100 --> 02:14:32,100
With the GAO, the Government Accountability Office, the lovely folks in DC who won't

1752
02:14:32,100 --> 02:14:36,560
leave me alone. Our pushing for is that they want every governmental entity to

1753
02:14:36,560 --> 02:14:41,280
have somebody, ideally somebody on staff, with these skills, knowledge and

1754
02:14:41,280 --> 02:14:46,060
experience to be able to prepare this booklet cover to cover. Alternatively, you

1755
02:14:46,060 --> 02:14:48,340
have two firms. One to come in and do the financial student

1756
02:14:48,340 --> 02:14:52,860
preparation. One to come in and do the audit. That's not really economically

1757
02:14:54,800 --> 02:14:59,960
Now your auditor has the required experience you can do for an auditor.

1758
02:15:00,000 --> 02:15:07,120
A lot of years now. So she could actually probably get you most of the way, if not all the way there.

1759
02:15:07,260 --> 02:15:12,260
So you are in a position, you're in a better position than most of the counties in the panhandle.

1760
02:15:12,760 --> 02:15:19,220
But that is kind of the direction where they're heading is they want us to back off from preparing your financial statements on your behalf.

1761
02:15:20,500 --> 02:15:23,220
They've been talking about this for about 15 years.

1762
02:15:23,220 --> 02:15:27,860
So my prayer every night is that they'll keep talking for the next 18,000 hours.

1763
02:15:28,200 --> 02:15:32,560
Well, I was supposed to be a joke and I got over the action.

1764
02:15:32,920 --> 02:15:33,800
Well, no, I was laughing.

1765
02:15:35,640 --> 02:15:39,520
That is the darkest news of the morning, but that is what's out there and what's on the horizon.

1766
02:15:39,780 --> 02:15:46,180
It's that shift someday will come where your independent auditors will not be able to assist you in preparing your financial statements.

1767
02:15:46,640 --> 02:15:51,240
As I stated, I really pray every night that it's not going to be four years down the road.

1768
02:15:51,240 --> 02:15:56,640
So we have time to figure out what plan B is, but that is on the horizon.

1769
02:15:57,520 --> 02:16:02,940
The author's responsibility just points out exactly what we are taking responsibility for versus what we are not.

1770
02:16:03,260 --> 02:16:06,480
And then the rest of the paragraphs we're actually going to cover as we go through the book.

1771
02:16:07,560 --> 02:16:12,400
Starting on page four is the management's discussion and analysis report.

1772
02:16:12,560 --> 02:16:16,320
I'm not going to go over this in any detail, but this is the report written by Ravenette.

1773
02:16:16,680 --> 02:16:20,100
And what it is is actually a good snapshot.

1774
02:16:20,100 --> 02:16:24,720
It's about a 13 page letter, that is a snapshot of everything that's going on in here.

1775
02:16:24,860 --> 02:16:30,800
So if you read nothing else, if you just read these 13 pages, you'll have a solid working

1776
02:16:30,800 --> 02:16:32,600
understanding of the next 150.

1777
02:16:33,660 --> 02:16:39,320
So if you want a, like I said, a quick little snapshot, that's a great place to go and pick

1778
02:16:39,320 --> 02:16:39,880
that up from.

1779
02:16:40,480 --> 02:16:44,620
Alternatively, you can read the entire book and use it as a sleep aid if you needed

1780
02:16:44,620 --> 02:16:44,820
to.

1781
02:16:46,140 --> 02:16:48,060
So, DSS out of the way, let's talk numbers.

1782
02:16:48,340 --> 02:16:49,760
Flipping all the way over to page 18.

1783
02:16:50,780 --> 02:16:53,960
This is the county prison of deposition, Urimalachi.

1784
02:16:54,420 --> 02:16:55,820
All of the funds that we're counting

1785
02:16:55,820 --> 02:16:58,820
are being aggregated together into a singular unit.

1786
02:16:59,220 --> 02:17:00,820
We'll have the governmental activities there

1787
02:17:00,820 --> 02:17:01,760
on the left-hand column.

1788
02:17:01,940 --> 02:17:04,580
The component unit is the assistance district

1789
02:17:04,580 --> 02:17:05,760
on the right-hand column.

1790
02:17:06,420 --> 02:17:08,200
As far as your financial condition,

1791
02:17:09,040 --> 02:17:10,160
up at the top of page 18,

1792
02:17:10,460 --> 02:17:12,420
you finished your cash and cash equivalence

1793
02:17:12,420 --> 02:17:13,820
of a little over $28 million.

1794
02:17:13,820 --> 02:17:20,840
dollars and investments of $39.5 million. Those investments are certificates of deposits

1795
02:17:20,840 --> 02:17:28,040
and other investment accounts that you have in hand. Combine your cash and investment

1796
02:17:28,040 --> 02:17:33,060
position in 2.2 million dollars. You took some of your liquid cash and moved it down

1797
02:17:33,060 --> 02:17:36,940
to those investments, so there is a bit of a fluctuation there, but in total your

1798
02:17:36,940 --> 02:17:41,940
cash position is 2.2 million dollars. Receive your assets today for the most

1799
02:17:41,940 --> 02:17:47,040
part pretty consistent year over year. Moving over to page 19, the liabilities right in the

1800
02:17:47,040 --> 02:17:51,440
middle of the page. You should see your net pension liability. We've talked for a number of years

1801
02:17:51,440 --> 02:17:59,360
about the TCDRS plan and how it fluctuates from year to year. So that $11,556,000 pension liability,

1802
02:17:59,660 --> 02:18:06,680
that is up $20 million over last year. You can tell it's been that kind of a morning.

1803
02:18:08,080 --> 02:18:14,180
PCDRS had not the best year in the market in their 2022 valuation year, so that's why

1804
02:18:14,180 --> 02:18:17,900
all these plans across the panhandle have flipped over from being a NASA to a

1805
02:18:17,900 --> 02:18:22,260
back to a liability. They are still reporting you at 88.0%

1806
02:18:22,260 --> 02:18:26,080
funded though, which is exactly where you were in 2022, which is a strong

1807
02:18:26,080 --> 02:18:29,700
funding percentage. From what we're hearing out of Austin, anything

1808
02:18:29,700 --> 02:18:32,700
above 85 and they're generally happy with, that's kind of their

1809
02:18:32,700 --> 02:18:37,240
per render. You drop below that 85% and will either start tweaking your

1810
02:18:37,240 --> 02:18:40,920
contribution rate or they might come and ask for a lump sum payment to get you

1811
02:18:40,920 --> 02:18:45,420
back up to there. But Randall County has historically been in that 88 to 90%

1812
02:18:45,420 --> 02:18:49,820
range so your plan is fairly stable as far as what you're contributing in

1813
02:18:49,820 --> 02:18:53,580
what you're doing to take care of your employees. At the bottom of the page you

1814
02:18:53,580 --> 02:18:58,940
will see the unrestricted net position of 36,775,000. If the guy were to take

1815
02:18:58,940 --> 02:19:02,800
take all of your assets, convert them to cash, pay up all your obligations, it's what

1816
02:19:02,800 --> 02:19:03,700
you'd be left over with.

1817
02:19:03,740 --> 02:19:07,780
It's your equity, your fund balance, and that is up to $12.5 million a year.

1818
02:19:08,760 --> 02:19:12,380
So your financial position is improving tremendously.

1819
02:19:13,020 --> 02:19:17,480
You reduce your liabilities somewhat, you've increased your assets, everything is working

1820
02:19:17,480 --> 02:19:18,720
the way you would expect it to.

1821
02:19:19,420 --> 02:19:22,660
Arrange your current ratio, the county's ability to pay off the obligations that

1822
02:19:22,660 --> 02:19:25,660
are due to payable this year, which is only the cash or receipts that you have

1823
02:19:25,660 --> 02:19:26,000
on hand.

1824
02:19:26,420 --> 02:19:27,800
You can pay those off six times over.

1825
02:19:27,800 --> 02:19:30,460
That is up from last year where it was a 5 to 1 ratio.

1826
02:19:31,260 --> 02:19:34,940
So, as I said, your financial position is continuing to stay strong,

1827
02:19:35,040 --> 02:19:36,520
and in some cases, people are free.

1828
02:19:38,100 --> 02:19:42,020
Page 20 is the Statement of Activities to refresh your memories on how this reads,

1829
02:19:42,100 --> 02:19:43,680
because you probably haven't seen it in a year.

1830
02:19:45,060 --> 02:19:45,620
Good job.

1831
02:19:46,200 --> 02:19:47,460
You're all very stoic this morning.

1832
02:19:48,140 --> 02:19:49,140
It's been a long morning.

1833
02:19:49,260 --> 02:19:50,200
It's been a long morning.

1834
02:19:50,980 --> 02:19:54,740
The top left-hand corner, the expensive accounting broke down by what we call functional area.

1835
02:19:54,740 --> 02:19:58,460
Moving across the top of the page, you have any direct charges for services in the operating

1836
02:19:58,460 --> 02:20:02,440
or capital grants that we receive, coming into what it truly costs to provide those functions

1837
02:20:02,440 --> 02:20:07,200
to your citizens, and then down that right-hand column you have your property taxes, sales

1838
02:20:07,200 --> 02:20:13,000
tax, interest earnings, things of that nature that are not program-specific, coming down

1839
02:20:13,000 --> 02:20:16,040
to your changing net position or in business terms net income for the new.

1840
02:20:17,060 --> 02:20:21,560
As far as your expenses are concerned, even if you're at $77 million of expense,

1841
02:20:21,560 --> 02:20:26,740
That is up about $12 million or a little under 19% from last year.

1842
02:20:27,260 --> 02:20:33,440
Most of those changes, $1.7 million for sitting in the administrative land item, and that's

1843
02:20:33,440 --> 02:20:34,180
ARPA expenditures.

1844
02:20:34,580 --> 02:20:38,340
You spent $1.5 million of your ARPA grant this year, that's where those are all being

1845
02:20:38,340 --> 02:20:38,680
reported.

1846
02:20:39,000 --> 02:20:39,340
So that's that.

1847
02:20:40,040 --> 02:20:44,620
The judicial land item, $10 million there is up $1.6 million.

1848
02:20:45,160 --> 02:20:48,160
That's the funding of the appointed JP Board position.

1849
02:20:48,160 --> 02:20:51,240
Those charges were totaled $243,000.

1850
02:20:51,920 --> 02:20:54,120
Court appointed attorney for felony expenses

1851
02:20:54,120 --> 02:20:56,220
were up about $315,000.

1852
02:20:57,020 --> 02:20:59,780
And then we talked about the change in your retirement plan,

1853
02:20:59,900 --> 02:21:02,580
that $20 million change that flushed through

1854
02:21:02,920 --> 02:21:04,560
not all $20 million of it,

1855
02:21:04,640 --> 02:21:07,220
but a fair chunk flushed through into your income statement.

1856
02:21:07,620 --> 02:21:10,280
So that the change in the retirement obligations

1857
02:21:10,280 --> 02:21:14,360
in the judicial line item accounted for $697,000.

1858
02:21:14,560 --> 02:21:16,780
So that's a noncash increase in your expenses.

1859
02:21:16,780 --> 02:21:22,500
The other big change is in public safety, at $41 million, that's up $7 million a year

1860
02:21:22,500 --> 02:21:22,920
over here.

1861
02:21:24,100 --> 02:21:29,340
That's salaries in multiple departments, increasing by $729,000.

1862
02:21:30,160 --> 02:21:36,720
Again, the change in that retirement obligation is increased by $2.6 million, and then depreciation

1863
02:21:36,720 --> 02:21:41,540
in public safety is up by $1.5 million, and we'll talk more about depreciation expense

1864
02:21:41,540 --> 02:21:43,400
and why that's up so much in just a moment.

1865
02:21:43,400 --> 02:21:46,340
But those last two items are in non-cash changes.

1866
02:21:46,880 --> 02:21:50,240
So a significant portion of your increased expenses are not cash related.

1867
02:21:51,240 --> 02:21:53,260
Your revenue stays pretty consistent.

1868
02:21:53,600 --> 02:21:57,340
Your grants are down about $17 billion combined.

1869
02:21:57,940 --> 02:21:58,940
The biggest chunk of that is ARCA.

1870
02:21:59,160 --> 02:22:02,740
You received your second ARCA payment last year and a little over $14 million.

1871
02:22:03,140 --> 02:22:04,780
You, of course, didn't receive that again this year.

1872
02:22:05,100 --> 02:22:06,540
Not sure that decreases that growth.

1873
02:22:07,460 --> 02:22:12,000
Property taxes in total are up $4.5 million or 8.8%.

1874
02:22:12,000 --> 02:22:17,240
What caused that is you received the valuation increase from the CAD of 15.84%.

1875
02:22:17,640 --> 02:22:23,920
You offset that by reducing your tax rate by 2.71% and that generated the exact 8.8%

1876
02:22:23,920 --> 02:22:25,160
increase in revenue that you saw.

1877
02:22:25,780 --> 02:22:29,480
So you were able to take advantage of the increased valuations by dropping your rate

1878
02:22:29,480 --> 02:22:31,880
and still generating some additional rate for yourself.

1879
02:22:33,260 --> 02:22:35,320
Page 21 starts the unknown presentation.

1880
02:22:35,940 --> 02:22:38,780
This is more into what you used to see coming out of the auditor's office on a monthly

1881
02:22:38,780 --> 02:22:39,180
basis.

1882
02:22:39,180 --> 02:22:43,320
No real new information here, but I will point out that you will see each one of your major funds

1883
02:22:43,820 --> 02:22:46,900
by themselves. So it's a particular one that you are interested in.

1884
02:22:47,140 --> 02:22:51,100
And then the other governmental funds, all the non-major funds, the lovely one and two dollar

1885
02:22:51,100 --> 02:22:55,320
funds and fees that the clerks and the JPs are going to collect that they love ever so very much

1886
02:22:55,320 --> 02:22:58,920
is ignoring me. But that's where all that information

1887
02:22:58,920 --> 02:23:03,320
is. And then the even numbered page is 22 and 24 of the recommendations between

1888
02:23:03,320 --> 02:23:04,940
what we've already gone over from this one.

1889
02:23:07,060 --> 02:23:08,540
Page 25 through

1890
02:23:09,540 --> 02:23:14,100
27 is the health insurance fund, the proprietary fund that the county has.

1891
02:23:15,880 --> 02:23:19,620
Again, nothing really new or different going on here.

1892
02:23:19,800 --> 02:23:21,640
Everything is working out the way you would expect it to.

1893
02:23:25,320 --> 02:23:27,380
Page 30, first, the notes to the financials.

1894
02:23:27,440 --> 02:23:29,380
I've already made my joke about this being a sleep page,

1895
02:23:29,460 --> 02:23:31,100
but this really will do it for you.

1896
02:23:31,540 --> 02:23:33,500
So the ones that are going to be of the most interest to you

1897
02:23:33,500 --> 02:23:37,820
start on all the way back on page 45, note number seven.

1898
02:23:37,820 --> 02:23:38,520
This

1899
02:23:42,620 --> 02:23:45,760
is the graph for representation of your change and fixed assets for the year.

1900
02:23:46,180 --> 02:23:49,660
I'm going to point out a couple of line items and then discuss them a little further.

1901
02:23:50,140 --> 02:23:54,700
We will see the second line down construction of process, even if you're at $13.2 million

1902
02:23:54,700 --> 02:23:55,560
of CIP.

1903
02:23:56,060 --> 02:24:00,120
Just keep that number in mind for just one second, but come down a handful of lines

1904
02:24:00,120 --> 02:24:03,220
below that and you'll see a new item subscription asset.

1905
02:24:03,820 --> 02:24:07,220
There was a new governmental accounting standards board, a standard that went

1906
02:24:07,220 --> 02:24:08,120
into it right this year.

1907
02:24:08,900 --> 02:24:12,640
Last year, we talked about the fact that there's no such thing as an operating lease anymore.

1908
02:24:12,760 --> 02:24:16,460
Anytime you have a long-term commitment for equipment, property, whatever it may be,

1909
02:24:16,860 --> 02:24:19,940
you have a capital asset and corresponding debt.

1910
02:24:20,420 --> 02:24:23,900
This year, they decided to do the same thing with long-term commitments related to

1911
02:24:23,900 --> 02:24:26,180
subscription-based information technology agreements.

1912
02:24:26,680 --> 02:24:31,240
Anytime any one of your officials licenses the use of a software system now,

1913
02:24:31,700 --> 02:24:33,340
that's what the subscription asset is.

1914
02:24:33,340 --> 02:24:39,000
So that has to be valued. You have a corresponding asset and corresponding debt that goes on to the books.

1915
02:24:39,820 --> 02:24:45,320
This item right here is why the appreciation expense in the Sheriff's Department went up so much,

1916
02:24:45,540 --> 02:24:49,600
because he has multiple softwares that we require to use.

1917
02:24:50,240 --> 02:24:55,600
So we have to put those on the books and then, correspondingly, depreciate them out over the life of the debt.

1918
02:24:56,060 --> 02:24:57,340
Sorry, I'm sorry, over the life of the asset.

1919
02:24:58,580 --> 02:25:01,520
Going back to the CIP, we'll just flip the page to 46.

1920
02:25:03,510 --> 02:25:08,490
The second to last paragraph on that page is a description of all the construction projects

1921
02:25:08,490 --> 02:25:09,490
that you have going.

1922
02:25:09,650 --> 02:25:14,670
I think here how much you have spent on each one of them just so you can see exactly what's

1923
02:25:14,670 --> 02:25:15,210
going on.

1924
02:25:15,470 --> 02:25:20,490
We have a lot of projects going on, $13 million worth, but that's where all that information

1925
02:25:20,490 --> 02:25:20,930
is.

1926
02:25:21,730 --> 02:25:23,550
We've talked about the lease income in the past.

1927
02:25:23,810 --> 02:25:25,530
We were just talking about the lease standards.

1928
02:25:25,790 --> 02:25:26,950
This is on the receiving end.

1929
02:25:27,390 --> 02:25:31,170
You have leased out your property, specifically the communication towers, the right to

1930
02:25:31,170 --> 02:25:36,210
those communication towers so you can see over the next 28 years over on page 47

1931
02:25:36,210 --> 02:25:39,730
there what the county is expected to receive back on those lease

1932
02:25:39,730 --> 02:25:45,310
arrangements the principal and interest payments that you are entitled to note

1933
02:25:45,310 --> 02:25:48,050
number nine there talks about that subscription-based information

1934
02:25:48,050 --> 02:25:51,470
technology arrangement that we just talked about note number 10 starts the

1935
02:25:51,470 --> 02:25:56,670
discussion on your general obligation which flips us all the way to page 50

1936
02:26:03,450 --> 02:26:07,830
This presentation feels a little out of order, but it's mandated by the Fed again.

1937
02:26:08,250 --> 02:26:10,550
So we're actually going to start on 51, note number 11.

1938
02:26:11,810 --> 02:26:16,590
That's the graphical representation of where your long-term obligations changed during the year.

1939
02:26:16,910 --> 02:26:21,350
You can see where you began the year, the new bonds you took out along with full subscription liabilities,

1940
02:26:21,850 --> 02:26:24,690
and then any payments that were made coming into the ending balance,

1941
02:26:24,690 --> 02:26:30,570
And then flipping back, just moving your eyes to the left to page 50, that's what the county

1942
02:26:30,570 --> 02:26:35,030
has obligated itself for over the next 20 years, principle and interest, as far as getting

1943
02:26:35,030 --> 02:26:40,810
all of those bonds and that subscription liability, those subscription liabilities, pardon me,

1944
02:26:40,930 --> 02:26:43,890
paid off again over the next 20 years.

1945
02:26:44,810 --> 02:26:47,590
That's really the notes to the financials.

1946
02:26:48,070 --> 02:26:50,310
The retirement plan comes shortly after that.

1947
02:26:50,910 --> 02:27:00,530
It's good information, I do recommend you do through it, but I don't want to take up any more of your time as I said, this morning you've already had a very long morning, so we're going to skip over some of the stuff.

1948
02:27:01,430 --> 02:27:04,710
Page 72, the last one I'm going to talk about through the camera.

1949
02:27:06,170 --> 02:27:11,950
This is the 10-year trend on your TCBRS plan, and as I've done in the past, I really just

1950
02:27:11,950 --> 02:27:14,950
want to point out right in the middle of the page, the investment income that investment

1951
02:27:14,950 --> 02:27:20,830
expenses can let you see exactly how your plan is fluctuating year to year based on market

1952
02:27:20,830 --> 02:27:23,570
values or market fluctuations that are outside of your control.

1953
02:27:24,370 --> 02:27:29,210
They had a $9.5 million loss that they attributed to your plan this year, that's

1954
02:27:29,210 --> 02:27:31,810
what you're looking at from having that asset come into that line.

1955
02:27:35,670 --> 02:27:40,510
They guarantee you a certain rate of return, but they measure it over a long-term period.

1956
02:27:40,850 --> 02:27:44,730
Unfortunately, on year-by-year basis, we're going to have these peaks and valleys that

1957
02:27:44,730 --> 02:27:45,910
are causing this fluctuation.

1958
02:27:46,550 --> 02:27:51,890
That is one of the many reasons why I think this particular standard is not very well

1959
02:27:51,890 --> 02:27:52,130
written.

1960
02:27:52,910 --> 02:27:55,390
I have much more colorful language when I'm not being broadcast.

1961
02:27:55,390 --> 02:27:55,590
asked.

1962
02:27:57,930 --> 02:28:01,930
It's the awful standard but it's a knee-jerk reaction to municipalities

1963
02:28:01,930 --> 02:28:04,630
and I've told you this before but it's a knee-jerk reaction to municipalities

1964
02:28:04,630 --> 02:28:08,510
declaring bankruptcy because they can't fund the retirement plan any longer. That's

1965
02:28:08,510 --> 02:28:11,490
why the GFOA decided that they needed to have something on the books to let

1966
02:28:11,490 --> 02:28:16,930
everyone know what your funding status is. It's not well written but it is

1967
02:28:16,930 --> 02:28:21,170
what it is. As I've told you in the past though your plan is stable, you're

1968
02:28:21,170 --> 02:28:26,550
care of your employees, but you are the decision making body. If you ever want to discuss your

1969
02:28:26,550 --> 02:28:32,630
plan or have to make any inquiries into modifying it in any way, the best advice we can give you

1970
02:28:32,630 --> 02:28:37,090
is to get TCDRS to physically sit in this room and talk to you. That way they can tell you

1971
02:28:37,090 --> 02:28:43,030
what your funding status is at that moment. All of these numbers are based off of December 31st,

1972
02:28:43,110 --> 02:28:48,530
2022. They were stale dated before we even started the audit, so they are not a good

1973
02:28:48,530 --> 02:28:53,850
decision-making tool. It might be enough to start a conversation but it is not

1974
02:28:53,850 --> 02:28:58,810
something that you want to face any decisions off of. Okay stop rambling about

1975
02:28:58,810 --> 02:29:04,230
that. Starting on page 76 is the budgetary comparison schedule. The revenues

1976
02:29:04,230 --> 02:29:08,930
for the general fund are on 76 and 77 and then 78 start the budgetary

1977
02:29:08,930 --> 02:29:12,790
comparison for the expenses broken down by each one of your various

1978
02:29:12,790 --> 02:29:16,990
departments. So you can see how every official and every department head

1979
02:29:16,990 --> 02:29:21,390
handled the budget that they were provided. There is nothing to discuss here. Each one

1980
02:29:21,390 --> 02:29:25,590
of your officials handled their budgets expertly, either that or the auditor handled the budget

1981
02:29:25,590 --> 02:29:28,490
amendments expertly. I'll let them file over which one that is.

1982
02:29:30,390 --> 02:29:34,730
Then we just kind of move through all the major funds here so you can see how all the

1983
02:29:34,730 --> 02:29:40,090
budgets work. Starting on page 86 is the combining section on all the non-major

1984
02:29:40,090 --> 02:29:44,250
funds. This is not just large information. This is something that our firm put this

1985
02:29:45,130 --> 02:29:51,010
This way you can put your eyes on every single, actually I'm about to tell you a lie,

1986
02:29:51,350 --> 02:29:53,830
topologies on most of our counties.

1987
02:29:54,030 --> 02:29:59,090
This is not requiring information for Randall County getting the certificate of financial

1988
02:29:59,090 --> 02:29:59,810
reporting achievement.

1989
02:30:00,000 --> 02:30:04,700
It is actually required information, but this way you can still put your eyes on every single

1990
02:30:04,700 --> 02:30:08,860
fund of the county and see how each one of these funds are operating and how they're behaving.

1991
02:30:09,740 --> 02:30:14,080
They must create comparisons for each one of those funds. This is presented as well as

1992
02:30:14,080 --> 02:30:18,060
running on stage 94, angling through a significant portion of the interview.

1993
02:30:20,930 --> 02:30:22,390
That brings us to

1994
02:30:23,190 --> 02:30:24,150
page 122

1995
02:30:27,350 --> 02:30:33,550
and really 122 and 123 combined. What this is, it's a combined state fund,

1996
02:30:33,550 --> 02:30:38,650
your fiduciary funds, the funds that your officials are holding on behalf of others,

1997
02:30:39,210 --> 02:30:44,630
whether that be registry funds in the clerk's office or inmate trust funds in the sheriff's

1998
02:30:44,630 --> 02:30:50,290
office, things of that nature. One of the procedures that we perform is working very closely with

1999
02:30:50,290 --> 02:30:55,890
the office and the work that she does, I think she, her staff, you get all the credit

2000
02:30:55,890 --> 02:31:01,650
and probably all the blame as well. One of the procedures that they do is that they

2001
02:31:01,650 --> 02:31:05,930
They go into each one of your officials' offices on a regular basis and make sure they're in

2002
02:31:05,930 --> 02:31:07,570
college with their badge as they should be.

2003
02:31:08,030 --> 02:31:12,950
We also follow behind them and confirm the same information to make sure that your officials

2004
02:31:12,950 --> 02:31:16,130
know who all their funds are owed to at the end of the year and that they're keeping an

2005
02:31:16,130 --> 02:31:17,430
accurate account of those funds.

2006
02:31:17,950 --> 02:31:20,010
And to a T, your officials are doing a fantastic job.

2007
02:31:21,010 --> 02:31:25,270
Every time that there is – because we're all humans and we make errors – when

2008
02:31:25,270 --> 02:31:29,350
there is an error or a discrepancy noted, if they work from the auditor's office,

2009
02:31:29,350 --> 02:31:35,430
they work together very well to get that resolved and handle appropriately. We noted no material

2010
02:31:35,430 --> 02:31:42,630
issues this fiscal year and everything worked exactly as it was designed to. Page 123 shows

2011
02:31:42,630 --> 02:31:48,350
you exactly how much money flows through your official offices during the year so you can see

2012
02:31:48,350 --> 02:31:55,030
how busy they were and how many dollars they handled again but they all flowed out to where

2013
02:31:58,720 --> 02:32:02,380
and ladies and gentlemen that basically brings us to the end. I do want to point

2014
02:32:02,380 --> 02:32:08,280
out because I'm slightly odd but I think it's fascinating information. Pages 126

2015
02:32:08,280 --> 02:32:14,820
through 144 is called the statistical section and it's a tenure trend over how

2016
02:32:14,820 --> 02:32:19,420
the county had changed in various metrics whether it be the principal

2017
02:32:19,420 --> 02:32:25,160
taxpayers today compared to the number of employees or a piece of

2018
02:32:25,160 --> 02:32:30,440
equipment today compared to 10 years ago. It is interesting information to see how things

2019
02:32:30,440 --> 02:32:35,300
have progressed over the last 10 years. That is compiled all by the auditor's office, but

2020
02:32:35,300 --> 02:32:39,340
it is, I think it's fascinating reading and I do encourage you to go through and read that.

2021
02:32:39,920 --> 02:32:44,780
That brings us last but not least to page 144 and 145. This is our report on internal control

2022
02:32:44,780 --> 02:32:48,460
compliance with laws and regulations. You did not engage us to assess your internal

2023
02:32:48,460 --> 02:32:52,160
control structure. However, we are required as a matter of standard that if we note any

2024
02:32:52,160 --> 02:32:56,380
significant deficiencies in internal control or material non-compliance laws and regulations

2025
02:32:56,900 --> 02:32:59,680
that would bring us to your attention and I'm pleased to say that we've noted most

2026
02:32:59,680 --> 02:33:00,160
of the issues.

2027
02:33:00,840 --> 02:33:04,380
As I've told you in the past, though, there is no such thing as a perfect control of

2028
02:33:04,380 --> 02:33:04,940
control structure.

2029
02:33:05,440 --> 02:33:09,300
You could throw your entire operating budget at it and not achieve it in the face of

2030
02:33:09,300 --> 02:33:09,840
human nature.

2031
02:33:10,460 --> 02:33:14,600
However, what we are saying is that with the policies, the personnel, the support

2032
02:33:14,600 --> 02:33:18,220
from the auditor's office that you have in place, we feel that should anything

2033
02:33:18,220 --> 02:33:22,580
material happen, we feel like it's going to be quite a fairly, fairly, kind of quickly

2034
02:33:23,160 --> 02:33:23,520
happen.

2035
02:33:24,640 --> 02:33:26,140
I was like, I forgot how to speak there for a moment.

2036
02:33:26,280 --> 02:33:26,960
I apologize for that.

2037
02:33:27,860 --> 02:33:30,380
With that, like I said, I rushed through it.

2038
02:33:30,500 --> 02:33:31,880
I just tried to hit the highlights for you.

2039
02:33:31,980 --> 02:33:33,360
I didn't want to take up any more of your time.

2040
02:33:33,980 --> 02:33:36,580
Are there any questions or concerns that I can address for you?

2041
02:33:36,960 --> 02:33:38,080
We'll start with Commissioner Collins.

2042
02:33:39,380 --> 02:33:40,880
Thank you for all of this information.

2043
02:33:41,180 --> 02:33:44,640
And thanks for hitting the highlights and giving us some things to look at.

2044
02:33:44,880 --> 02:33:45,980
So appreciate it very much.

2045
02:33:45,980 --> 02:33:51,680
And thank you for confirming that we have an excellent auditors department and a great leader.

2046
02:33:52,040 --> 02:33:55,260
And my question for Ravenette is how in the world do you do this?

2047
02:33:58,020 --> 02:34:00,260
She files a tremendous amount of that information.

2048
02:34:00,800 --> 02:34:01,120
It's amazing.

2049
02:34:02,260 --> 02:34:04,460
And I do have to, I've done this before.

2050
02:34:05,600 --> 02:34:08,120
Karen used to do it and Ravenette has continued the trend.

2051
02:34:08,480 --> 02:34:14,320
But none of my other clients actually read the financial statements that we prepared for them cover to cover.

2052
02:34:14,320 --> 02:34:20,680
Her and Jamie and before Karen and Ribanette would read this book cover to

2053
02:34:20,680 --> 02:34:24,540
cover and tell me where I've missed periods or where I've got dollar-bounding

2054
02:34:24,540 --> 02:34:31,720
issues. They are extremely thorough and I relied tremendously upon their

2055
02:34:31,720 --> 02:34:35,260
review efforts to make sure that this is as complete and accurate as possible

2056
02:34:35,260 --> 02:34:41,440
not only for you but also for the GFOs who get the fewest review comments on

2057
02:34:41,440 --> 02:34:46,800
Randall County from the vets in any of the other counties that submit a comprehensive report to him.

2058
02:34:47,400 --> 02:34:51,480
So the work that she puts in is tremendous and very valuable.

2059
02:34:52,500 --> 02:34:53,780
Excellent. Thank you.

2060
02:34:55,740 --> 02:34:58,340
The financial condition that Brandon can use is strong.

2061
02:35:02,540 --> 02:35:07,400
We do want to appreciate that. I would like to extend our appreciation to you personally and then

2062
02:35:07,400 --> 02:35:14,280
to the company in general, 20 years, 19 years. It's been a great relationship. You guys come

2063
02:35:14,280 --> 02:35:23,600
It is a lot of work and you do it as quietly and as least intrusive as possible to be able

2064
02:35:23,600 --> 02:35:28,940
to get these documents to each of us and then to the citizens that we represent as well

2065
02:35:29,300 --> 02:35:33,220
that we are taking care of the money and that we are doing what we're supposed to be doing

2066
02:35:33,220 --> 02:35:35,660
and we understand that this is the citizens tax dollars.

2067
02:35:36,220 --> 02:35:40,000
So thank you and your team for confirming that.

2068
02:35:41,000 --> 02:35:47,880
Well, I'm in the minority because I do enjoy reading these reports, and so I love the comprehensive

2069
02:35:48,640 --> 02:35:49,620
aspect of it.

2070
02:35:50,040 --> 02:35:53,660
None of it really comes as a surprise because of the ongoing reports that we get throughout

2071
02:35:53,660 --> 02:35:54,020
the year.

2072
02:35:55,100 --> 02:35:59,360
The one question I did have was concerning the subscription assets, but you pointed out

2073
02:35:59,360 --> 02:35:59,880
and answered.

2074
02:36:00,140 --> 02:36:05,940
I saw that, didn't know what that one meant, and that's also refreshing because it's

2075
02:36:05,940 --> 02:36:06,460
new, correct?

2076
02:36:08,540 --> 02:36:13,480
That's right. And I'll just also point out that this is the 19th consecutive year that

2077
02:36:13,480 --> 02:36:18,280
Randall County has been awarded the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of

2078
02:36:18,280 --> 02:36:24,240
Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. So I'm glad that we have an ongoing mission

2079
02:36:24,240 --> 02:36:28,440
of just doing the very best that we can. And I just want to again congratulate you

2080
02:36:28,440 --> 02:36:32,540
and your team and again, thank you for your support and help thrive on that time

2081
02:36:32,540 --> 02:36:32,880
as well.

2082
02:36:33,120 --> 02:36:33,520
Thank you sir.

2083
02:36:36,220 --> 02:36:36,640
Thank you.

2084
02:36:38,040 --> 02:36:41,940
You'll be hearing from me. So be prepared. Thank you.

2085
02:36:43,160 --> 02:36:48,120
May I comment on that, sir? I love the fact that, that's not the first time you've made that comment.

2086
02:36:48,300 --> 02:36:54,160
I love the fact that as a body, you actually do take these home and go through them when you have the moment

2087
02:36:54,160 --> 02:36:57,200
and you have the time and you get back to your auditor's office with any questions.

2088
02:36:57,640 --> 02:37:00,680
I've got a lot of commissioners. I've actually booked commissioners to sleep before.

2089
02:37:01,720 --> 02:37:03,200
They see this as a new sense.

2090
02:37:03,940 --> 02:37:06,460
I do have to come in to Randall County for actually,

2091
02:37:06,740 --> 02:37:09,800
and you're not the only ones, I mean, I don't want to make it sound like you're the only ones,

2092
02:37:09,880 --> 02:37:12,420
but for the most part, the people that I deal with,

2093
02:37:13,240 --> 02:37:14,640
Lester Hartz, they're wonderful people.

2094
02:37:14,760 --> 02:37:16,140
They do a fantastic job for their community.

2095
02:37:16,900 --> 02:37:18,120
They don't like looking at the numbers.

2096
02:37:18,700 --> 02:37:23,360
So the fact that you all actually do take this home and dig through this beast of a report,

2097
02:37:23,900 --> 02:37:25,920
I want to say I appreciate that personally.

2098
02:37:26,280 --> 02:37:27,500
It's great to all year long.

2099
02:37:28,440 --> 02:37:30,000
That's what I think. That's why I do what I do.

2100
02:37:30,000 --> 02:37:31,480
Well, thanks again.

2101
02:37:31,800 --> 02:37:32,060
Thank you.

2102
02:37:32,700 --> 02:37:34,280
That should have been an action item.

2103
02:37:34,540 --> 02:37:36,080
I can't leave the table until you approve it.

2104
02:37:36,280 --> 02:37:36,680
All right.

2105
02:37:39,480 --> 02:37:45,460
So, this is item number five, Discuss and Take Action and Approving.

2106
02:37:45,640 --> 02:37:46,220
Excuse me.

2107
02:37:48,160 --> 02:37:54,700
It's Presentation and Acceptance of the Annual Comprehensive Report for the year ending September 30, 2023 by the

2108
02:37:54,700 --> 02:37:59,500
independent audit firm Docher Pickens and Francis. So this would be the acceptance portion

2109
02:37:59,500 --> 02:38:02,400
of it. We've had the presentation. Is there anyone want to make a move?

2110
02:38:02,760 --> 02:38:07,000
A move that we accept it. We have a motion and second all those in favor please raise your

2111
02:38:07,000 --> 02:38:12,080
hand and say aye. Aye. And it is 5-0. Thank you again. Thank you ma'am. Again before I make my

2112
02:38:12,080 --> 02:38:16,320
escape thank you all again so much for your time. As I tell you every year our firm is not

2113
02:38:16,320 --> 02:38:19,240
just want to come in at the end of the year and drive these folks crazy. Although that's

2114
02:38:19,240 --> 02:38:23,240
kind of fun. We're here for you year round and I tell this to Ravenette all the time

2115
02:38:23,240 --> 02:38:27,380
this really is for you as well. We're here for you year-round. If there's ever anything

2116
02:38:27,380 --> 02:38:31,640
that we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to give us a call. I usually make

2117
02:38:31,640 --> 02:38:34,740
an attorney joke, but I won't do that this morning because he's sitting right there.

2118
02:38:36,120 --> 02:38:39,820
But in all seriousness, we don't turn our clocks ticking until we even have to go somewhere,

2119
02:38:39,940 --> 02:38:44,180
prepare something. So phone calls are always free. Take advantage of that as often as you

2120
02:38:44,180 --> 02:38:48,240
need to. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Item number five,

2121
02:38:52,360 --> 02:38:52,360
discussing

2122
02:38:52,360 --> 02:38:54,460
in excess of $2,500. Good morning, Christina.

2123
02:38:55,980 --> 02:38:57,100
We have

2124
02:38:59,920 --> 02:39:02,140
two reasons for the fourth approval this morning.

2125
02:39:02,660 --> 02:39:06,320
The first one is $4,800.17.

2126
02:39:06,840 --> 02:39:11,060
It's made payable to co-courge. And the second one

2127
02:39:11,060 --> 02:39:14,680
is in the amount of $5,198.68

2128
02:39:14,680 --> 02:39:16,880
and it's made payable to play golf.

2129
02:39:22,170 --> 02:39:23,690
Let's turn to questions on this.

2130
02:39:24,670 --> 02:39:25,870
I have a question.

2131
02:39:27,950 --> 02:39:34,090
This shows on the second one for the property at 8251 West Emerald Boulevard,

2132
02:39:37,600 --> 02:39:38,300
which is in

2133
02:39:38,300 --> 02:39:38,920
Potter County.

2134
02:39:39,580 --> 02:39:41,780
That could be where they're building the premises.

2135
02:39:43,000 --> 02:39:45,100
But we don't know the location of the property.

2136
02:39:46,460 --> 02:39:47,060
It's...

2137
02:39:48,460 --> 02:39:49,240
I

2138
02:39:54,840 --> 02:40:05,600
can know the Com Park number 40, a lot one block 00002 less 420, so do you have any idea

2139
02:40:05,600 --> 02:40:12,300
where Canoed Park is. Canoed Park Park. Well it just shows the address of

2140
02:40:12,300 --> 02:40:15,940
8251 in West Emerald Boulevard. I was a little confused about that because it's in

2141
02:40:15,940 --> 02:40:16,460
Potter County.

2142
02:40:35,050 --> 02:40:41,370
So for $4,803.17 cents you

2143
02:40:43,390 --> 02:40:44,830
want to have some research done on that

2144
02:40:44,830 --> 02:40:45,590
will approve one.

2145
02:40:49,210 --> 02:40:50,570
So what you're looking at Christine.

2146
02:40:52,910 --> 02:40:53,930
Well I'm sure you've

2147
02:40:53,930 --> 02:40:58,430
researched it I mean it's just confusing to me that it shows the

2148
02:40:58,430 --> 02:41:05,820
property location in Park County unless they pay Randall County and it's in...

2149
02:41:05,820 --> 02:41:06,640
We

2150
02:41:22,260 --> 02:41:25,900
can table this and give her a little more time to research it, move

2151
02:41:25,900 --> 02:41:27,700
through a couple of agenda items and circle back.

2152
02:41:35,580 --> 02:41:38,520
That's what the

2153
02:41:38,520 --> 02:41:39,120
Motion to table.

2154
02:41:39,380 --> 02:41:39,940
Move the table.

2155
02:41:40,340 --> 02:41:40,560
Second.

2156
02:41:40,920 --> 02:41:41,680
I have a motion on second.

2157
02:41:41,800 --> 02:41:43,840
All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

2158
02:41:43,980 --> 02:41:44,240
Aye.

2159
02:41:44,500 --> 02:41:45,580
Motion carries 5-0.

2160
02:41:45,720 --> 02:41:46,300
We'll table it.

2161
02:41:46,400 --> 02:41:49,260
We'll circle back and we'll get back to it as soon as we complete some other items

2162
02:41:49,260 --> 02:41:50,100
where you get the answer.

2163
02:41:50,420 --> 02:41:50,740
Raise your hand.

2164
02:41:51,140 --> 02:41:51,720
Thank you.

2165
02:41:51,880 --> 02:41:52,060
Thank you.

2166
02:41:53,020 --> 02:41:53,420
All right.

2167
02:41:55,820 --> 02:42:02,180
Item number six, discuss and take action approving specifications for RFP 2024, 62310

2168
02:42:02,180 --> 02:42:03,860
inmate and video visitation.

2169
02:42:06,030 --> 02:42:06,390
Good morning.

2170
02:42:07,150 --> 02:42:07,490
Good morning.

2171
02:42:07,490 --> 02:42:16,550
So we have an RFP for the inmate phone and video visitation set to be released on February 29th if it's approved.

2172
02:42:17,350 --> 02:42:27,180
Submittals will be due April 11th, so it will be evaluated and the recommendation will be a visit to the commissioners for an award

2173
02:42:27,180 --> 02:42:27,720
and then it will

2174
02:42:30,000 --> 02:42:35,620
be for the inmate phone system and a video visitation now at the jail facility for the county.

2175
02:42:36,260 --> 02:42:38,640
The RFP will be sent out to a list of vendors.

2176
02:42:38,640 --> 02:42:44,820
We have, I believe, I think I have 13 on the list right now in addition to the other suppliers

2177
02:42:44,820 --> 02:42:48,800
that are registered with the county on our bid platforms.

2178
02:42:49,480 --> 02:42:54,720
Those will be available on two bid platforms, Beacon Bid and the public purchase that we

2179
02:42:54,720 --> 02:42:55,660
utilize historically.

2180
02:42:56,700 --> 02:42:58,480
The legal advertisements will be placed out.

2181
02:42:59,220 --> 02:43:02,260
I do want to mention that the copies that you have in front of you, there have been

2182
02:43:02,260 --> 02:43:03,540
some changes that have been made.

2183
02:43:03,540 --> 02:43:21,500
Adjusted to accommodate for some technical requirements, different worries, and industry standards regarding the technology and system software since the previous one.

2184
02:43:22,400 --> 02:43:33,420
Blame what the sheriff's office has looked over those and he recommended some changes. I do have a list of those here with me, but I do have a final updated copy to be filed with the court documents if you want to work with those.

2185
02:43:33,420 --> 02:43:38,740
And then I can give you a copy of this here to show what those specific changes were,

2186
02:43:39,420 --> 02:43:42,660
but those have all been adjusted to accommodate for his recommended changes.

2187
02:43:43,320 --> 02:43:49,020
We just need the commissioners approval to move forward with the ERP bidding process

2188
02:43:49,020 --> 02:43:52,860
for the documents to be released for the legal advertisement to be placed.

2189
02:43:53,700 --> 02:43:56,460
And then we'll move on.

2190
02:43:57,160 --> 02:43:58,800
All right, Chiefs, I have a question.

2191
02:43:58,800 --> 02:44:04,400
And I know with the Center that they have really had great success with the online visitation

2192
02:44:04,400 --> 02:44:10,820
and their ability that sometimes people do not have a car or vehicle to be able to come

2193
02:44:10,820 --> 02:44:12,380
out to the actual facility.

2194
02:44:12,860 --> 02:44:19,200
And it has been successful and actually helped with morale by them to be able to log on

2195
02:44:19,200 --> 02:44:21,920
and set something that will be accomplished through this RFP.

2196
02:44:22,220 --> 02:44:23,620
That's what we're hoping for, Judge.

2197
02:44:23,620 --> 02:44:28,640
There's one of the things with, you know, we all know how rapidly technology's advancing

2198
02:44:28,640 --> 02:44:34,040
and we've actually been visiting with some other jails that do video visitation that

2199
02:44:34,040 --> 02:44:35,520
are using the tablet systems.

2200
02:44:36,180 --> 02:44:41,280
And so we're wanting to really, as we look at these, as these proposals come in for

2201
02:44:41,280 --> 02:44:45,780
some of the tablets because it does increase a lot of morale and it gives them an opportunity

2202
02:44:45,780 --> 02:44:53,200
to have more visitation and to be able to be in contact with friends and family.

2203
02:44:54,220 --> 02:44:59,720
Excellent. That was my only question. I want to make sure that we are setting a platform where technology evolves to that.

2204
02:45:00,000 --> 02:45:05,580
We could migrate that way. We'll start with the commissioner's questions on the RFP.

2205
02:45:05,940 --> 02:45:13,860
I have a couple of questions on this, Frank. Under fraud management, item number E, a warning

2206
02:45:13,860 --> 02:45:18,620
that three-way calls are not allowed. Why do we not allow? I'm thinking if somebody had

2207
02:45:18,620 --> 02:45:21,840
an attorney in Lubbock and Amarillo, you can't have all three on a call.

2208
02:45:22,200 --> 02:45:28,620
Well, the attorney calls are a little different. This is more in line with so that we can

2209
02:45:28,620 --> 02:45:34,660
monitor exactly who is being talked to. Okay. Because everything's recorded that we

2210
02:45:34,660 --> 02:45:39,240
can know exactly who's on the phone and we prohibit that from happening. Okay.

2211
02:45:39,880 --> 02:45:44,440
Item number H, hook switch dialing. What is that?

2212
02:45:47,220 --> 02:45:49,460
Too many blame here. I believe that

2213
02:45:49,460 --> 02:45:52,700
portion on the hook switch dialing that's I guess there's certain

2214
02:45:52,700 --> 02:45:58,380
methodologies that whenever the inmate calls out to you know the person

2215
02:45:58,380 --> 02:45:59,140
and they're trying to contact.

2216
02:46:00,120 --> 02:46:01,200
Whenever a call is made,

2217
02:46:01,360 --> 02:46:02,940
their fees are associated with those calls.

2218
02:46:03,440 --> 02:46:06,440
And if they figure out a way to work around

2219
02:46:06,440 --> 02:46:07,960
to not have those fees charged,

2220
02:46:08,500 --> 02:46:12,520
that allows whatever funds are paid for by either

2221
02:46:13,160 --> 02:46:15,160
on, I guess, their commissary portion

2222
02:46:15,160 --> 02:46:17,960
of the inmate's funds or the person

2223
02:46:17,960 --> 02:46:21,080
that has a prepaid card with the online system

2224
02:46:21,080 --> 02:46:24,440
or the phone calling system to accept those fees,

2225
02:46:25,040 --> 02:46:26,640
it's a way to work around those charges

2226
02:46:26,640 --> 02:46:28,600
is to where they're basically getting free phone calls.

2227
02:46:29,540 --> 02:46:30,540
So that's going to be it.

2228
02:46:31,100 --> 02:46:33,180
Make sure that measures are in place

2229
02:46:33,180 --> 02:46:34,540
to prevent that from happening.

2230
02:46:36,200 --> 02:46:37,160
One other question.

2231
02:46:38,280 --> 02:46:41,980
Inmate messaging, looking into the possibility of text-only

2232
02:46:41,980 --> 02:46:43,700
messages from friends and family.

2233
02:46:44,180 --> 02:46:47,380
If that were to come to pass, would those be monitored also?

2234
02:46:47,600 --> 02:46:48,700
Yes, everything's monitored.

2235
02:46:48,940 --> 02:46:50,700
But it does give them that ability

2236
02:46:50,700 --> 02:46:52,180
through the use of those tablets

2237
02:46:53,140 --> 02:46:55,000
that they can do that messaging.

2238
02:46:55,000 --> 02:46:58,180
It just makes the, yes, everything is monitored.

2239
02:46:58,580 --> 02:46:58,820
Okay.

2240
02:46:58,920 --> 02:46:59,220
Thanks.

2241
02:46:59,740 --> 02:47:00,480
That's all I have.

2242
02:47:00,640 --> 02:47:01,140
Commissioner Robinson.

2243
02:47:02,840 --> 02:47:05,660
So, there's nothing like this in place currently, right, for those of you?

2244
02:47:05,840 --> 02:47:06,920
We have a system in place.

2245
02:47:07,080 --> 02:47:08,080
We don't have the tablets.

2246
02:47:09,440 --> 02:47:11,540
We've been with, we've been with for over 10 years.

2247
02:47:11,740 --> 02:47:11,860
Right.

2248
02:47:11,940 --> 02:47:13,260
We went to a year-to-year.

2249
02:47:13,440 --> 02:47:17,240
Now we're on a month-to-month basis, knowing that we needed to go out for our AP because

2250
02:47:17,240 --> 02:47:17,740
of technology.

2251
02:47:18,700 --> 02:47:21,820
This will allow them to also contact people remotely, right?

2252
02:47:22,420 --> 02:47:22,640
Correct.

2253
02:47:22,780 --> 02:47:23,000
Okay.

2254
02:47:23,000 --> 02:47:27,840
Okay. The people who are on the other side, is this through an app or through a browser?

2255
02:47:28,040 --> 02:47:28,300
I mean, how?

2256
02:47:29,240 --> 02:47:33,820
If that would be part of the proposal with different companies doing different ways,

2257
02:47:34,080 --> 02:47:40,200
but a lot of it is done through an app or some kind of video conferencing.

2258
02:47:42,560 --> 02:47:45,960
Just out of curiosity, I didn't see anything in here. Do you know roughly what the cost

2259
02:47:45,960 --> 02:47:50,480
of usage is for the inmate? I mean, is it charged by the minute, by the data?

2260
02:47:51,140 --> 02:47:55,560
It's all, every one's different, but a lot of them are done by the minute.

2261
02:47:56,560 --> 02:47:56,740
Okay.

2262
02:47:56,880 --> 02:47:59,920
And that's where you know the...

2263
02:47:59,920 --> 02:48:02,420
Yeah, so the text messages are done by characters a lot.

2264
02:48:02,840 --> 02:48:03,120
Okay.

2265
02:48:03,420 --> 02:48:08,880
There are a lot, it's so much text per cost, and then the phone calls are done by minute.

2266
02:48:09,580 --> 02:48:15,440
Also, the video visitation is 715 net blocks, and it costs a text amount to do that online.

2267
02:48:16,020 --> 02:48:21,900
Of course, they still get the two for a week, but then it's out of this station, if they

2268
02:48:21,900 --> 02:48:22,340
still choose.

2269
02:48:22,640 --> 02:48:28,620
And the monitoring that is done, that's all programming, right?

2270
02:48:29,220 --> 02:48:29,860
It picks up.

2271
02:48:30,320 --> 02:48:35,880
No, we will have a lot of visitation folks that will watch and monitor that.

2272
02:48:35,940 --> 02:48:36,460
Oh, okay.

2273
02:48:36,900 --> 02:48:37,380
Interesting.

2274
02:48:37,500 --> 02:48:41,520
But it's recorded at all times, and then they know to go back and review if they've

2275
02:48:41,520 --> 02:48:43,820
had an anomaly or identify an issue.

2276
02:48:43,820 --> 02:48:48,320
And is this, Chief, do you know, is this budgeted in the current year?

2277
02:48:49,140 --> 02:48:49,520
Yes.

2278
02:48:50,020 --> 02:48:50,240
Okay.

2279
02:48:51,220 --> 02:48:51,900
Thank you.

2280
02:48:53,820 --> 02:48:54,340
Commissioner Butler?

2281
02:48:54,900 --> 02:48:57,300
Yeah, my question for similar about to explain the tablet.

2282
02:48:57,580 --> 02:48:59,140
Does everybody get a tablet or?

2283
02:48:59,840 --> 02:49:04,160
We actually, several of us went down to the Lubbock County Jail and visited them because

2284
02:49:04,160 --> 02:49:05,720
they're using a tablet system down there.

2285
02:49:05,840 --> 02:49:07,160
We were interested in how it worked.

2286
02:49:07,980 --> 02:49:10,960
And the tablets were provided by the vendor.

2287
02:49:12,580 --> 02:49:17,740
And when we talked to them and said, you know, they started out with X number, but they've

2288
02:49:17,740 --> 02:49:22,940
increased and gradually increased and increased, and now they will have one tablet per inmate.

2289
02:49:23,320 --> 02:49:27,380
And when we spoke to them about it, I asked, they said, you know, company will give you

2290
02:49:27,380 --> 02:49:28,300
however many you want.

2291
02:49:28,500 --> 02:49:30,220
I would try to do a one-to-one.

2292
02:49:30,580 --> 02:49:35,520
They have a charging station that sets up there in the pod where they can go and

2293
02:49:35,520 --> 02:49:37,300
they put it in there and it keeps it charged.

2294
02:49:37,300 --> 02:49:42,120
and then they can, they can watch movies or anything next to this law library, there's

2295
02:49:42,120 --> 02:49:43,900
a lot of different things they can do on these tablets.

2296
02:49:44,300 --> 02:49:50,120
The specifications do call out that the preferred, the preference for the county is one to one,

2297
02:49:50,580 --> 02:49:55,020
but if they, the vendor cannot provide that to spell out specifically what the ratio is

2298
02:49:55,020 --> 02:50:00,760
for the tabletube inmates in their proposal, in addition to any repair and maintenance

2299
02:50:00,760 --> 02:50:05,480
scheduling, if we're allotted, you know, 10 extras at the start of the contract

2300
02:50:05,480 --> 02:50:13,820
to have is just replacements and events that happen or what those parameters look like for the replacement maintenance and support of those tablets.

2301
02:50:15,060 --> 02:50:23,160
Okay. Is it based on the use of the, I mean, they're choice on the basis of the uses of the tablet?

2302
02:50:24,040 --> 02:50:28,180
For the visitation and calls.

2303
02:50:28,720 --> 02:50:29,940
Well, you mentioned movies.

2304
02:50:31,480 --> 02:50:40,420
The vendors that we have, what Lubbock is doing and what they were telling us most of the vendors are doing is they have free movies.

2305
02:50:41,000 --> 02:50:42,460
What we pay to stream.

2306
02:50:43,260 --> 02:50:44,600
That's what it's going to ask about the internet.

2307
02:50:45,120 --> 02:50:45,580
Yeah.

2308
02:50:46,060 --> 02:50:46,220
Yeah.

2309
02:50:46,700 --> 02:50:48,700
So they would have access to the internet also.

2310
02:50:49,660 --> 02:50:50,580
Very limited.

2311
02:50:52,160 --> 02:50:58,060
There's no open browsing that's going to be available on any portion that's considered for award.

2312
02:50:58,060 --> 02:51:04,480
Okay, and then I think I had the same question about messaging that Commissioner

2313
02:51:04,480 --> 02:51:10,440
Collins had. So they can send and receive messages anytime they want, I'm

2314
02:51:10,440 --> 02:51:16,060
guessing. Well when they have the tablets during like when they have dayroom time.

2315
02:51:16,840 --> 02:51:21,060
They don't have the tablets 24-7. No, because I'll have to go back into the

2316
02:51:21,060 --> 02:51:28,160
chargers and lights out. Okay. All right. All right. I'm sure we'll go over this

2317
02:51:28,160 --> 02:51:33,420
whenever we'll get the bits back. So, sorry. Thank you. No further questions?

2318
02:51:34,060 --> 02:51:38,540
Move approved. Second. I have a motion to second. All those in favor please raise your

2319
02:51:38,540 --> 02:51:41,460
hand and say aye. The motion carries 5-0.

2320
02:51:44,520 --> 02:51:46,200
Item number seven discussed and

2321
02:51:46,200 --> 02:51:49,360
take action. I accept an agreement with Motorola Solutions for the purchase of

2322
02:51:49,360 --> 02:51:55,600
seven new body-worn cameras this is a purchase for additional cameras for the

2323
02:51:55,600 --> 02:52:01,040
courthouse security and seven body cams to be worn by the deputies it does span

2324
02:52:01,040 --> 02:52:05,240
the course of a five-year schedule what you see here is a requisition from the

2325
02:52:05,240 --> 02:52:11,340
sheriff's office for just a year one of the body cameras for about $1,300 just a

2326
02:52:11,340 --> 02:52:15,600
over. Overall the grand total comes out to $24

2327
02:52:19,020 --> 02:52:23,660
,720 and this cost is divided up

2328
02:52:23,660 --> 02:52:27,660
over the remaining four years of the five-year schedule. Whenever the

2329
02:52:27,660 --> 02:52:32,080
requisition was processed, the purchase order was sent to Motorola and they

2330
02:52:32,080 --> 02:52:36,780
in turn sent back the agreement to be signed and accepted by the county. We

2331
02:52:36,780 --> 02:52:40,800
were advised by legal counsel to just treat this as a change of order before

2332
02:52:40,800 --> 02:52:48,900
moving forward with the final purchase and continuance of the fly cameras. Richard Gore

2333
02:52:48,900 --> 02:52:53,220
has reviewed it. It doesn't seem to see any issue with this. We just need the court's

2334
02:52:53,220 --> 02:52:58,440
acceptance to proceed. Is there any questions on this? With no questions, is there a motion?

2335
02:52:59,080 --> 02:53:03,780
I'll make a motion. We approve. A second. I have a motion, a second. All those in favor,

2336
02:53:03,780 --> 02:53:07,120
please raise your hand and say aye. Motion carries 5-0.

2337
02:53:09,040 --> 02:53:14,660
Thank you both. All right, I got a wave from my friend in the back and so we are going to

2338
02:53:14,660 --> 02:53:18,820
circle back to the tabled motion item number five, discuss and take action on approving

2339
02:53:18,820 --> 02:53:22,100
overpayment, erroneous tax payment refunds in the excess of 2,500.

2340
02:53:23,400 --> 02:53:26,100
Right, Christina, what did you find out for us?

2341
02:53:26,280 --> 02:53:30,520
So the property is in Water County, 82 people on West Annalua Boulevard,

2342
02:53:30,520 --> 02:53:34,160
are up home, but they are within Bushland School District.

2343
02:53:34,860 --> 02:53:37,240
So since we contract with Bushland School District

2344
02:53:37,240 --> 02:53:39,920
to collect their taxes, that is why we're using them here.

2345
02:53:41,100 --> 02:53:41,760
Thank you.

2346
02:53:42,320 --> 02:53:44,100
All right, with no further questions,

2347
02:53:44,320 --> 02:53:45,300
that satisfy everything?

2348
02:53:45,540 --> 02:53:47,040
All right, is there a motion?

2349
02:53:47,440 --> 02:53:48,340
We have a motion?

2350
02:53:48,820 --> 02:53:49,400
That's the second.

2351
02:53:49,640 --> 02:53:51,080
We have a motion and a second to approve

2352
02:53:51,080 --> 02:53:53,220
the aronist tax refunds or overpayments.

2353
02:53:53,560 --> 02:53:55,400
All in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

2354
02:53:56,080 --> 02:53:56,940
Motion carries 5-0.

2355
02:53:57,140 --> 02:53:58,500
Thank you so much for doing the research.

2356
02:53:58,700 --> 02:53:59,100
Thank you.

2357
02:53:59,100 --> 02:54:04,240
All right, now once again, we have some more friends that we kept here waiting way too long item number eight

2358
02:54:04,780 --> 02:54:09,340
Discuss and take action and approve in the donation of a 2017 fire engine Tamrella College

2359
02:54:09,840 --> 02:54:15,180
we want to welcome each one of you up here and thank you for what you're doing and

2360
02:54:15,940 --> 02:54:20,860
We're excited about potentially being able to be part of training facility

2361
02:54:23,430 --> 02:54:26,990
If you don't mind if you'd identify it yourself for the record

2362
02:54:29,130 --> 02:54:34,510
Eric Wallace, director of public service programs at Amarillo College, and I'm Steve Malley,

2363
02:54:34,690 --> 02:54:36,570
the fire academy coordinator for Amarillo College.

2364
02:54:37,030 --> 02:54:37,810
Welcome to both, Debbie.

2365
02:54:40,470 --> 02:54:47,930
This item here has previously been approved to be designated a surplus, so it's a surplus

2366
02:54:47,930 --> 02:54:49,010
item in the county's inventory.

2367
02:54:49,890 --> 02:54:55,070
This is a 2017 international fire engine previously in the fire department's inventory.

2368
02:54:55,070 --> 02:55:04,430
This has had continuous issues as far as function reliability of the unit to be in service.

2369
02:55:05,790 --> 02:55:13,010
What I have provided is a copy of a memo from the fire chief explaining the scenario and

2370
02:55:13,010 --> 02:55:18,870
a little bit more insight on public safety and the reasoning for donating to considering

2371
02:55:18,870 --> 02:55:21,850
to donate to Emeril College and our fire safety program.

2372
02:55:22,430 --> 02:55:27,650
And then the next page is just a graph showing strictly based

2373
02:55:27,650 --> 02:55:28,770
on our financial system.

2374
02:55:29,150 --> 02:55:31,030
It's an evaluation of vehicle.

2375
02:55:32,230 --> 02:55:33,830
This does not take into consideration

2376
02:55:33,830 --> 02:55:37,150
any current operating condition, any damage

2377
02:55:37,150 --> 02:55:39,810
that might, you know, held a manager,

2378
02:55:39,970 --> 02:55:42,290
any other type of items like that

2379
02:55:42,290 --> 02:55:44,230
to consider for the vehicle value.

2380
02:55:45,410 --> 02:55:48,730
But this is just an item for consideration

2381
02:55:48,730 --> 02:55:59,030
to donate to Amarillo College. This was originally purchased in 2016 for a cost of $383,565. And

2382
02:55:59,030 --> 02:56:07,310
it's given a 12-year lifecycle, and according to our financial system parameters, this depreciates

2383
02:56:07,310 --> 02:56:14,570
at a little over $31,000 every year. Right now, to this date, you know, if we're looking at the

2384
02:56:14,570 --> 02:56:21,590
financial side of it, it would have a value of $141,707,

2385
02:56:25,050 --> 02:56:27,410
but again that doesn't consider

2386
02:56:27,410 --> 02:56:33,810
the operating condition of the vehicle. I believe after some research there's a value

2387
02:56:33,810 --> 02:56:38,990
of about $49,000 that we've come across to be fairly consistent with similar items,

2388
02:56:39,550 --> 02:56:44,990
pieces of equipment for sale, depending on it might be a year or two older, it

2389
02:56:44,990 --> 02:56:45,170
it

2390
02:56:49,710 --> 02:56:52,250
seems to be a fairly condition

2391
02:56:57,470 --> 02:57:00,930
of the vehicle list. We would just ask for the

2392
02:57:00,930 --> 02:57:05,130
commissioners to consider donating to Emeril College. We do have a couple

2393
02:57:05,130 --> 02:57:09,350
of their representatives and the fire chief here that might be able to

2394
02:57:09,350 --> 02:57:12,310
elaborate more on the benefits.

2395
02:57:15,950 --> 02:57:18,170
So Chief, you know, you came before us once

2396
02:57:18,170 --> 02:57:22,550
before. I truly appreciate your consideration on this. What we have,

2397
02:57:22,550 --> 02:57:31,610
understand correctly is a engine whose motor was grossly inadequate and it was a great

2398
02:57:31,610 --> 02:57:37,050
concern for our firemen and their safety to be able to send them out to any group where

2399
02:57:37,050 --> 02:57:38,270
they could get harmed or trapped.

2400
02:57:39,050 --> 02:57:43,510
But once again, Randall County figured out a way to repurpose and possibly help future

2401
02:57:43,510 --> 02:57:48,330
firefighters by it being at the facility that would never be anyone in harm's way

2402
02:57:48,330 --> 02:57:55,150
but they would get the adequate training on a engine with this particular engine at

2403
02:57:55,150 --> 02:58:00,290
your facility. Is that correct? Right. I'm going to start and just let the chief give

2404
02:58:00,290 --> 02:58:03,210
a presentation and the two of you if you don't mind and then if we have any questions

2405
02:58:03,210 --> 02:58:07,870
from the commissioner's court. So this 2017 fire engine, you know, one body did serve

2406
02:58:07,870 --> 02:58:12,950
as well and then started having issues with continual issues and raising training

2407
02:58:12,950 --> 02:58:17,250
one day and that truck shut can win you now to where if we would have been in a

2408
02:58:17,250 --> 02:58:22,790
life-saving situation to help either a citizen or one of my firefighters inside

2409
02:58:23,250 --> 02:58:26,410
it would have been very detrimental to the department. At that point in time we

2410
02:58:26,410 --> 02:58:30,350
spent a little over $50,000 on trying to get this truck back up and

2411
02:58:30,350 --> 02:58:35,870
operational to life safety standards and I am not comfortable putting a citizen

2412
02:58:35,870 --> 02:58:39,730
or one of my firefighters at risk in this truck. So we're sitting around

2413
02:58:40,710 --> 02:58:44,890
we're going to do with this and how we're going to, you know, overcome this problem we

2414
02:58:44,890 --> 02:58:49,990
have and one of the firefighters along we consider looking at Merlin College for a donation.

2415
02:58:50,550 --> 02:58:54,470
We're only going to get many on the dollar for to be able anyway in the operational state

2416
02:58:54,470 --> 02:58:54,810
of town.

2417
02:58:55,770 --> 02:59:00,930
They run a controlled environment, you know, where it can be a training tool in a controlled

2418
02:59:00,930 --> 02:59:01,310
environment.

2419
02:59:01,550 --> 02:59:05,210
The truck breaks down at that point in time, they just train on something different.

2420
02:59:07,990 --> 02:59:12,670
You know, that's the largest difference and I know that was a concern about the liability

2421
02:59:12,670 --> 02:59:17,630
maybe having a truck that is not operationally efficient for emergency response when we don't

2422
02:59:17,630 --> 02:59:18,990
do emergency response.

2423
02:59:19,190 --> 02:59:24,370
All of our training is done and as much as you control a lot of fire training evolution,

2424
02:59:24,670 --> 02:59:28,010
the good thing is we have a button on the wall on a new facility that, you know, you

2425
02:59:28,010 --> 02:59:31,670
basically hit the button and it kills the fire which is not a luxury that the normal

2426
02:59:31,670 --> 02:59:32,570
fire department does.

2427
02:59:32,570 --> 02:59:39,490
So the truck will be beneficial in ways that would just not consider even possible with

2428
02:59:39,490 --> 02:59:39,870
the department.

2429
02:59:40,390 --> 02:59:45,710
So it would be considered a huge asset for us with the liability that chief faces not

2430
02:59:45,710 --> 02:59:47,810
carrying over to what we would be doing with it.

2431
02:59:50,690 --> 02:59:55,110
I'm sorry to do anybody else or you just ditto in what he said.

2432
02:59:55,290 --> 02:59:56,270
I agree with that.

2433
02:59:56,270 --> 02:59:59,970
I would say we appreciate the strong relationship we're in.

2434
03:00:19,260 --> 03:00:27,120
So Joe, you keep spending money on it. It's not undependable and it's not safe. So would you call this for your purposes a lemon? Yes.

2435
03:00:27,520 --> 03:00:31,680
Yeah, actually, if I remember right, chief, you told me that that particular engine, they

2436
03:00:32,360 --> 03:00:34,600
discontinued because we were not the only one that had.

2437
03:00:37,580 --> 03:00:41,680
So for Emerald College, you'd like to have it, you'll take care of it, love it and can

2438
03:00:41,680 --> 03:00:42,080
use it.

2439
03:00:42,320 --> 03:00:42,700
Yes, sir.

2440
03:00:43,080 --> 03:00:43,420
All right.

2441
03:00:44,020 --> 03:00:48,000
And as a matter of fact, our auto diesel guys are chomping to get it in their shop

2442
03:00:48,000 --> 03:00:48,780
to see if they can.

2443
03:00:49,060 --> 03:00:49,720
They like a challenge.

2444
03:00:53,750 --> 03:00:57,570
Emerald College will own the 5% of the donation is complete.

2445
03:00:57,970 --> 03:00:58,370
Yes, sir.

2446
03:00:58,370 --> 03:01:04,310
We'll remove it from our liability, our insurance, and we'll remove it from the county's inventory.

2447
03:01:08,980 --> 03:01:09,620
Thank you.

2448
03:01:11,360 --> 03:01:15,820
Chief, you mentioned that if you were to sell it, that you would get pennies on the dollar due to its status.

2449
03:01:16,060 --> 03:01:20,180
Do you know roughly what something like that would go for on an open market or in an auction setting?

2450
03:01:20,580 --> 03:01:25,000
So, a 2017 fire engine is hard to find as far as a commercial tab like that one had.

2451
03:01:25,000 --> 03:01:33,560
But what I have found is 2005 to 2007 models are running between $75,000 to $98,000.

2452
03:01:35,060 --> 03:01:41,260
So all we want to take is that 2017 is going to be upwards 100 percent.

2453
03:01:43,350 --> 03:01:45,310
You want to sell it on the open market or not?

2454
03:01:46,130 --> 03:01:48,170
Running correctly like I'm trying right now.

2455
03:01:49,550 --> 03:01:53,450
You're going to find very few people who want to take interest in it and be open first.

2456
03:01:53,890 --> 03:01:58,310
And, and as the head of the round of county fire department, you feel like this is a better

2457
03:01:58,310 --> 03:02:01,170
use of the engine to donate it to the school?

2458
03:02:01,450 --> 03:02:05,870
I feel this is a great use for this engine because not only does it benefit us, since

2459
03:02:05,870 --> 03:02:10,330
we didn't get people out of their academies come up for us, but also benefits the region

2460
03:02:10,330 --> 03:02:11,210
which we go help.

2461
03:02:11,610 --> 03:02:16,190
You know, ours are just sent for us right now and for it, you know, we're, we

2462
03:02:16,190 --> 03:02:21,030
go help the entire region and these guys provide personnel to these departments

2463
03:02:23,710 --> 03:02:29,510
and I believe that Ricky, didn't you say that you had identified a surplus value of 41,000

2464
03:02:29,510 --> 03:02:29,810
roughly?

2465
03:02:32,340 --> 03:02:39,360
As far as the operating status of this engine with the depreciation and current conditions

2466
03:02:39,360 --> 03:02:43,700
estimated about 49,000 or so.

2467
03:02:44,440 --> 03:02:50,380
Just according to the numbers provided by our financial system, considering the operating

2468
03:02:50,380 --> 03:02:57,720
condition it's about $141,000 in our financial system but that's just the

2469
03:02:57,720 --> 03:03:00,780
member side of it. Right but the surplus side you would thought it was

2470
03:03:00,780 --> 03:03:01,940
approximately 49.

2471
03:03:07,920 --> 03:03:10,260
You would not in good faith sell this to another fire

2472
03:03:10,260 --> 03:03:16,580
department right? Absolutely. Input I mean allows are on the line and I think this

2473
03:03:16,580 --> 03:03:20,760
is a good use for this and I think you guys had a good idea. So were you

2474
03:03:20,760 --> 03:03:22,660
You want to make a comment, sit up over here?

2475
03:03:22,660 --> 03:03:23,420
We'd love to have you.

2476
03:03:24,520 --> 03:03:27,900
I'm John Mark White, general counsel at Emerald College.

2477
03:03:28,400 --> 03:03:31,620
And I have prepared a letter for the commissioners

2478
03:03:31,620 --> 03:03:35,400
to where we accept this truck as is with no warranty

2479
03:03:35,980 --> 03:03:38,600
and release the county for many liability associated

2480
03:03:39,080 --> 03:03:40,220
with our use of this truck.

2481
03:03:40,920 --> 03:03:44,920
And also, I will need to get a gift receipt signed by you.

2482
03:03:45,440 --> 03:03:48,320
And I've indicated here that the estimated market value

2483
03:03:48,320 --> 03:03:54,000
you this truck this time is 49th that's knowledge. Excellent. And that was my other question was

2484
03:03:54,000 --> 03:04:00,480
we would not have any liability issues given this truck to Emerald College.

2485
03:04:03,460 --> 03:04:04,380
Any other questions?

2486
03:04:06,360 --> 03:04:11,600
We have a motion to second. All those in favor please raise your hand and say aye.

2487
03:04:11,820 --> 03:04:17,380
And the motion carries a very unanimously 5-0. Thank you all. Each of you for training our

2488
03:04:17,380 --> 03:04:22,420
our firefighters and the chiefs for your guys and what they do today is going to be a difficult

2489
03:04:22,420 --> 03:04:28,440
day in the fire world and we put our prayers all over all of you and then we would love

2490
03:04:28,440 --> 03:04:35,480
to sign the yes and I just kind of in a selfish note I would love to see the chief and you

2491
03:04:35,480 --> 03:04:39,420
guys have a photo together for the donation do

2492
03:04:49,760 --> 03:04:51,220
you want me to do that now so that you

2493
03:04:51,220 --> 03:04:57,700
can get on the road because we okay perfect we'll do that thank each one of you for

2494
03:04:57,700 --> 03:04:59,320
for coming. Thank you. All

2495
03:05:03,030 --> 03:05:04,910
right.

2496
03:05:09,750 --> 03:05:12,770
Number nine, discuss take action on approving the rental

2497
03:05:12,770 --> 03:05:17,350
county employees request to attend meetings and conferences. Out of this we have a short

2498
03:05:17,350 --> 03:05:21,950
list. We have two from the fire department to Burnett, Texas. Is there any questions

2499
03:05:21,950 --> 03:05:27,270
on travel? All right. Is there a motion? We approve. So we have a motion and a second.

2500
03:05:27,390 --> 03:05:31,150
All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye. And the motion carries 5-0.

2501
03:05:32,670 --> 03:05:36,390
Number 10, the approval of vouchers. Raven, if you would be kind enough.

2502
03:05:39,890 --> 03:05:53,110
We have net salaries payroll for the February 16 payroll, $1,038,074.55. General fund, $1,511,577.09.

2503
03:05:53,110 --> 03:06:04,230
cents, jury fund $2,754, county assistance district 1 fund $4,955.40, COVID ARPA grant

2504
03:06:04,230 --> 03:06:17,150
fund $17,252.36, district clerk preservation fund $76.89, unclaimed property fund $1,435.38,

2505
03:06:17,150 --> 03:06:31,930
cents, law library fund $2,333.26, court cost fund $15, health care fund $1,762.22, courthouse

2506
03:06:31,930 --> 03:06:43,490
security fund $12,439.13, records management fund $1,324.85, county clerk's records management

2507
03:06:43,490 --> 03:07:00,590
Fund, $3,157.86, JP1 Tech Fund, $154.43, JP4 Tech Fund, $104.93, Elections Fund, $26,174.67,

2508
03:07:01,730 --> 03:07:11,050
County Clerks Archive Fund, $1,343.45, Capital Project Fund Radio Communication System, $922,

2509
03:07:11,610 --> 03:07:21,210
and pre-trial diversion fund $105.13, total all funds $2,625,962.60.

2510
03:07:21,830 --> 03:07:22,890
Thank you so much.

2511
03:07:22,990 --> 03:07:24,250
We'll begin with Mr. Carnes.

2512
03:07:24,310 --> 03:07:25,150
Any questions on the dollars?

2513
03:07:25,770 --> 03:07:26,250
No questions.

2514
03:07:26,930 --> 03:07:27,370
Judge?

2515
03:07:27,790 --> 03:07:27,950
No.

2516
03:07:28,250 --> 03:07:29,950
Hearing no questions, is there a motion to accept?

2517
03:07:29,950 --> 03:07:30,730
I move we approve.

2518
03:07:31,130 --> 03:07:32,150
The process is presented.

2519
03:07:32,450 --> 03:07:33,130
Do we have a motion?

2520
03:07:33,510 --> 03:07:34,070
Do we have a second?

2521
03:07:34,370 --> 03:07:34,650
Second.

2522
03:07:35,190 --> 03:07:37,470
All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.

2523
03:07:37,650 --> 03:07:37,810
Aye.

2524
03:07:38,250 --> 03:07:40,270
Motion carries and Raven, you can pay bills.

2525
03:07:42,750 --> 03:07:47,710
Item number 11, the acceptance of the official reports, 1, the Randall County Auditors Comparison

2526
03:07:47,710 --> 03:07:53,050
Monthly Report, January 2024, 2, Randall County District Court Civil and Criminal Monthly

2527
03:07:53,050 --> 03:07:58,930
Report, January 2024, 3, Randall County Constable Precinct 1, Annual Racial Propiling Report

2528
03:07:58,930 --> 03:08:05,250
and Comprehensive Analysis of Traffic Stots for 2023, Randall County Facilities Activity

2529
03:08:05,250 --> 03:08:10,830
monthly report, January 2024. The Randall County Fire Department's monthly report, January 2024.

2530
03:08:11,710 --> 03:08:16,830
The Randall County Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 appointed monthly report, January 2024.

2531
03:08:17,830 --> 03:08:22,170
The Randall County Road and Bridge monthly report, January 2024. The Randall County

2532
03:08:22,170 --> 03:08:27,130
Sheriff's monthly report, January 2024. The Randall County Treasurer's monthly report,

2533
03:08:27,350 --> 03:08:33,950
January 2024. The Canyon Fire Department's monthly report, January 2024. The Happy Volunteer

2534
03:08:33,950 --> 03:08:39,250
Fire Department's Monthly Report, January 2024. Lake Tangwood Volunteer Fire Department's

2535
03:08:39,250 --> 03:08:44,690
Monthly Report, January 2024. The Palisades Volunteer Fire Department's Monthly Report,

2536
03:08:44,890 --> 03:08:50,590
January 2024. The Timber Creek Volunteer Fire Department's Monthly Report, January 2024.

2537
03:08:51,590 --> 03:08:57,230
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Activity and Travel Monthly Report of January 2024.

2538
03:08:58,150 --> 03:09:01,410
Is there a motion to accept the official report just presented?

2539
03:09:02,870 --> 03:09:03,850
I move we accept.

2540
03:09:05,070 --> 03:09:05,610
I'll second.

2541
03:09:05,890 --> 03:09:07,350
We have a motion to second all those in favor.

2542
03:09:07,530 --> 03:09:08,890
Please raise your hand and say aye.

2543
03:09:09,010 --> 03:09:09,170
Aye.

2544
03:09:09,430 --> 03:09:10,830
And the motion carries 5-0.

2545
03:09:12,590 --> 03:09:14,170
We'll go to item number 12.

2546
03:09:14,310 --> 03:09:16,410
This is a public comment period.

2547
03:09:16,950 --> 03:09:19,810
If there's anyone present in the room that would like to make a public comment,

2548
03:09:20,270 --> 03:09:22,150
or if we haven't worn you out and you've left,

2549
03:09:22,870 --> 03:09:23,910
please come forward now.

2550
03:09:24,270 --> 03:09:26,070
We would love to hear your input.

2551
03:09:27,830 --> 03:09:29,170
Not seeing a rush to the front.

2552
03:09:29,170 --> 03:09:33,110
Now, we'll also provide the same opportunity to any of our friends that are joining online.

2553
03:09:33,610 --> 03:09:38,490
If you'll use the raise hand icon, our IT director will identify you, and we would love

2554
03:09:38,490 --> 03:09:39,330
to hear your comments.

2555
03:09:46,820 --> 03:09:52,000
Not seeing any public comments online as well, this will end and close the public comment

2556
03:09:52,000 --> 03:09:52,380
period.

2557
03:09:53,000 --> 03:09:56,780
We are going to circle back to agenda item, which was a closed session.

2558
03:09:56,920 --> 03:09:59,160
You'll notice that there is no action item after that.

2559
03:09:59,320 --> 03:10:01,740
You're welcome to stay, but I understand if you cannot.

2560
03:10:02,400 --> 03:10:05,620
The next Randall County Commissioner's Court will be March the 12th.

2561
03:10:05,620 --> 03:10:18,820
At this time, we're going to enter into a closed session pursuant to government code section 551.071 to consult with counsel regarding pending or contemplated litigation on a matter made confidential under the Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct.

2562
03:10:19,740 --> 03:10:21,040
Have a blessed day.

2563
03:10:22,960 --> 03:10:23,520
All

2564
03:10:38,500 --> 03:10:46,180
right, the Randall County Commissioner's Court is back in session. This ends the Randall County Commissioner's Court for February 27, 2024.

2565
03:10:46,800 --> 03:10:50,000
The next commissioner's court will be March the 12th, 2024.

2566
03:10:50,500 --> 03:10:56,500
I want to thank everybody for attending and keep our firemen and our first responders

2567
03:10:56,500 --> 03:11:00,240
in your prayers as we navigate the fire day today and through the spring.

2568
03:11:02,160 --> 03:11:05,240
Susan, I have a copy of Murphy's letter as well.

2569
03:11:05,440 --> 03:11:07,140
If you'd like that for the official records.

2570
03:11:07,820 --> 03:11:09,280
Okay, so that might help.

2571
03:11:09,560 --> 03:11:12,400
So I'll have Sandy scan that and email it to you.

2572
03:11:13,240 --> 03:11:13,360
Thank you very much.