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The minister's court. We'll have the pledges to both flags and then we'll proceed. I

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pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which

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it stands. One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the

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texas flag by texas. One state under god, one and indivisible. Started this morning. First of

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all, we do have a public hearing scheduled at 9 a.m. So we need to go to that and we'll

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proceed to the agenda from there. Public hearing to allow public comments regarding

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proposed fiscal year 2026 budget. The budget will raise more revenue from property

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taxes and last year's budget by the amount of $13,820, which is a 2/10 percent increase from

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last year's budget. The property tax revenue to be raised from new property tax

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added to the tax roll this year is $3,887,089. So with that, I will go ahead and recess the

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commissioners court at 9:01 a.m. Open public hearing, mr. Kucinich. All right. Yes, sir.

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so what we have here today is the public hearing for the proposed fiscal year 26 budget

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for the county. And so, just to kind of quick overview, what we're proposing to be adopted

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or possibly adopted later. Just a quick overview for the maintenance and operation for

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the operating funds. Proposed tax rates for the road and bridge specialist .080411 cents

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per $100 valuation. The general rate is 0.29210 $0.05 per hundred dollar valuation. And

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then the debt rate, and that's a total of 0.37251 $0.06 for the maintenance operations. And

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then a debt rate of 0.3724 $0.05. And that would be a total county rate of 0.409761

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cents. As judge mentioned, will be. Raising property tax revenue by $13,820, which is

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0.0 2% from compared to last year. There is a 4% cola for all employees. This elected

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officials, elected officials salaries are raised either by supplemental by state mandate

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for supplements and also grievance. So there's the constables have that increase

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in salary there. Other than that that's what I have for right now. Any public comment,

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any public questions. This is what it's for for the public to ask questions. What we're doing

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with the budget. Any public comment. Last chance, any public comment okay. Hearing no

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public comment. We will go ahead and adjourn the public hearing. 9:03 a.m. Reconvene

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commissioners court going on to item 1.3, which is citizens to be heard. And I do have a few

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cards this morning. First of all, I have sonja witherspoon. So if you if when your name is

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called, come up to the podium, give your name and address and we will give you three minutes

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to talk. Good morning, judge and commissioners. My name is sonja witherspoon with

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witherspoon construction and I live in precinct three. I'm here today to give an update on

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the epoxy flake flooring system that we installed in civic center. We did complete that by

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noon on saturday, and we're going to be installing the cove base tomorrow. And the reason

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why I'm coming here as a citizen, because I just wanted to let you all know that we're very blessed as a county to have miss rosa and kelly as the staff there. And we've worked

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with three of the four staff members there. Charlie and frank are awesome, but ricky

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went above and beyond. On thursday, whenever the rains came, the waters entered the

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building and we were afraid that it had damaged our prime base. And he actually stayed

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after and got sandbags and helped me put them down to help keep the water from penetrating

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worse. So I just want to let you all know that we're very blessed to have those employees.

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I can't believe that only four staff, four crew and two staff work out there, but they take

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pride in the fairgrounds and it's a blessing to have them there. Thank you, thank you.

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okay, next card I have is from charles fox. Good morning everybody. My name is charles

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fox. I live at 5413 county road 1675, outside of odum. My public comment today is

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basically on the evangeline water project. I'm sure everybody here has heard about it at some point or another. And I'm here trying to express my concerns about drilling

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water wells, that much water being pulled out of our aquifers and near sinton, and

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how it's going to affect my family, ranchers, farmers, everybody else that requires

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that groundwater. You know, we I understand we have right of capture laws, but the right of

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capture for the landowners, not for a city that's going to be pulling it out that much. And

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I've listened to some people that say it's not going to be detrimental to to us. Well,

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pull out 25 to 30 million gallons a day from however many wells that's going to

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eventually hurt us. And then how am I going to or how is anybody else going to complete

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their wells to get down to that section of water that we can continue to live where we live?

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pardon me. So I ask you all to please whatever in your power to, you know, stop the

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permitting process from it, from happening, from them being able to transport our water. I

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understand we have a conservation district here in the in san patricio county.

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let's conserve that water for our area. For san patricio county, promote desalination,

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which is a better long term solution. Even though it costs more, everything costs more

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nowadays. It doesn't. And that's all I have. Thank you, mr. Fogg. Thank you. Next card

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I have is anthony nedic. I'm anthony nedic, live on at 5800 county road 1360. I've been

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here multiple times with several concerns. Always cut off short and don't have a

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chance to voice them. So I've gotten a little perturbed. I guess I forgot about it. Three

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minutes is not long enough when I drive to drive 30 minutes, so I talked to some legal people

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and they told me you have to try a different route. They ain't going to give you a

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chance to voice your your concerns, to take some pictures of what your concerns are right

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on the pictures. Short little description of what's what. And they said pictures are worth a

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thousand words. We've heard that. So I want to make sure I don't take too much time. And

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I'm going to leave these pictures. But with. The court clerk and I want them filed for

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record. And with that, I'll wish you all a good morning. Thank you. Mr. Next card I have

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is from james dodson. Good morning, commissioners county judge. My name is james dodson.

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I reside at 410 north vine street, victoria, texas. I'm a consultant working with the

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laguna water project. I've been working on that project for approximately 12 years now to

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gather information about the hydrogeologic resources that are within that project's area.

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the project area comprises the properties owned by one of the families here within the the

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county. They have been exemplary members of this community, and we are not

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trying to promote anything but a great water project that serves this region. I do have

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some handouts which I will leave today, but my main point is to talk about the science

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that underlies this project. This project area has been extensively studied, monitored,

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evaluated. Personally, I've spent weeks and weeks and weeks going around to check every

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water well on the property, the livestock, irrigation wells, anything that was there. We

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gathered information on those wells. We also drilled two large wells to measure the

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hydrogeologic properties of that area. And we have all of that information then fed into

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the evaluation by a licensed professional geologist, one of the best in the business, who

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has been advising us all along the way. And we have also worked with the local

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groundwater conservation district, attended almost every meeting they've ever held, and

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have kept them apprized of what this project is about, and they have been very supportive. We

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believe that their rules are honest, effective, and they they apply very well in this

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particular case. So I have some information handouts. I will leave them here or if you

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prefer them with you now I can leave copies and then I'll have a few extra copies. But I'd be

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happy at any time that's appropriate to answer any questions. Okay. Any questions?

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thank you sir.

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okay. Now I'm going to deviate a little bit here from our original agenda.

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we're going to going down to item 2.4 b on your agenda. Which is consideration and

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action on a request by david krebs, county judge, for a resolution in support of the

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sentence and the sumter county citizens water rights. And this is a resolution. Usually we

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don't read a resolution, but I think the importance of this resolution, I think I do need

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to read it this morning, and then we'll proceed from there. A resolution declaring

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commitment to the city of sinton and sumter county residents water rights. Whereas

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the coastal bend region is experiencing severe drought conditions, with water levels

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critically low and future water supply projects still years from completion. And whereas

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access to reliable water supplies is essential for the economic stability, industrial

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growth, public health and overall prosperity of the coastal bend region. And

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whereas, cities, counties, industries and economic leaders throughout the coastal bend

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have historically pursued individual water solutions, which has resulted in

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fragmentation and a failure to secure a level of state and federal funding necessary. The

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waters growing water needs. And whereas the city of corpus christi on august the 12th,

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2025 approved a plan to buy water rights from the evangeline underground project

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in san patricio county in the amount of 25.4 million gallons per day. And whereas the city

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of corpus christi decision to tap into groundwater resources in hampshire county poses

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significant risk to local farmers and residents of sinton by threatening the water supply.

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now, therefore, be it resolved that number one, hampshire county formally joins the city

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of sydney to express concerns that the 25.5 million gallon project poses significant risks

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to local farmers and residents of sinton by threatening the local water supply. Number two,

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the county is formally opposed to any misuse of the water out of the evangeline ground

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project that would result in the loss of water supply, including the use of 25.5

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million gallons of water out of the evangeline aquifer and three. San patricio county

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publicly supports a unified strategy to identify the adequate advocate for and

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implementation of long term water solutions, including desalinization, groundwater

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development and aquifer development, inter-basin, water transfers, and infrastructure

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investment. Okay, did I have a motion to accept the motion to approve? Second, got a motion

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by commissioner sikorski. Second by commissioner gillespie to approve any questions or comments on the resolution? Judge. Yes. I think there's a lot of information

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here that we need to be considering. And if our goal is to protect sinton, I don't

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think this resolution is really doing that. So if that's what we're trying to achieve, I

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don't think we're doing that. And there's a whole host of other issues that were kind of

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contradicting ourselves on. So for many years we've been asking the city of corpus christi, who supplies the other eight cities in our county, to pursue other water sources, and

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now they're finally looking at other water sources in. The very first thing we do is turn

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around and pass a resolution opposing that. That seems like that's contradictory to what

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we've been trying to achieve. Some of the the wording in this resolution, I don't I don't

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have facts that support that. I would need to see something that. That backs up what we're

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saying. You know, I've been involved with looking at the evangeline water system for

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many years and. I've, I have a hard time lining up what I've seen with what we're saying in

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this resolution. I think that there's ways we can do this. I think that there's if if the

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concern is for the existing wells, I think that issue can be addressed as well. I don't

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think this resolution does that. We do have a san patricio county. Groundwater

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conservation district. Those are elected officials whose job it is to oversee this type of

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thing. They should be monitoring this. They should be reviewing these things. They're the ones who should be the experts on this. And I think that's where this really should

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be falling, and not on the commissioners court of san francisco county. Comments.

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well, judge, I got a couple things to say. Number one city in texas is only city in the

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coastal bend I know of in our area that draws water from the water wells. The rest of the

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cities pay the city of corpus christi, whether it be through spec or through not spec, but

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sanpete county municipal water district or other. There's another entity out to rincon

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that buys water through them and gets them in. Corpus actually gets the water to them

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and they pay for them with a surcharge, I guess. But. I've been on this court now for

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eight months, and this this is the first time that I've heard about the evangelina in the

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last month here, and it would be safe to say that if you're going to do something this

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massive, you come to court and you explain to what you're doing. Now, I don't know a

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whole lot about the evangelina, but I'm learning. I'm learning as best I can through a lot of

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resources that are online and so forth. But if you're going to do a project when you're

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talking between 2012 and 24 million gallons a day out of our groundwater, and you would

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come to court and explain to it now, we do have a groundwater district was created in 2005,

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and charlie ring is president of that. He's bringing in cotton. He wasn't in church yesterday. I was going to talk to him yesterday, but he wasn't there. But these are local

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people. You know, the experts need to come talk to us before they start doing these projects.

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and I understand you say you've worked on it for years. Like I said, this last eight months, I

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started hearing about this a month ago. And I'm an old retired navy sailor now. I've

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lived off of desalination water for 24 years of my life out there. I know everyone on the

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ships I was on and that won't hurt you. I'm here to say, and I believe in desal and in salt

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water. It may be more expensive, but there's a lot more water out there in the gulf than

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there is over here under our ground. That's all I got to say. So, judge, I want to add a

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couple things. So I do sympathize with the city of sinton. I know we have the mayor and the city manager and some other folks here from sinton, because I'm going to go

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out on a limb and guess that the city of corpus christi probably has not been

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communicating well with you and and discussing what the plans are, and shame on them for not

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getting out ahead of this and being more, you know. It seems like every time I deal with

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corpus, I say the same thing. So we'll just let that sit. I understand that I do sympathize

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with you. I understand the situation you're in, but I have to look at this from a county

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level, and I will say this. The water rights for evangeline belong to those are privately

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held water rights. Those people can sell that water to whoever they choose to sell it to. And

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if it doesn't go to the city, corpus christi, that water will be sold to somebody else,

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whether that's future industry, whether that's a, you know, private equity group that just

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comes in and buys it up, who knows? City of san antonio is always looking for water. They

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could easily purchase that water and pipe it up to san antonio. That water eventually

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will be sold. There's only so much water. People are going to buy the water. The advantage of

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having corpus christi purchase that water is it stays in our local regional water system.

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right now, I believe we get 40 million gallons a day from corpus christi water back to

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san francisco municipal water, which is then distributed to our eight other cities. This

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would help offset that. Obviously, we're in a long term drought in our region. Like I

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said, we've asked corpus christi to pursue every drop of water they can possibly find

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that is financially viable to pursue. Desalination is one of those options. Groundwater is

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another option, so I have a hard time. Passing a resolution opposing that when that's what

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we've been asking them to do for a very long time. And I was actually pleased that they're

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finally taking some steps to to help alleviate our water issues in the region. And this is just

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one step. They've been doing some other things as well. So I think, judge, this is a very

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complicated issue. I think it goes far beyond what we have in this resolution. I do not think

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this resolution does really anything to protect sinton, if that's what our goal is. I

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think there's other ways we could be going about this. Your honor, can I say a few things?

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just some thoughts now, when did corpus christi come over here and present to us that

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they were going to take groundwater out of san patricio county? I don't remember seeing

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them here. The other thing is, is they start pulling this much water out of the ground. What

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happens if the they're wrong and the groundwater drops where the wells that our farmers have

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and the city has can't reach that water, they're going to do deeper wells. What about the recharging of the evangeline water system? How fast it going to refresh? I don't know, I've

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heard no one from anyone talk about the science of it. I hate to say that word science, but I

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would hate to have corpus christi take this water and then charge us to get it back

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with no discount on what we pay now. Plus the fact not knowing what will happen if they take

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this much water out. There was a gentleman here, talked about it. Maybe he can tell us, I

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don't know, but I fully support the resolution. To call for a person that wants to talk.

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stephen. Yes, sir. Thank you. Judge. Commissioners. My name is stephen thomas. I served on

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the board of the san patricio county groundwater conservation district for over a decade. I

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also was appointed by governor perry to serve on the board of the nueces river authority.

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prior to my service on the water district board, I understand the water issues in

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our area, the groundwater rules and regulations. I also have an understanding of aquifers and

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fluids in the subsurface, developed through my career as a geologist in south texas. My

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education consists of a bachelor of science in geophysics and mathematics from smu, a master of science in geophysics and petroleum seismology with texas a&m in

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college station, and I graduated from sinton high school in 1988. I am also one

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of the many residents of south texas that are descendants of rob welder, and I have a

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personal interest in the evangeline project. I've resided with my wife and children in portland, texas for over 20 years. In addition to drilling many oil and gas wells

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along the texas coast, we have built a family real estate business almost exclusively in south texas. Is our hope that the san patricio county and sinton will continue to prosper

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in the future. And to do that, we need water supplies that are affordable and reliable. So

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that's just just background on me. So you know where I'm coming from. I'm here today to

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ask you to look at the data. And and I agree with mr. Zagorsky, commissioner zagorsky,

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that's what you need to do. You need to study the data. And I would ask that you wait to make

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any sort of resolution until you've studied the data. If you study the data in science, I

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think you will reject the resolution that you have in front of you. And I think that you will adopt a resolution endorsing the evangeline project as the ideal alternate,

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the ideal source of additional water for our area. No one wants to hurt sin. The data and

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the groundwater system, the groundwater district system protects. The data shows that

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that the project will not hurt sinton, and the system protects sinton and the rest of the

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county. And there's been a lot of fear and hysterics from people who haven't studied science, who haven't been involved in the process. That got evangeline the permits that

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it has in order to do the project that is proposing to do so. Everyone wants to try. But

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what does it do? What good does it do for sinton to have unlimited water and the rest of

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the county to die of thirst? You represent the county. 90% of the county relies on corpus

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christi water. Portland, ingleside, aransas pass. Taft. Odem. Gregory. Ingleside on the

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bay. The rincon water system, the seaboard water system are all taking water from corpus

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christi. That's 90% of the county population. Mathis is on the lake. Mathis is is is. If

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corpus christi drains the lake. Mathis doesn't have their water either. The jobs in san

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patricio county are dependent upon corpus christi water, steel dynamics, kiewit, gulf

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coast growth ventures. Flint. Hills. Bay, cheniere, oxy, enbridge, arcelormittal and all

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the jobs that rely on those people to sell, you know, their restaurants, their, the school

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districts, everything is is except for sinton and saint paul are reliant on on. Corpus

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christi water. The the groundwater district has. A system to permit the water and

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the the process started where the groundwater district takes what they expect to pumpage to

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be, and they go to the texas water development board. And the texas water development

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board has a model for what can be produced in the groundwaters, in the in the aquifers and what

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this how those aquifers will be sustained with the evangeline pumpage in the approved by the

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groundwater conservation district. The desired future condition that was this is you

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can go to the website and go to san francisco groundwater conservation district website.

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and you pull up the district management plan, which was which was filed in 2022. And it

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tells you what the desired future condition that was approved by by the region 16

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groundwater management area that includes san francisco county all the way to the

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valley. And and it tells you based upon the punches that that include evangeline.

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evangeline is included in that along with all the other expected county usage. And in

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20, 80, 50 years, more than 50 years from now, the desired future condition for san

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francisco county is 69ft of drawdown for the gulf coast aquifer. That means in your

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wells, the level of water 55 years from now will be 69ft lower. That's the that's the

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that's not evangeline science. That is the texas water development board. Science,

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including the evangeline project, 69ft of impact so that 90% of the county can have a

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more reliable water supply, not just sinton. Nobody wants to hurt sinton. This is in the

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groundwater district's numbers. The groundwater district has permitted this. They've studied this the texas water development board, to study this. And you can use in the

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gulf coast. The gulf coast aquifer extends all the way from the valley to the

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louisiana border. The city of houston has pumped since the 1920s. Higher levels than what

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we're talking about pumping for the next 60 years. They've gone up to 12 times per year. What

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we've pumped, what we're talking about pumping. And it was it's been sustained. It's still they're still pumping large volumes of groundwater in houston. And they've pumped

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huge volumes that they're talking about. The modeled available groundwater for san

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patricio county is is approximately 50 million gallons a day. Houston

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sustained pumping over 450 million gallons for year after year after year from the same

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aquifer. So the hydrologists understand these things. It may be a foreign idea and it may

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shock the people in sinton who are who have a monopoly on the water. But it's not just water,

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it's this is a chance for the whole county to be served and the area to be served by that.

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so the jobs at steel dynamics, those are that's the city of corpus christi. What that means

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this water is now available to help them. The jobs in ingleside, in portland. This

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water is now available to help them. The water is still available to help the 14 farmers to irrigate. We have 14 farmers to irrigate in this county, and we want them to

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thrive. But there's there's a lot more jobs in san patricio county than that, and there's a

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lot more economic importance in the county. We want to thrive and we want the whole county to

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thrive. So I'd ask you to look at the data. All this this is on the it's on our groundwater

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conservation district web page. You can go out there and you can you can see that these

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numbers are in the project. These these numbers are in the plan, the project the project

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is in the plan. And if you study that and you look at the crisis that we're in for water,

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and you consider what, what a curtailment of water would look like, if you want it, you have

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it. You have your budget approval earlier. If we don't have water, all the property that's taxed in order to pay for that budget is going to the crater and value all across the

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county. Ingleside is dependent upon this on corpus water. Mathis is dependent upon corpus

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water. Portland's dependent on corpus water. Make let's make the water available to

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everybody in the county, not just sitting in 14 years. Thank you for. And if you have a

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question for me, I'd be happy to answer. Are you in the currently on the board? I'm not. Okay. I haven't seen I haven't talked to anybody who's on the board. Okay. There's been no

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presentations whatsoever ahead of this. And you know, I'm I am not until you. I don't work for

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evangeline. Yeah. I am a member of the family that made a deal with evangeline. Okay. To.

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because they they came out and they took a risk to spend a bunch of money to to test rule

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test wells. Right. And now this resource is proven up and available for this area, and

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it's time of crisis. So the I can't speak for them. I don't know why they didn't come

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before I before I become a believer I need to have somebody else. I mean I get

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that before the because the science is so strong. I don't think they thought there would be a backlash there. Look at what houston's park. They've pumped huge amounts relative to.

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and we've not our region has not done that. So I think that there may have been a a

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misplaced confidence that there wasn't going to be a bunch of concern. I mean, we haven't

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been contacted by anybody from corpus christi either. Well, I don't know if the I don't think,

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I don't think the corpus christi had decided to, you know, they wanted there there there's a big push, as you know, to do inner harbor. So I don't think they until they saw the,

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the cost of inner harbor desal was going to be twice what evangeline is going to be. The

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evangeline numbers are half of what the inner harbor is going to be. So that's that's half as

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expensive water for portland and mathis and ingleside. And that's over the first 30 years

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after they pay off the project. That water is even cheaper because they they own that

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resource. And and there was a comment from, from a speaker earlier saying that the city

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shouldn't have the right to use right of capture. Sinton uses right of capture. That's how sinton gets their water. They're using the right of capture, just like the

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irrigators using right of capture. Right. In order to to have a better crop, make more

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money off the crops. We want them to do that. And someday they may want to if, if the if

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once you see that evangeline is doing well, those irrigators may want to turn around and

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make a deal to provide water. And mayor judge krebs, you know, you don't have to irrigate in

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san patricio county to make good crops. And they may say, you know what? We'd rather sell

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our water to ingleside then then irrigate, because that's a that's a more economic

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advantage, a better economic advantage for us to do that for, for for both ingleside and for

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irrigators. It could be great. So I don't I don't disagree with you. I'm serious. I mean,

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it's just and I and I understand you want to look at more data and that's why that's

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why I would urge you not to act, not to act today and give a headline to channel three so

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they can say fight, fight, fight in san patricio county. If you pass this resolution

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today, you're going to just stir the pot and create a bigger barrier to the corpus,

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trying to add a water supply, that is critical for our area. So I'd ask you to to to put it

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off until you study the data more, because all that data is out there, and I know that the

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guys can get you more data, and they'd be happy to do that. So judge, again, I say this is a

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very complicated issue. I do not think we have a clear picture of what is really going

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on here. Yeah, I wonder why and wonder why we're we're about ready to contradict our own

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groundwater conservation district, and we're about ready to contradict ourselves in what

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we've been pushing corpus christi to do for years. So. Well, this is another one of

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those ones where, you know, we've been given no information whatsoever to act on, and all

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of a sudden it shows up in the agenda. We haven't heard from corpus, we haven't heard from

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the groundwater people, you know, we haven't heard from anybody. We're getting out. Let

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me ask a question. Has anyone out here heard anything about evangeline from these people

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that want the water? To come up on? Will you come up, please? The mayor is out there

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somewhere too, right? She's there. Okay. All right. John hopkins, city of sinton. Yes,

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commissioner. I was approached by the evangeline group, probably three years, maybe a

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little more. Yes, I did express my concern about pumping groundwater. You know, we talk

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about the science and the data. We have over 20 years of science and data on desal, but

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we don't believe it because we don't want to believe it because it's expensive. It's not easy. We have science and data on evangeline, but it's easy. It's cheaper. We talk

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about risk to the bays and estuaries, and we believe the science that we're going to

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harm everything over there. And so we can't do it. And and we talk about science and data

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here. And we're willing to risk the potential of one city for the benefit of everyone else.

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and that's okay, commissioner, you understand if that's that's how you feel. But desal is a

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permanent solution. I'm not here to to support the desal one way or the other. But when

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there's another solution, rather than pumping groundwater and we talk about houston

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pumping all the groundwater, they did. I, I grew up in houston. I'm fully aware of

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what happens there. Houston sinks every year. We don't know what 25 million gallons a day

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is going to do. This is about the resolution is not trying to stop anything. Commissioner

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yarley. All it's saying is we're supporting what sinton's doing. We're we're going to

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fight, fight, fight, because that is the right thing for us to do. We're at risk. We don't

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know this. We we can talk about the science all day long, but we do not know what 25 million

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gallons a day out of the aquifer is going to do to the wells in this area. Call the

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question. I have one more comment about the question. You made a comment about the

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question. What can I make one more comment about the subsidence in houston? He said

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houston sinks. He said, we do know. We do know. We called for the question already. So we got

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a vote. Thomas, sorry about that question, carl. I got a motion. I mean, in a second

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approval of the resolution. Well, I, I made the motion and I made the second. I'm calling

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the question. Okay. I made a second before you ready to vote? Yeah. I mean, anything we can

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do that. If it turns around, things change or are different. We can always rescind the

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resolution later. So that's, you know, but we need to support the city of sinton as well. Exactly. That's what I'd like to make it very clear. I am not been called. Had a

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question? Okay. Call for the vote. Judge, please. All those in favor of the motion say I, I

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all those opposed same sign. Okay. Resolution passes 4 to 1. Okay. I think we just passed a

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resolution that does not have factual information in it. So congratulations. And we can always change it later if we get more factual information that supports something other

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than this. So let it go. Move on. At this point. Okay. Let's go back on up to 1.4, which is

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our report from judge, commissioners and department heads. Mr. Sikorski. Okay.

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we're payment in 1432. I've got two grass cutting teams out. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be

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closing on the two new buildings for not new buildings, but purchased buildings in taft

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for the precinct. Okay. Early morning judge. Thank you. Good morning everybody. Alright.

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let's see. Last week several of us attended the state of the industry in portland. On

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thursday, congressman cloud was the guest speaker. And so was that a board with paul fritsch

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from gulf coast growth ventures and michael spitz from australia? Mattel, always

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interesting to hear from our local industries, their take on how things are going. And not

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surprisingly, water is one of their top concerns. Congressman cloud is speaking again this

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afternoon at del mar college. If anybody's interested on the economic trends of our area.

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friday, you know, I've hired a lot of new personnel in my road crew. So friday we went out for

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our quarterly lunch. It was kind of good to get the crew and staff together again with

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all our new folks. And this week we have the the texas association of counties

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legislative conference in austin. I know several of us will be heading up there to

355
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austin to get up to speed on the legislative year this year, and obviously they're still in

356
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special session. So we will take the opportunity to once again bend our legislative ears

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on the issues that we have. That's all I have, judge. An old sand pit area. We're paving

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our county road, 1740 mclaren road. We're prepped for the first course on that, and we're

359
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also on market street and mcmullen street in old san pat. We're processing the road prep

360
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and county road 1510 and odom, we're doing road repair and 502 in saint paul, and we're doing

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patching work and county road 798 and 2047 and odom and lakeshore gardens in mathis.

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we're doing brush pickup in the lakeside hidden acres area. We're installing reflector

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delineators in county road 350 and 285 in mathis. And we're also putting up street signs in

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county road 1677, county road 325, county road 340, county road 307, and county road 360

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in the area. And we're finishing the prepping of the road for county road 1839, in

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edroy. And we installed culverts in the 1849. And odom, thank you, mr. Gillespie. Yes,

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sir. I have to depart at 10:00. Just so you know, nothing else to report, judge. I want to

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also bring up one other thing. Is senate passed the bill to split our county again into two

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congressional districts and some way up to the governor to sign. So again, we're going to

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be part with congressman cloud, and we're going to get a new congressman on this end of the

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county. Okay. Department heads, any department heads. I just have a reminder. We've been

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getting some phone calls I mentioned txdot will be here, our retirement system. We'll be

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here september 3rd and september 4th on the presentation on the september

374
00:42:43,433 --> 00:42:43,433
3rd at 9:00. And at 130 there are you do not need an appointment. We're going to be

375
00:42:49,666 --> 00:42:53,600
meeting here. They're just doing some overview on the program and what's going on now the september 3rd afternoon and september 4th. Those are the one on ones. Those are the

376
00:42:59,666 --> 00:42:59,666
employees that are close to retirement. Having those changes coming into effect in

377
00:43:03,766 --> 00:43:03,766
january 1st, those we do have about three slots open to fill, but on the ones for the

378
00:43:10,233 --> 00:43:10,233
presentation on the third, you do not have to have an appointment. It's open to all

379
00:43:14,766 --> 00:43:14,766
employees. What time is the one on the third? On the third, 9:00 and then 130 and it'll be

380
00:43:20,366 --> 00:43:20,366
in this courtroom. We have court that day at nine the september 3rd. Sorry, it's a

381
00:43:25,433 --> 00:43:25,433
wednesday, wednesday, wednesday. We have court on the second. We're off that monday we have

382
00:43:31,633 --> 00:43:31,633
court on the second. Right. And then wednesday is when we start. Okay okay, okay. Any other

383
00:43:39,733 --> 00:43:39,733
department heads? Okay. Then we'll go ahead and move on to 2.1, which is approval of

384
00:43:48,733 --> 00:43:48,733
minutes of our august 18th meeting. Move to approve second. Second. Any questions?

385
00:43:56,966 --> 00:43:56,966
corrections to the minutes hearing. None. All those in favor of the motion say aye.

386
00:44:02,166 --> 00:44:02,166
aye. Those opposed same sign. Motion carries. 2.2 a examination consideration.

387
00:44:07,233 --> 00:44:07,233
action of all claims against. Move to pay the bills. Second motion by gillespie, seconded

388
00:44:13,433 --> 00:44:13,433
by gorski. Any question on any of the bills presented this morning? Hearing none. All

389
00:44:18,533 --> 00:44:18,533
those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Same sign. Motion carries.

390
00:44:24,466 --> 00:44:24,466
budget line item transfers. I do have a few this morning. First of all, I got one out

391
00:44:30,166 --> 00:44:30,166
from gary davis, airport manager sent an airport transferring funds from

392
00:44:35,466 --> 00:44:38,866
building repairs and maintenance into workers compensation, insurance and miscellaneous services and charges. Second one's out of gary davis from the ingleside

393
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:46,200
regional airport, transferring funds from construction services into building

394
00:44:52,033 --> 00:44:52,033
maintenance, repair materials, fuel oil and lubricants, nco furniture and equipment,

395
00:44:57,133 --> 00:44:57,133
equipment, vehicles and furniture. Next one's out of court at law number two,

396
00:45:04,300 --> 00:45:04,300
transferring funds from jury experience into travel and visiting judges. Next one is on

397
00:45:11,066 --> 00:45:11,066
the department of county clerk transferring funds from furniture, equipment and

398
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:17,200
vehicles into nco furniture and equipment excellence out of the sheriff's department.

399
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:22,400
transferring funds from travel into vehicle, equipment and rental, and then another one

400
00:45:27,966 --> 00:45:27,966
transferring funds, fuel oil and lubricants into ncl furniture and equipment.

401
00:45:32,433 --> 00:45:32,433
another one out of sheriff's department transferring funds from miscellaneous services and

402
00:45:36,633 --> 00:45:36,633
charges in the software license and support. Next one is out of jp number two, transferring

403
00:45:43,433 --> 00:45:43,433
funds from printing and overtime insurance, bonds and premiums, miscellaneous

404
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:48,000
services and charges. Next one is out of road and bridge. Two transferring funds from travel

405
00:45:53,466 --> 00:45:53,466
into pre-employment physicals. Move to approved budget line item transfers as presented.

406
00:45:59,833 --> 00:45:59,833
second motion seconded by gillespie. Approved budget line item transfers. All those in

407
00:46:05,066 --> 00:46:05,066
favor of the motion say aye. Aye. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. 2.2 c is consideration.

408
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:13,000
action on bank reconciliation. Treasurer's report. Good morning judge. Good morning

409
00:46:17,333 --> 00:46:17,333
commissioners. This week's health transfer is $101,100. Our section 122 total is

410
00:46:27,133 --> 00:46:27,133
$2,424.61. We have one asserted claim for $200, and our escrow total is $2,920.55. Would you

411
00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:36,100
accept treasurer's report? Second motion by gillespie, seconded by the treasurer's

412
00:46:41,166 --> 00:46:41,166
report. Any questions? Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. Those

413
00:46:47,733 --> 00:46:47,733
opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Now we're going to go into some

414
00:46:53,033 --> 00:46:53,033
budget related matter items. 2.2 d is fiscal year 2026 budget and related matters 2.2

415
00:47:00,500 --> 00:47:00,500
d one is presentation, description, discussion, consideration and action on

416
00:47:05,333 --> 00:47:05,333
revisions to the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and the commissioners court considers

417
00:47:11,033 --> 00:47:11,033
warrant by the law and record by the interest of the taxpayers. Patrick, you want to

418
00:47:18,266 --> 00:47:18,266
go on into this? Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. All right. All right. So we did submit the proposed

419
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:25,000
budget to the county clerk, and it was listed on the on the county website on september,

420
00:47:29,566 --> 00:47:29,566
the september august 15th. And we had a few departments reach out, and there were some

421
00:47:36,700 --> 00:47:36,700
revisions that we did that we have in in front of you here to approve or disapprove. I'm just

422
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:43,200
going to run down the list real quick on the intoxilyzer program. Basically what we did,

423
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:48,000
we matched the revenue to the expenditures for that one. So we're adding revenue of about

424
00:47:53,566 --> 00:47:53,566
$4,229 a year. Approximate intoxilyzer program. I'm going to skip this the transfer for a

425
00:47:59,900 --> 00:47:59,900
minute. The expenditures in the var department, basically 2025 numbers were moved over to 2026.

426
00:48:08,366 --> 00:48:08,366
and so we adjusted those in those five line items there for court costs, visiting judges,

427
00:48:17,233 --> 00:48:17,233
other professional services, software license. It totaled about maybe $35,000 for that

428
00:48:22,333 --> 00:48:22,333
that we added on there elections. There was with the rate increase on the temporary

429
00:48:29,500 --> 00:48:29,500
employees from $12 to 14 and $15. And plus, with the new bills coming out that were

430
00:48:34,300 --> 00:48:34,300
passed by the legislature, she's going to have more time for those employees, which also

431
00:48:40,533 --> 00:48:40,533
would include more overtime as well. And so that was that increase for her department and

432
00:48:46,466 --> 00:48:46,466
the county treasurer. It was a net of zero. She does not have a temporary employee anymore.

433
00:48:51,533 --> 00:48:51,533
she has a regular part time regular employee. So we moved that money to increase overtime

434
00:48:57,333 --> 00:48:57,333
and also to adjust her regular employee line item for that animal control. There was a

435
00:49:06,566 --> 00:49:06,566
phone allowance missing on one of the employees that was going to be going to be housed at the

436
00:49:11,533 --> 00:49:11,533
animal shelter. So that's that. And then we added 15,000 for utilities. The transfers in and

437
00:49:18,533 --> 00:49:18,533
out. What that is, is should the court decide to hire a road supervisor or engineer,

438
00:49:25,966 --> 00:49:25,966
whatever the what the title is right now? Road superintendent. Superintendent. Thank you sir.

439
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:31,200
we're transferring out 50,000 from each of the department, each of the precincts into what

440
00:49:36,266 --> 00:49:36,266
was fund 25. And that's what recover that that salary and benefits, plus any other small

441
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:43,000
expenditures that they may need at that time. So that's what we have at as of friday afternoon

442
00:49:48,300 --> 00:49:48,300
at about 430. No, I have any questions. Anybody for a motion, your honor? Yeah, I'm waiting

443
00:49:55,333 --> 00:49:55,333
for. I'll move to approve. Second motion by gillespie second. Thank you, mr.

444
00:50:00,533 --> 00:50:00,533
commissioner. Yes, sir. Thank you. Any questions? Hearing all those in favor of the motion

445
00:50:05,266 --> 00:50:05,266
say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Same sign. Okay. Motion carried 2.2 d is consideration and

446
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:12,200
action on order adopted by elected official salaries. Compensation allowances for

447
00:50:16,366 --> 00:50:16,366
fiscal year 2026. Okay. Those are the salaries of the elected officials. Let me just note

448
00:50:23,466 --> 00:50:23,466
that when you look on that agenda, salaries, you'll see a big addition to my salary

449
00:50:29,966 --> 00:50:29,966
that's at stake. Oh yeah. That's from the state. So I didn't pay too much already.

450
00:50:35,233 --> 00:50:35,233
motion to approve. Second. Okay. Just letting you all know. Okay. Okay. Who else did you make?

451
00:50:44,300 --> 00:50:44,300
motion. Yes I did, and I seconded. Very loudly. Motion seconded all those. Oh any

452
00:50:51,133 --> 00:50:51,133
questions. Let me ask that. All those in favor of the motion say aye. All those opposed.

453
00:50:56,500 --> 00:50:56,500
same sign. Motion carries. 2.2 d three is consideration. Action on order. Adopting

454
00:51:04,466 --> 00:51:04,466
budget for the fiscal year 2026. Move to approve. Second. Motion. Seconded by the gorski. And I

455
00:51:14,133 --> 00:51:14,133
think this is the one you have to read. Correct. Oh, I have to read it. Yeah okay. This is the

456
00:51:20,100 --> 00:51:20,100
one. We've all read this one, right, patrick. Okay. Order adopting budget for fiscal year.

457
00:51:25,433 --> 00:51:25,433
okay. You want me to? I'll read it first or you want to read it. Well, let me read it while we

458
00:51:31,533 --> 00:51:31,533
got it. We got a motion a second. Let me read it that way. Then we can vote on it. Order.

459
00:51:36,966 --> 00:51:36,966
adopting budget for fiscal year 2026. On this, the 25th day of august 2025, at a regular

460
00:51:41,500 --> 00:51:45,300
scheduled meeting of san patricio county commissioners court came to be considered the budget for estimated revenues and proposed county expenditures for the period

461
00:51:49,333 --> 00:51:49,333
beginning january 1st, 2026 and ending december 31st, 2026, and it appearing to the court that

462
00:51:57,366 --> 00:51:57,366
said budget is in accordance with the law and has been duly prepared by the county judge,

463
00:52:02,266 --> 00:52:02,266
assisted by the county auditor, on a modified accrual basis consistent with general,

464
00:52:07,433 --> 00:52:07,433
generally accepted accounting principles and duly filed for inspection. That notice has

465
00:52:13,066 --> 00:52:13,066
been given in accordance with law for public hearings on the adoption of said budget and the

466
00:52:18,266 --> 00:52:18,266
said budget having been duly considered by the court, inclusive of modifications

467
00:52:22,666 --> 00:52:22,666
agreed to in court. August 25th, 2025. On motion made, seconded and carried by the majority of

468
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:28,200
the commissioners court, it is ordered that the court that the said budget be and is, is, and

469
00:52:34,266 --> 00:52:34,266
it is hereby approved and adopted. It is further ordered by the court that the legal

470
00:52:38,500 --> 00:52:42,366
level of control for each legally adopted annual operating budget is the fund, and that amounts shown for individual items included in such totals be considered

471
00:52:47,633 --> 00:52:47,633
supplementary supplementary information, got a motion, and second, all those in favor of

472
00:52:53,433 --> 00:52:53,433
the motion say aye. Aye, aye. Those opposed same sign. Motion carries. Okay 2.2 d four is

473
00:53:01,966 --> 00:53:01,966
consideration and action on an order adopting the 2025 tax year property tax rate.

474
00:53:09,900 --> 00:53:09,900
supporting fiscal year 2026 budget. All right. Motion. Wait a minute. Okay, I'm going to

475
00:53:17,233 --> 00:53:17,233
make a motion that we go ahead and approve this. And I believe I have to read this whole one

476
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:22,400
too, right? Marcy, you just need to say maintenance and operation, okay? You don't have

477
00:53:26,700 --> 00:53:26,700
to read all maintenance and operations tax rate. Let me get a second for you. Oh, second.

478
00:53:31,300 --> 00:53:31,300
all right. Of course. Okay. Alright, alright. Just a total. It's good enough for everything.

479
00:53:36,900 --> 00:53:36,900
line by line. Yeah, line by line. I thought you were going to say that. Maintenance,

480
00:53:41,333 --> 00:53:41,333
operating tax, general fund and maintenance and operations tax rate is 0.292105. Road and

481
00:53:47,466 --> 00:53:47,466
bridge maintenance and operations tax rate is 0.080411. Total maintenance and

482
00:53:55,500 --> 00:53:55,500
operations tax rate is 0.372516. Debt service tax rate. Debt service tax rate is 0.037245.

483
00:54:07,466 --> 00:54:07,466
total debt service rate is 0.037245. Total ad valorem tax rate is 0.40761. This tax rate

484
00:54:18,266 --> 00:54:18,266
will raise less taxes for maintenance and operations than last year's tax rate. The tax

485
00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:22,400
rate will effectively be lowered by 9.46%, and will lower taxes for maintenance and

486
00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:29,200
operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $28.93. Okay, a motion in a second. Any

487
00:54:37,233 --> 00:54:37,233
discussion question. Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye, I opposed

488
00:54:43,166 --> 00:54:43,166
same sign. Motion carried. Okay. 2.4. I mean 2.25. Consideration and action on order ratifying

489
00:54:53,333 --> 00:54:53,333
the property tax increase reflected in the budget for fiscal year 2026. And let me

490
00:55:00,266 --> 00:55:00,266
get there. You want me to read it? Okay. Order ratifying property tax rate increase for

491
00:55:08,066 --> 00:55:08,066
fiscal year 2026. On this 25th day of august 2025, at a regular scheduled meeting of

492
00:55:14,166 --> 00:55:14,166
the san patricio county commissioners court came to be considered, the property tax

493
00:55:18,500 --> 00:55:18,500
rate increase reflected in the duly adopted budget. The fiscal year beginning january 1st,

494
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:24,200
2026 and ending december 31st, 2026, having been duly considered by the court on

495
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:29,400
august 25th, 2025. On motion made, seconded and carried by the majority of the

496
00:55:34,533 --> 00:55:34,533
commissioners court, it is hereby ordered that the court ratifies the property tax rate

497
00:55:39,266 --> 00:55:39,266
increase reflected in the budget. I make that motion. Thank you. A motion by

498
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:44,000
gillespie, second by gorski. Any questions? Comments? Hearing none. All those in

499
00:55:48,233 --> 00:55:48,233
favor of the motion say aye. Aye, aye. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Okay. And that

500
00:55:57,366 --> 00:55:57,366
concludes all of those budget items under financial agenda. So we'll go into consent agenda.

501
00:56:05,233 --> 00:56:05,233
we do have two this morning. 2.3 a is accept and record invitation of optional fee for

502
00:56:12,166 --> 00:56:12,166
the calendar year 2026 for the texas department of motor vehicles and 2.3 be, accept and

503
00:56:19,333 --> 00:56:19,333
record county auditors monthly unaudited financial report for the month of july 31st, 2025.

504
00:56:27,633 --> 00:56:27,633
motion to approve 2.3 a and 2.3 b motion by zagorsky, seconded by gonzalez. Any questions on

505
00:56:35,400 --> 00:56:35,400
either one of them? Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. Opposed?

506
00:56:41,266 --> 00:56:41,266
same sign. Motion carries. Individual action items. We got 2.4. A presentation by kristin

507
00:56:48,466 --> 00:56:48,466
stenzel e d with the coastal bend bays and estuaries program on county funded goal mesa

508
00:56:56,600 --> 00:56:56,600
projects. Yeah, I hate sitting that long too. It's no y'all. Thank you all for for letting

509
00:57:01,266 --> 00:57:01,266
us come today. I have a lot of important business going on, so we appreciate the opportunity.

510
00:57:05,500 --> 00:57:09,066
kirsten stancil I'm the executive director for the coastal bend bays and estuaries program. Also have mary kramer, a project manager for us, and she's managing a lot of the

511
00:57:14,066 --> 00:57:14,066
projects that we're working on with the county with this mesa fund. So we just wanted to give

512
00:57:18,300 --> 00:57:18,300
you an update on where some of the projects stand right now, and then maybe talk a bit with

513
00:57:23,133 --> 00:57:23,133
you about what we're looking at for the additional funds that have recently come into the

514
00:57:27,833 --> 00:57:27,833
county. So just a reminder, these funds are a contribution that comes every year. You get

515
00:57:33,100 --> 00:57:33,100
a certain allocation and pretty consistent and a good pot of money, but it does does have

516
00:57:39,266 --> 00:57:39,266
some specified authorized uses and how it can be used. So it's all related to kind of coastal

517
00:57:45,366 --> 00:57:45,366
projects related to the revenues are coming from offshore oil and gas

518
00:57:49,566 --> 00:57:53,300
development coming back to the coastal counties. So it's a it's a great source for the county to be able to put to different projects. And so we're really excited to be able

519
00:57:57,400 --> 00:57:57,400
to work with with you all on these. So we've currently got seven projects that we're

520
00:58:01,933 --> 00:58:01,933
working on under an moa with the county. And so I'll go through these try to be

521
00:58:06,233 --> 00:58:06,233
relatively quick because I know you all have a lot going on, but if you could scroll down to

522
00:58:10,566 --> 00:58:10,566
the next one. Thanks. So one of the one of the projects we're working on, we call it the

523
00:58:15,366 --> 00:58:15,366
ingleside on the bay pocket park. So working with iob over there, this this project has

524
00:58:19,466 --> 00:58:23,333
has a couple different phases. The first, the first part of the project involved just the acquisition of that shoreline property that you see kind of up in the rendering up there.

525
00:58:27,233 --> 00:58:27,233
so that was completed almost a year and a half ago. The iob was able to to purchase that

526
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:36,100
property, and that the significance of this project is really you know, although iob has a lot of shoreline, there's not a lot that is open to the public. It's all restricted to

527
00:58:40,333 --> 00:58:40,333
private docks and piers and things to the beach club. And so this will provide a great

528
00:58:45,166 --> 00:58:49,133
opportunity for the public and visitors to come and utilize the shoreline here in iob. And so the property was purchased. We did put in some bollards along the shoreline just to

529
00:58:53,100 --> 00:58:53,100
keep people out. The property is pretty much all wetlands along there, so we want to make

530
00:58:57,133 --> 00:58:57,133
sure that we're protecting it. And then we also put a fence line next to one of the

531
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:05,566
property owners there at the the woman that we actually bought the property from or that I bought the property from, requested that there be kind of an access barrier there. So

532
00:59:10,366 --> 00:59:13,366
that's all complete. We're working with lj engineering and ferris designs to develop a master plan for the site. So you're seeing kind of one of the renderings up there of what

533
00:59:18,166 --> 00:59:21,500
this could potentially look like. So we gathered feedback from the the community members, and we talked about things like a boardwalk, maybe a kayak launch, an area on the end

534
00:59:25,333 --> 00:59:25,333
where you could sit and just kind of watch the boats go by, watch the sunset, you know,

535
00:59:30,300 --> 00:59:30,300
educational signage, all those kind of good things that would, would help, that help the site.

536
00:59:34,466 --> 00:59:34,466
there's also some shoreline protection options in there that you see. So obviously this

537
00:59:39,166 --> 00:59:39,166
is open right now to ship wakes and ongoing kind of wind and wave erosion. So as much as we

538
00:59:45,566 --> 00:59:48,266
can trying to preserve that that habitat that's left because obviously that's also going to protect the road behind that. So that that that habitat, there is a great

539
00:59:52,200 --> 00:59:52,200
buffer between that and and seabreeze drive there. So the one of the issues with this

540
00:59:58,366 --> 00:59:58,366
site is that you can't because of it being wetlands, it's very difficult to do any on, on, on

541
01:00:03,266 --> 01:00:03,266
site parking on the actual park itself. So we were able to there's actually was a vacant

542
01:00:08,266 --> 01:00:08,266
lot just across the street that was for sale. Cheniere gave us some funding to buy that lot,

543
01:00:13,066 --> 01:00:13,066
and so now we're going to be able to turn that into a parking area and won't have to

544
01:00:18,033 --> 01:00:22,033
worry about any of the wetland mitigation for that. We put in a coastal management program grant application to help fund the actual construction of the parking area. We're waiting to

545
01:00:26,300 --> 01:00:26,300
hear about that. We'll use the property as as match for that grant, as well as maybe an

546
01:00:31,066 --> 01:00:34,433
additional contribution from this year's funds. Yes. Thanks. Commissioner gillespie, I know you have to go. Okay. Next. Next project. This is actually working with the county and one

547
01:00:40,400 --> 01:00:40,400
of the properties you own. So this is a property owned by the county, san patricio de

548
01:00:44,433 --> 01:00:44,433
hibernia park. The coastal bend bays and estuaries program has an easement on this project or

549
01:00:48,500 --> 01:00:48,500
on this site. And so we've been working with the county on this for for many years now. But we

550
01:00:53,400 --> 01:00:53,400
allocated some funds to go in and kind of rehab the site. We've been working with

551
01:00:57,766 --> 01:00:57,766
commissioner a lot on this, and so we've hired a hired bas services at a sentence to clear

552
01:01:02,200 --> 01:01:05,233
some of the vegetation along the fence lines and the existing trails that were out there. There was a water well out there. We did some testing on that just recently, and that

553
01:01:10,166 --> 01:01:10,166
confirmed that that water well is still in good shape and can produce some water that we

554
01:01:14,866 --> 01:01:14,866
would like to use it as a water feature out there. We're working to get bids right now

555
01:01:19,066 --> 01:01:19,066
to convert that from a wind powered well to a solar powered well to make it more consistent.

556
01:01:23,333 --> 01:01:23,333
and then I think we've we just recently went out last week and identified some additional

557
01:01:27,666 --> 01:01:31,233
areas. I think there's an area known as rachel's pond in westover pond, where we're going to do some invasive brush removal to try to make those ponds a little bit better

558
01:01:36,466 --> 01:01:36,466
habitat for for wildlife and things. We're also working on updating and installing some

559
01:01:42,066 --> 01:01:42,066
new signage and creating a habitat map that would be used in some of that signage. Go to

560
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:47,200
the next one. Also working with the city of aransas pass over the aquatic center. So there's

561
01:01:54,600 --> 01:01:58,533
an existing boardwalk that's been out there for for many years. It suffered some significant damage during hurricane harvey and just over the years. And so we're going

562
01:02:02,766 --> 01:02:02,766
in and actually refurbishing pretty much the whole boardwalk. We did a hired lga engineering

563
01:02:07,733 --> 01:02:07,733
on this one again, and they did a thorough inspection and kind of provided us guidance on on

564
01:02:12,633 --> 01:02:12,633
what we needed to do in order to, to fix this up. And it ended up being pretty much a

565
01:02:17,266 --> 01:02:17,266
full, a full refurbishment of the project. We put it out to bid earlier this summer.

566
01:02:22,100 --> 01:02:22,100
unfortunately, all the bids came back over our budget for the project, so we've been

567
01:02:27,466 --> 01:02:30,666
working. We've already identified some additional funds for the project, about 48,000, $48,000 that we'll be able to put towards it, but we are going to rebid it soon. It

568
01:02:36,200 --> 01:02:36,200
had to. It called for pretty much the whole structure to be made of plastic timbers, which

569
01:02:41,300 --> 01:02:45,266
drove the price up quite significantly when we looked at the bids. So we went back with the engineers and they're going to rebid it with treated lumber instead. We'll still use some

570
01:02:50,200 --> 01:02:54,100
some different kind of decking material, some of that surestep decking, if you've seen any of it over in port aransas where it's got holes in it and it's it'll hopefully have a longer

571
01:02:58,233 --> 01:03:02,100
life than some of the traditional wood decking. But the timbers and all those things are going back to, to traditional treated lumber and hopefully that'll bring the

572
01:03:05,733 --> 01:03:09,166
price down. We also got some additional money from the coastal bend community foundation to do new signage out there as well, $15,000 for that. Sunset lake. So we have

573
01:03:15,166 --> 01:03:15,166
two projects with the city of portland. One is the sunset lake hike and bike trail

574
01:03:19,400 --> 01:03:19,400
project, so this was some funding just to help them move forward on this project through

575
01:03:24,033 --> 01:03:24,033
the engineering and design phase. So they hire hanson professional services for this

576
01:03:28,866 --> 01:03:28,866
one. So they've just hanson has been out there collecting data that they need in order to do

577
01:03:33,266 --> 01:03:33,266
the the design and permitting work for that project. So that's all underway. And I

578
01:03:38,133 --> 01:03:38,133
think they're working through some of the initial parts of the permit with the corps of

579
01:03:42,633 --> 01:03:42,633
engineers right now. The next one also working with the city over at violet andrews park.

580
01:03:48,466 --> 01:03:52,266
this is another engineering and design project. The estuary program funded a master plan for the park a couple of years ago with some other funds outside of this, and one of the

581
01:03:57,200 --> 01:03:57,200
the big needs that was identified was significant shoreline improvements, as well

582
01:04:02,266 --> 01:04:05,400
as some other access improvements in there. So the master plan is already there, and this phase is really just working with the city. Hired hdr engineering for this one to

583
01:04:10,466 --> 01:04:13,633
complete some of the additional engineering and design phase for for some of those identified improvements in there. And so the idea is to hopefully better manage some of

584
01:04:17,300 --> 01:04:17,300
the the the key uses out there, which includes a lot of kiteboarding, but also just

585
01:04:21,433 --> 01:04:21,433
general public access. So then we're also working with the sand pit navigation district to

586
01:04:26,466 --> 01:04:26,466
help them with a pier replacement project. So this was again another, you know,

587
01:04:31,733 --> 01:04:31,733
just infrastructure that's kind of had a lot of wear and tear over the years from from high

588
01:04:36,133 --> 01:04:36,133
water levels, hurricanes, things like that. And so that that pier in the middle, they

589
01:04:40,300 --> 01:04:40,300
call it the pier. We working with them to completely go in and replace that. The I don't

590
01:04:45,333 --> 01:04:45,333
think we had to replace all the the timbers did we. There's just a about a third, about a

591
01:04:50,000 --> 01:04:50,000
third of the timbers had to be replaced. But all the decking material. So that went to bid

592
01:04:54,433 --> 01:04:54,433
in early may as well. That one we were able to award the contract to shirley and sons,

593
01:04:59,500 --> 01:04:59,500
and we gave them a notice to proceed just a few days ago, and I think they were going to

594
01:05:04,066 --> 01:05:04,066
hopefully start today or tomorrow. On the construction of that, we had to give the

595
01:05:08,266 --> 01:05:11,600
tenants all some time to move their boats and things like that. So that's that's proceeding here very, very soon. And then the next one, the fred jones nature sanctuary. So this

596
01:05:16,233 --> 01:05:16,233
is another site that's owned by the county. Again, it had kind of just kind of wasn't wasn't

597
01:05:21,966 --> 01:05:21,966
necessarily being utilized at its at its greatest extent. And so working with the county to

598
01:05:27,200 --> 01:05:27,200
kind of bring this park back to life. So the the idea for the project is to try to develop

599
01:05:32,800 --> 01:05:32,800
some kind of maintenance and operations plan for the site. I know some some folks went out

600
01:05:37,133 --> 01:05:41,133
there from the county. I think commissioner lee was there, and some other folks from the county staff went out there to do a site visit, kind of see what what what are some of the

601
01:05:46,633 --> 01:05:50,433
initial improvements that we could do. So the first thing was to try to identify kind of a how to control and monitor public access. So we've talked with flock safety, which is, I

602
01:05:54,400 --> 01:05:54,400
think, a security company that does some some camera work for the county already looking at

603
01:05:59,300 --> 01:06:03,100
trying to install some cameras out there to monitor that, better monitor the traffic that comes in and out. We also need to identify potentially a gate option that could be used to to

604
01:06:08,166 --> 01:06:08,166
keep people out at certain after hours. And so we're we're still working through some of

605
01:06:12,633 --> 01:06:12,633
that. And then I think some of my staff are right now are working on a request for

606
01:06:17,300 --> 01:06:17,300
proposals for some of the trail maintenance to get out there and do some of the the clearing

607
01:06:22,166 --> 01:06:22,166
of some of the grasses and things like that that have taken over. So. What about the

608
01:06:26,433 --> 01:06:26,433
bridge? Well, there's some structures out there that we looked at on that site. Visit.

609
01:06:32,833 --> 01:06:32,833
the bridge is needing of repair. Yeah. And then the the building structure itself, we need to

610
01:06:38,200 --> 01:06:38,200
kind of determine what it is we want to do with that. So my yeah my next slide is we're

611
01:06:43,266 --> 01:06:43,266
trying to allocate. So I think with the additional funding of this coming year, we'd like to

612
01:06:47,300 --> 01:06:51,233
do kind of a fred jones phase two, which would be including identifying those like next stages of improvement. So I think we've talked about a parking area potentially. Yeah.

613
01:06:55,300 --> 01:06:55,300
do we, do we get rid of that old building and do some demolition as well as the the

614
01:07:00,066 --> 01:07:00,066
bridge structure out there. So yeah, I think there's there's a few things that we need to

615
01:07:04,533 --> 01:07:04,533
tackle still as well. We're trying to control the access first and then kind of go in

616
01:07:09,633 --> 01:07:12,566
and do some of those, those improvements. So so for this coming year, our understanding is that the county has about 512, just over $512,000 in these funds. So we've talked

617
01:07:18,866 --> 01:07:18,866
about doing three projects, continuing on the I'll call it the pocket park phase two. So

618
01:07:24,100 --> 01:07:24,100
I'd like to kind of set aside $100,000 potentially. This would be an additional match

619
01:07:29,233 --> 01:07:29,233
that could be used for the cmp proposal that we have and would help fund that, that parking

620
01:07:34,366 --> 01:07:34,366
area improvements that we talked about before phase two of the fred jones that we just

621
01:07:39,333 --> 01:07:43,300
discussed. And then I think commissioner gillespie proposed a project to do a septic to sewer conversion over at the agape fellowship and training center. So I need to learn a

622
01:07:48,166 --> 01:07:48,166
little bit more about that one. But we wanted to put that in there because I know that was

623
01:07:52,433 --> 01:07:56,300
of interest to them. I think they were having some issues with overflows in there, obviously right there on a creek and so need to to address that issue. So total we only

624
01:08:01,166 --> 01:08:05,166
have about $293,500 worth of projects proposed for this coming year. I my understanding is maybe the county is talking about using some of those other funds as well. Happy to to help

625
01:08:10,333 --> 01:08:10,333
with that in any way we can, or if we want to find additional projects, that's open for

626
01:08:15,266 --> 01:08:15,266
discussion, I think. I don't I don't know when that comes up if it's in the agenda today or

627
01:08:19,333 --> 01:08:19,333
not. But that's where we stand. We'll come back. This is not like asking for formal approval

628
01:08:25,266 --> 01:08:25,266
of this or anything. This is just to show you our ideas, hopefully get some feedback

629
01:08:30,300 --> 01:08:30,300
from you, and then we can come back and amend that moa and add some of this additional money

630
01:08:34,333 --> 01:08:34,333
back in so we can keep working with the county. You know that I think it was either 2008 or 9

631
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:40,000
somewhere in that time frame. As parks director, we had the riparian area taken all the way

632
01:08:46,433 --> 01:08:46,433
to the dam on the north river. So that will help you in the future. It's a nice thing. I

633
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:54,000
was just looking up and they do have the cap program up there for 2025. The state plan stuff.

634
01:09:01,500 --> 01:09:01,500
it just came out in january. Okay. It's coastal impact assistance program, which is

635
01:09:07,566 --> 01:09:07,566
also oil and gas revenues that go to the department of interior. Yeah, it's passed

636
01:09:13,233 --> 01:09:13,233
down through mhms and walmart. Yeah, I use a lot of those funds to build those funds.

637
01:09:18,400 --> 01:09:18,400
yeah, yeah. I mean nothing's really if there's additional needs in that area, let us know.

638
01:09:23,500 --> 01:09:27,500
I think that's we haven't done anything because I think people felt like that area was in pretty good shape and had, you know, good habitat and things of that money to buy equipment

639
01:09:32,533 --> 01:09:32,533
and stuff for them and everything else, and also to build the rv section. But we

640
01:09:37,366 --> 01:09:37,366
never had enough money to finish it. Okay. When we put in 13 spaces, we actually designed

641
01:09:43,633 --> 01:09:43,633
it for 100. Okay, okay. I don't know that if gomesa funds would be necessarily a good fit for

642
01:09:52,533 --> 01:09:52,533
for that particular use. Like I said, you have these kind of five authorized uses that we

643
01:09:57,566 --> 01:09:57,566
have to fit them into. We use a lot. Yeah. Yeah, we use a lot of there's there's one

644
01:10:03,266 --> 01:10:03,266
particular authorized use that allows us to anything that supports a the coastal bend

645
01:10:08,433 --> 01:10:08,433
base plan, which is a plan that our organization puts together, you know, can can be utilized

646
01:10:14,033 --> 01:10:14,033
for those funds. So that captures a lot of these public access projects. But yeah, so

647
01:10:18,533 --> 01:10:18,533
we have to kind of make sure we're just sticking sticking with those authorized uses. So

648
01:10:23,233 --> 01:10:23,233
appreciate it. Thank you. All good questions. Yeah. Maybe next week if you get some time

649
01:10:28,233 --> 01:10:28,233
I'd like for miss norma and grants people to get together, talk about some of these

650
01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:33,200
projects and stuff that are in my precinct. Okay. So we'll get some time. We'll we'll have mr.

651
01:10:38,200 --> 01:10:38,200
norman reach out and see if we can't get a good time for everybody to meet. Sure. Sounds

652
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:44,000
great. Thank you. Lots of great projects. Thank you. Okay. Let's see, 2.4 b has been taken

653
01:10:55,766 --> 01:10:55,766
care of. 2.4 c is accepted. Record pretrial diversion supplement for miriam rodriguez

654
01:11:01,466 --> 01:11:01,466
in the amount of $5,263 beginning september 1st, 2025 to december 31st, 2025. The

655
01:11:14,600 --> 01:11:14,600
motion to accept. Okay, got a motion. I'll second. Seconded by gonzalez. Any questions?

656
01:11:23,566 --> 01:11:23,566
hearing none. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Those opposed same sign. Motion

657
01:11:30,733 --> 01:11:30,733
carries 2.4 d is consideration. Action on a request from scott marion, emc fire marshal, for

658
01:11:36,366 --> 01:11:36,366
an order prohibiting and restricting outdoor burning. And patricia county for 90 days.

659
01:11:43,966 --> 01:11:43,966
is that based on the gave you the. Yes it is motion to approve. Yep. Second first

660
01:11:50,400 --> 01:11:50,400
second and all those in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Okay.

661
01:11:58,700 --> 01:11:58,700
those agenda items, we'll go down into 3.1 which is our action employee salary. First

662
01:12:05,266 --> 01:12:05,266
of all we have 3.1 a kathleen farrell retirement agent, county extension office full

663
01:12:12,700 --> 01:12:12,700
time regular exempt at $2,970.33 per month, with a $50 per month allowance, effective

664
01:12:19,633 --> 01:12:19,633
august 31st, 2025. Judge, if we vote against it, does that mean she can't leave? I asked her if

665
01:12:27,133 --> 01:12:27,133
she would be ready to leave, I think for almost 44 years. Motion to approve 3.1 a

666
01:12:32,533 --> 01:12:32,533
reluctantly. Reluctantly, yeah, motion is, of course, seconded by yardley. All those in favor

667
01:12:41,266 --> 01:12:41,266
of the motion say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Okay. Under 3.2.

668
01:12:47,100 --> 01:12:47,100
accept and record salaries. Status changes. We do have one, kathleen. Cynthia. List.

669
01:12:54,166 --> 01:12:54,166
employment court recorder. District court. Full time regular nonexempt at $10,068.48

670
01:13:01,400 --> 01:13:01,400
per month, effective october 1st, 2025. I'll go ahead and make a motion that we accept. A

671
01:13:13,500 --> 01:13:13,500
motion seconded by yardley. Any questions? Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion

672
01:13:19,833 --> 01:13:19,833
say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Okay. Item four. We will have an

673
01:13:26,666 --> 01:13:26,666
executive session this morning. We got two items. First of all, we'll have 4.1 a consultation

674
01:13:33,233 --> 01:13:33,233
with attorney pursuant to government code section 551 .071 regarding litigations with

675
01:13:39,933 --> 01:13:39,933
re and el alto wind farm, llc, which is consideration for a settlement proposal. And four

676
01:13:48,600 --> 01:13:52,300
point b will be discussion and consideration. Possible action regarding a single case agreement for current county employee with university of texas md anderson cancer center,

677
01:13:57,433 --> 01:13:57,433
houston, texas, effective august 12th, 2025 through august 31st, 2026. Executive

678
01:14:04,333 --> 01:14:04,333
session pursuant to county government local government code sections five, five, 1.071

679
01:14:10,566 --> 01:14:10,566
and five five, 1.0785. Okay, with that I will go ahead and recess. Mr. Court at in 14. And

680
01:14:24,033 --> 01:14:24,033
we will return to the room.