[0:23] just Rec are we recording we're not streaming but we're recording we put it

[0:28] on later okay all right at

[0:33] 9 please arise I Adam

[0:43] Henderson we thank you for today thank you for the opport to

[0:51] be I pray that you would today even if James declares or that you would give us

[0:56] wisdom God it says that if anyone lacks anybody needs wisdom Lord that we should

[1:01] ask you and so we ask for your wisdom God I thank you that Unity I thank you

[1:05] that peace Lord Jesus is here in this place and so I pray that this meeting

[1:09] would just be blessed by you Lord thank you for vanan County thank you for all

[1:12] the wonderful things that you're doing here and Lord we just ask that you would

[1:15] continue the good work in which you've started here in this place I pray that

[1:18] you would bless this time in Jesus name we pray amen amen thanks all righted to

[1:26] the US flag IED flag

[1:30] the United States

[1:34] ofer stands na indivisible withy andice for

[1:42] All Tex hon I Al to Texas one

[1:52] state indivisible thank you you may

[2:04] General announcements do we have any general

[2:09] announcements I would like to say that the the debris removal along County

[2:15] Roads began last week and it's in process and naturally when you start a

[2:19] project like that you start getting rain which delays it so we delay it was delay

[2:24] two days last week because the rain and it's uh they were planning to work all

[2:29] weekend and we had rain weekend so they're out there

[2:33] working right now until the next rainstorm comes so are there any other

[2:39] announcements uh are there any public comments did anybody sign up for public

[2:43] comments no right uh we'll move to item number four consent agenda consent

[2:47] agenda are considered routine items by the commiss cour enacted by one motion

[2:53] uh there will be no separate discussion on these items unless the County judge

[2:56] or commissioner request them to be removed theend so any items that need to

[3:01] be pulled or discussed separately if not is there a motion to

[3:05] approve the consent agenda motion is there a second second

[3:12] all right uh all those in favor say I I propos like sign motion passes item

[3:18] number five discuss consider approving the B

[3:23] County Historical commission annual report this report was submitted by uh

[3:29] uh O Allen went through a 10 your binder is

[3:33] there any discussion they have been doing quite a

[3:37] bit in in uh the county and I'm very proud of it they typically get an award

[3:43] from the historical commission for their work and they have been very involved in

[3:48] getting historical items posted and available so is there a motion to accept

[3:55] the vanzan county approve the vanan County Historical commiss

[4:00] annual report I'll make

[4:06] motion Commission report all right motion to maor

[4:14] second second all right any discuss all say I allos like sign motion passes item

[4:23] number six discuss to consider adoption of a revised Fire Marshall Fe schedule

[4:31] we'll have our fire marshal Kevin Palmer will

[4:37] present so um if you look at the feed I submitted as the packet the major

[4:43] changes that I had on there is the first one where it has type of permit that

[4:49] first item used to say covered buildings but not all we know that not all

[4:53] commercial projects for covered buildings I just put I just renamed it

[4:57] as a new construction permit but that would cover best facilities solar panel

[5:02] facilities all that kind of good stuff that basically anything that is

[5:06] commercial uh will does have to go through some type of permanent process

[5:11] through the commissioner cour and through my office specifically and

[5:14] that's for the health and safety of vanac County um even if it's on private

[5:20] property once you are inviting the general public onto your private

[5:24] property for commercial purposes we we have a duty to make sure

[5:28] it's a safe place to go to uh so that's one of the big changes another change

[5:33] that we had was down on the last page of our on-site sewage facility fees was one

[5:40] that was added on there that was kind of a it been kind of an Unwritten rule that

[5:46] people were paying but I don't like Unwritten stuff I like stuff to be

[5:49] written and that's the ossf modification so in that situation you have a you have

[5:54] a SE tank the tank itself doesn't need need to be moved it's it's working fine

[6:00] but for one reason or another you're adding sprinklers to the Aerobic System

[6:04] or you're moving them they do have to submit a permit through T purq through

[6:09] our office to permit and inspect those modifications so I'm just adding the fee

[6:13] for that as well those those are the the major changes add this to this

[6:18] particular St I'm I'll follow up on OS you got OS

[6:26] modification at 200 then you have a reinspect Fe for 200 yes sir so a

[6:31] reinspect fee would be if um this is for a a new installation so you you put in a

[6:37] permit for an installation we gave you an authorization for construction you

[6:42] scheduled a final inspection we went and conducted the final inspection and you

[6:47] failed that final inspection and so now we have to reschedule you have to fix

[6:51] all the things and we have to come back and reinspect the system that fail the

[6:55] first time okay and the late fee for maintenance contract what is that yes

[7:03] sir so at some point uh when I when I finish my strategic plan on how to how

[7:09] to get things into compliance so there are a lot of people that do not pay do

[7:17] not have yearly monthly maintenance contracts on their on their aerobic

[7:20] septic systems a lot um but right now I don't have the manpower to go out and

[7:27] Chase all those people down so basically at some point I will submit my plan to

[7:33] the Commissioner's Court and I will recommend a a a large race period

[7:37] basically it's time hey I understand not ignorant to the fact that you probably

[7:43] haven't had a contract for five years and you haven't gotten caught uh but

[7:47] that time is over so you know whether it's six months or whatever that grace

[7:51] period is we're going to say hey just come get it right and it's just we'll

[7:55] just charge you the $30 but after that um when we catch you

[8:00] not only are there going to be citations but there's going to be late fees added

[8:03] for every month that you don't have a monthly Lance contract so it's just I

[8:08] want people to do the right thing I will give every I will give

[8:11] everyone the most opportunity possible to come and do the right thing but if I

[8:17] had to do a forcing action to make them do the right thing um then I'm going to

[8:21] do that through monetary means and so that would be the that would be the Lely

[8:24] for that so that's per month yes sir that would be per month for every month

[8:28] that you are behind you have not submitted your uh monthly maintenance

[8:32] contract and that maintenance contract is state law yes

[8:37] sir nothing nothing on this me uh I didn't make any of these numbers up

[8:43] there is a a guide put out by State Fire Marshall's office on you know what's

[8:48] appropriate what you can charge for what you can't charge for um I'm very much

[8:54] just do the right thing and uh so no I I don't make any of this stuff I didn't

[8:58] make any of these numbers up she's all done from research and looking at other

[9:03] counties uh we are on the cheaper side to most most counties surounding us and

[9:08] I'm okay with that because I think these are fair

[9:11] numbers and what steps will you use to publish this information to the to the

[9:16] public so that's why I say um it'll be a very strategic plan because I can't just

[9:21] use one medium I can't just use the commissioner sport I've got I've got to

[9:24] catch all the V at County so I'm going to I'm going to rely on people like

[9:27] grandon Sun newspaper cam Herold I'm going to use social media

[9:32] um I'm going to use mailings because we have a list with for example on the

[9:37] mainten contracts we know who's overdue we have addresses so we'll do mailings

[9:41] um I'll try to do you know you know possibly uh interviews on the radio I

[9:46] will use as many outlets as possible to reach as many people because I want to

[9:50] reach all of B County I don't want ignorance to be a reason well I didn't I

[9:55] don't I didn't know can't be a reason anymore so I would use every uh media a

[10:00] medium that I can to get the word out when that time

[10:04] comes now I encourage people now if you hear it

[10:07] now let's let's start getting right now because when that time comes it'll come

[10:13] quick it'll come FAS so I have a question on the the new

[10:18] installs on $200 fee for the application and then to

[10:24] come back if they fail the $200 yes sir is that

[10:30] I guess what I'm asking is is if that fails if that system failed is that

[10:35] person that paid that installer to do it is he responsible for that 200 because I

[10:40] don't see that being so it's kind of like the tariffs what

[10:45] gets passed on the consumer uh the the the fee is paid by the installer and and

[10:51] I will say uh we're not looking for Ticky tack stuff if it's if it's little

[10:56] things that can be corrected on the spot we don't say Hey you failed I'm coming

[11:00] back some other time we just we just fix it or if it if it's even the same day

[11:04] we'll come back we're talking about like it was aous you were trying you were

[11:09] trying to get away with

[11:12] just that's going be on the installer yeah on the installer it goes to the

[11:17] installer home homeowner should have a contract yes sir and that contract

[11:21] should be set in stone do that contract contractor sir so you're just trying to

[11:26] hold contractor that's good

[11:31] and the same on the maintenance fee contracts the maintenance fee contracts

[11:34] are not being paid because that contractor is likely not operating in

[11:38] this County any longer I've had a mix bag so I have you

[11:43] know um gone and try to make contact with around 10 people that didn't have

[11:50] monthly maintenance contract anywhere from a year till they haven't had it for

[11:53] 10 years um some of it was they had a they had someone that was doing the the

[12:00] the maintenance that person that person's installer left and they had a

[12:05] hard time finding another installer and they basically just kind of threw their

[12:09] hands up in the area uh I have come to to the place where someone new has moved

[12:14] in and they were talking to their neighbor about you know how much you

[12:18] know about their monthly maintenance installer and the neighbor said man I

[12:20] haven't paid that thing in 10 years you're a dummy for paying that and they

[12:24] they just stopped paying so some people know that they're supposed to have I say

[12:29] half people know that at least half people know that they're supposed to

[12:32] have it and because there's no enforcement action they're just not

[12:36] paying and there is but there is a good group of people that are that move from

[12:41] outside of Texas they've never had a septic tank they have no idea how a

[12:44] septic tank works they buy a house and they were never told maybe it's in the

[12:49] fine print but they don't they don't really they I believe they truly didn't

[12:53] know they're supposed Contra that's that'll be the the part where I I get

[12:58] the word out to everybody um that I'm building that so to my knowledge I have

[13:04] the ability to the ability to wave some of these feeds and

[13:10] so uh right now that's what my office is doing so if someone comes into my office

[13:15] right now Michelle is not going to charge them a $50 Fe she's just thank

[13:20] you for coming back in and getting right and she's just charging for the

[13:23] $30 right but when that time comes I want the ability I want to have the

[13:28] ability

[13:31] charge that's those are the changes on okay on the occupancy permes yes sir you

[13:39] got all commercial or public uh occupancies yes sir U is there is there

[13:45] also a requirement for permanent for residential no sir no no residential

[13:51] okay so the only thing I will say about about that is

[13:56] um we are still we still have to follow state law and you know state law

[14:02] requires that residents be built in compliance with like the National

[14:06] Electric Code National Building Codes but we don't what we don't have to as a

[14:12] county and for that we can basically take their word for it that they're

[14:16] doing the right thing um I'm not a big fan of of enforcing residential stuff

[14:21] it's single family homes in fact even the state of Texas is been a big fan of

[14:26] because the newest additions of sub fire codes

[14:29] had a required Sprinklers and all new new new construction homes and the Texas

[14:34] Supreme Court actually ruled against that so

[14:38] um question but commercial public do have requirements for sprink systems

[14:45] right some of them yes depends on the occupancy so my job as a fire marshal if

[14:50] you come in and you said that you need a fire inspection one of the first

[14:53] questions I ask is okay what kind of business are you uh is it an assembly is

[14:57] it a daycare is it a Mercantile what is it uh because in the in the fire codes

[15:03] there are General requirements things that everybody has to have like an

[15:07] emergency action plan and then the next step is when in the code you go to that

[15:13] section that governs assemblies dayc carees mertile all that kind of good

[15:18] stuff and it goes by it goes by occupancy so depending on what type of

[15:23] occupancy you are that tells me uh what you have to have for fire uh Fire and

[15:28] Life Safety so no not all not all new commercial built properties have to have

[15:33] sprink systems okay and uh you have here service stations and other flamable

[15:39] liquid or oxidized storage facilities no sir that gas stations that that would be

[15:44] an example yes sir okay because if you're going to have to permit all of

[15:50] them you going need more help I okay you're not going to be able to do that

[15:56] with the St you have right now so I guess we'll be hearing about it budget

[16:00] time huh yes sir so budget time I plan on putting a packet together that is is

[16:07] um Justified as much as possible so y'all see my monthly report you see that

[16:14] this office at the end of the year we have a budget surplus now I understand

[16:18] that it's not a zero sum game I'm never going to ask this work for all of the

[16:23] monies that this office brings in because there are different departments

[16:27] that they do not have a budget circul at the end of the year but I can look at if

[16:32] I bring on two more people for example and I'm able to enforce these things

[16:38] that exponentially increases the amount of what we're bringing in so essentially

[16:43] I'm I'm paying my staff is you know paying their salary and making money for

[16:48] the county and I will I will do my best to quantify that and put that into

[16:52] numbers where I submit my packet during budget

[16:56] time because I I personally have it loged in to a business in vanac county

[17:02] that has properly permitted REM not one okay uh and going back to the

[17:11] permits uh on it what on the new construction permit what what did you

[17:16] what did you base the fee schedule off of did you use somebody else some other

[17:21] counties or some other uh no sir that the actual fees itself were the same

[17:27] fees that this this this court had had adopted last year and it was it was in

[17:33] line with what other counties our size charge uh and I wanted to put new

[17:39] construction because this process is supposed to start before you ever move a

[17:46] single piece of equipment onto that property anything so before you move put

[17:51] a shovel before you do anything on that property the that process is supposed to

[17:56] start to this court and my office uh I'm supposed to review the plans and make

[18:01] sure that everything is up to code so that we're not playing catchup like we

[18:06] are on on some some places today where they're halfway three4 way done with the

[18:11] construction and I'm just now getting the plans and getting a chance to review

[18:15] them and finding out that they're not en code and so it helps that sometimes the

[18:22] businesses don't think but it helps them too because it's a lot cheaper to put a

[18:27] sprinkler system in a sprinkler or put in a lot of these

[18:31] Fire and Life safety protection devices when you're first building it as opposed

[18:35] to when you've already got the walls and the ceilings and everything else up and

[18:39] then you got to come back through and tear it all down because you got to put

[18:41] sprinklers in it so it also helps the business as

[18:45] well okay and uh a lot of these permits are they uh like the the fixed pipe

[18:53] system and the fire alarm system are they onetime permits or do they have

[18:58] renewed every year or how does that work uh so they uh it's on a case-by casee

[19:04] scenario so the way that I I class the way that the fire code and the way that

[19:07] I look at occupancies I classify them as low risk medium risk or high risk all

[19:12] highrisk facilities will be uh renewed annually and I will get eyes on a good

[19:17] example on that is so that like fixed pipe system sprinkler systems that could

[19:24] be covered if they're new construction permit but for example just last week

[19:28] Martin's Mill High School in the old gym put in a new fire alarm system that I

[19:33] had they submitted plans for I approved the plans they installed the new fire

[19:38] alarm system and I went and inspected it that's

[19:41] where okay and I would consider schools schools are considered high risk so that

[19:47] is something that I go reinspect every year okay

[19:59] judge I think on this that we we've got a lot of questions on this and I would I

[20:06] would be in favor of doing a workshop on this so that because this this is a lot

[20:12] of questions that needs to be asked and thought about a little further on our

[20:20] part yes sir so I will say that we we have one that is uh at run by fiscal

[20:26] year so there was one that that was approved by this court last budget cycle

[20:31] so there is already a fe scheduled and there has been one for some time the

[20:35] only thing that I'm adding is I changed the name of on the top on the top left

[20:41] where I think it says like covered buildings or something like that I just

[20:44] changed that name to two constru new construction so that it um it covers all

[20:50] commercial properties and I added the um the

[20:54] modification modification but I I I am welcome to

[20:59] having a workshop it's just all the questions about that so far most of the

[21:03] questions that I've gotten those fees are already in place what we're talking

[21:09] about is enforcing it yes sir that's what we're talking about yes

[21:14] sir now there there is a good word is starting to get out that there's a new

[21:20] fire marshal and there's a new commissioner court and so I we are

[21:23] getting a lot more permits to our office and we're charging these fees already

[21:29] um so we're starting you get out so that's phase one just usually when

[21:33] there's a person that does random dropin they called business owners no other

[21:38] business owners they're like d Fire Marshal came today better get stuff

[21:42] right so you know the word of mouth is already getting out there that's phase

[21:47] one I will come back when I have the resources and availability properly

[21:52] enforce go out and do the

[21:56] rest would you be opposed commissioner to uh adopting this uh

[22:02] since there's not really any substantive changes and then still having a workshop

[22:06] uh to to get people aware of

[22:12] it I think we could do that I just think that if if this is all the changes

[22:17] that's being changed on it you know I think we could do that but but I think

[22:21] that uh this could be an education the workshop agreed for for a lot other

[22:27] people absolutely i'

[22:37] welome question

[22:41] absolutely all right is there a motion I'll make a motion to uh adopt

[22:46] the revised Fire Marshall fee schedule is there a second I'll second

[22:51] it is there any further discussion all those in favor say I I

[22:58] oppose like time motion passes item number uh seven discuss consider a

[23:05] Community Education period for outdoor burning yes sir so I want to start off

[23:12] with uh at first I was I was working and um I actually thought about requesting a

[23:20] burn band and so I got a lot of funny looks because it's you know February

[23:24] March and uh the weather is on that but I want to bring people's attention that

[23:30] weather is the not is not the only indicator that I look at for a burn band

[23:35] I look at drought index but I also look at uh the number of fires so I hope that

[23:41] that you got my packet and that you looked at those numbers so

[23:46] and Holly at the Sheriff's Office ran a report for me and uh because I had to

[23:52] have this submitted on on March 6 I had to run it from January 1st to March 6 so

[23:57] that was 65 days in at 65 days we had 146 grass

[24:03] fires that fire departments had to respond to 146 to 65 days and when you

[24:09] break that down you can look at when the good weather was so for example from 14

[24:14] to 25 January we had 49 fires in 12 days February 1st and February 8th we

[24:22] had 20 fires in 8 days and then February 21st to March 2nd we had 63 fires in 10

[24:30] days those are 63 fires that the fire department had to respond to were they

[24:37] were but were they 63 they were out of control out those are out of control

[24:41] because they because they got called on me one time it wasn't out of control yes

[24:45] sir so I so I scrubbed the list there's actually two missing from this list that

[24:50] uh they came in as structure fires because there were grass fires that were

[24:54] started got out of control and burned someone else's property down

[25:00] so these are not these are not um brush piles in someone's backyard these are

[25:05] they got out of control the fire department had to respond and had had

[25:10] the fire department not put it out it would have caused Great

[25:15] Hab well there seems to be a lack of Common Sense we're losing it as

[25:20] a as a people you know that's and you know when we do burn bands we punish

[25:26] people with common sense if we're not careful because of people that don't

[25:30] have common sense you know so that that brings me to

[25:34] the next three things that I submitted I submitted the Texas administrative

[25:40] code I submitted an outdoor burning in Texas that was published by The tcq Who

[25:46] is the administrator of the the administrative code and this is a guide

[25:50] to outdoor burning and i' I'd like you to look that this was revised this isn't

[25:55] anything new this isn't within the last six months

[25:58] this guide was published in February of 2015 so it's been around for a decade

[26:03] and then I also had I also submitted a a small some some questions to Bernie so

[26:11] what a lot of people don't know is that the state of Texas tcq in

[26:18] particular is trying to get rid of most outdoor burning in Texas they do have

[26:24] they do have some exemptions um and so

[26:30] um it does not include the main burning of on-site property was such as Fallen

[26:35] limbs branches or leaves or other ways from routine property cleanup activities

[26:40] nor does nor does it include prescribed burning or burning following clearing or

[26:45] ecological restoration um if you if you want to

[26:49] read through this guide it's pretty lengthy I I I

[26:52] do um recommend that people read through it but I'll kind of give you the the

[26:56] cliff notes on it is that is that basically these huge brush piles that

[27:01] are two stories tall and 300 ft in diameter we're not supposed to burn

[27:06] those those are actually supposed to be pered by

[27:09] TC um what was the size again I was giving I was exaggerating that was that

[27:15] was a bad how big is how big is it so the six foot in diameter that can be

[27:23] considered a warming

[27:26] fire uh and again this isn't this isn't something that I'm I'm making up um this

[27:32] is this is state law that's already out there and for good reason because just

[27:37] like you said Texas we have to realize that you know we talked about it I've

[27:42] burned my whole life I have uh anytime that there's a storm I'm doing clean up

[27:47] of my property I've cut down a tree whatever put into a burn pile and I burn

[27:51] it I can also tell you I've never had to call the fire department and I I for

[27:55] sure never L got out of control and burn my neighbor shed down like I had just

[28:00] two weeks ago that's happened those those those are a lot of fires and you

[28:07] know the fire departments they do not have a budget surplus the taxes that

[28:13] this County that the county get gives the money to the fire departments just

[28:17] look at any average Gap grass fire count the number of firefighters count the

[28:22] number of trucks the hoses the equipment the water add all that up and see if if

[28:29] your tax is paid for your for your mistake it doesn't and so again I'm not

[28:35] asking for anything out of the ordinary for vanz County to do anything different

[28:39] I'm just asking us to follow state law and I'm asking it because those are a

[28:43] lot of numbers there's a lot of resources and it was wet but what people

[28:47] don't understand is that when there's wet

[28:50] ground even if the ground is wet but the grass that's 6 in tall is dead and it's

[28:56] got leaves and dead branches with within one hour after it stops

[29:00] raining it's it's just as flammable as it was when it's August and it's 100

[29:05] deges

[29:07] outside did you find these Firs were were they a lot of uh maybe new

[29:13] residents or or uh like for instance you know I I had one called on me the other

[29:19] day it was under control yes sir but it it was a brush fire but you

[29:23] know a lot of these people in this agricultural Community they have the

[29:27] equipment and it's not control they get called on yes sir but then you may have

[29:30] all these new people come in you know they started they don't have to if it

[29:34] gets out they don't have anything to to to put it out or anything yeah so some

[29:38] some of the big things that I look for and that's in the administrative code

[29:43] and in that burning guide is there's some general guidelines is that it can

[29:47] never be left unattended uh you can't burn at night and you got to have a

[29:51] water source those those are things that you have to have um and those things

[29:56] aren't happening so to answer your question whether they're new residents

[30:00] old residents I would say it's a mixed bag I would say that the the the

[30:04] difference in this county is the growth so where in the past they kind of had

[30:10] yeah maybe they they only owned 20 acres but outside of their 20 acres was a

[30:15] th000 Acres of nothing when now there's houses there uh because we're also

[30:19] talking about uh I've gotten quite a few calls where people are new residents and

[30:24] these new residents they they don't get to sit out back porch and and enjoy a

[30:30] nice evening because their their neighbor Burns 24 hours a

[30:35] day weard and the smoke comes onto their back porch so I kind of go back to you

[30:41] know the health and safety code with the batement and things like that I'm not

[30:45] trying to infringe on on your individual rights but when your individual rights

[30:50] start to infringe on your neighbors that that's a problem I agree with that so I

[30:55] mean I would think if if I had if I had recently moved to Van County and bought

[31:00] a nice property and I wanted to sit out on the back porch and enjoy a nice

[31:03] evening and I couldn't because I would get I was getting smoked out every

[31:07] single night I wouldn't be happy about that so I think you know when I'm

[31:12] thinking about it and I don't have the answer I can't answer your question

[31:15] straight up it's just my opinion this is my opinion my opinion is is

[31:20] that we we are still rule rule but more people are coming in there's new houses

[31:26] being built all the time so where when people for the last 10 15 20 30 years

[31:31] they've been burning no problem at all now they've got neighbors they've got

[31:35] property that that that they've got fencing up that's getting destroyed

[31:39] they've got sheds that weren't there that are getting burned up and they're

[31:42] doing things like they've always done it's just that their environment has

[31:46] changed does that kind of make sense sir so so what you're saying is is our

[31:50] choice of country living in life is no longer there it's diminishing we don't

[31:57] have that Freedom anymore so I am a reasonable man so I'm not I'm not

[32:06] um I'm not out chasing smoke so I'm driving around like I'm not looking for

[32:11] ples of smoke to go put out Mitch Curtis or R Brandon's fire that he's got in his

[32:17] backyard I'm responding to these numbers right here are where they were out of

[32:22] control the fire department had to respond and the fire department had to

[32:27] put it out because the person that started it no longer had that means so I

[32:31] would I wouldn't say that that our rights as a rural community are being

[32:35] infringed upon you can still burn as long as you're doing the right things

[32:40] six foot six foot on the honor system because again I'm not out there chasing

[32:45] smoke you can continue to do it and talk to your neighbors what I'm asking a lot

[32:49] of you do make sure that you once that smoke leaves your property and gets on

[32:53] someone else's just look at it from from my side

[32:59] of it I've just had some fence RADS cleared off and I've got piles bigger

[33:02] than 6t they're not 300t long and they're not two story building yes sir

[33:08] but the only way I can afford to get rid of it is burn it yes sir but the Pils

[33:14] are bigger than six foot you know you got a you got a dead tree at the same I

[33:19] mean you got a big at the same time I have the equipment to take care of yes

[33:24] sir where probably most people does I 100% agree with you

[33:31] and it's kind of like where my personal opinion there's plenty of laws in the

[33:35] books that I don't I don't agree with right it's just my job as a fire marshal

[33:39] whether it's popular or unpopular to inform people what what state law is U

[33:44] because I will say that I basically have I have four options when I show up

[33:50] and you've destroyed say someone else's property let's go with that I basically

[33:55] have four options I can uh you know with talking with you

[34:01] know a district attorney or somebody say these people have been neighbors for

[34:06] years they've done it to each other they would like to enter enter into a a civil

[34:11] agreement and they're going to basically they're going to pay everything off once

[34:16] I leave it's a civil matter uh the lowest citation I can give

[34:21] is for illegal burning if I issue it it's a it's a classy misdemeanor much

[34:26] like a speeding ticket but if it is a large burning pile that

[34:30] has couches mattresses oil like a bunch of

[34:35] bad stuff in it and I feel like I need to call tcq that's a b um there's also

[34:42] the charge if you destroy somebody else's property of criminal mischief and

[34:46] criminal mischief ranges everywhere from a Class C Mis meter to felony depending

[34:51] on how much the the property was valued at when it was destroyed I also have r

[34:58] because one of the statutes of arson is you intentionally set a fire and you

[35:03] recklessly destroy the property of another and that's a thir degree filon I

[35:07] don't I'm not out I'm not I don't want to make filings out of our citizens

[35:13] so this apply to like the solar form too because I think we're 75 out there 773

[35:19] can we uh yeah I'm gathering that data now I'm having a for some reason I'm

[35:24] having some difficulty working with h on on getting address but yes yes sir it

[35:29] does apply to them as

[35:34] well so the agenda item says discuss and consider a Community Education period

[35:41] for outdoor burning What specifically are you requesting or suggesting or so I

[35:47] would like to put these three documents that I submitted the Texas

[35:50] administrative code the um outdoor burning and Texas field operations guide

[35:56] and the little dos and for outdoor burning I'd like to put these on the

[35:59] County website so that people have e easy access to

[36:05] them I'll also be publishing them on my Facebook page so people have them that

[36:10] way and I'll also reach out to the local newspapers

[36:15] count I can put a link in there [Music]

[36:19] something okay we need a motion to that I I think they're they're I don't think

[36:25] it's necessary I don't think we need you have permission because that's your

[36:29] job absolutely all it is is education again I know I know it's not

[36:36] popular um but my job isn't to be popular um but I am a fair men so I

[36:44] didn't write 165 tickets last year I did a lot of Education lot of education so I

[36:51] just want people to learn from their mistakes and do the right thing we don't

[36:55] have the opportunity to be subjective in it though when you I when there's a law

[36:58] involved I mean it's like you don't you don't have the ability to be subjective

[37:01] where you can evaluate each one no sir it depends on it depends on the scope of

[37:06] the there is Officer discretion and all that you know depending on on the things

[37:11] but I have called Tonda and you know make sure I'm not talking in an echo

[37:14] chamber I don't I don't like making those decisions on my own so I do call

[37:18] somebody hey this is what I've got what are your thoughts and we come up with a

[37:24] solution so you think if you drove up on a guy that seemed to be he he's dug a

[37:30] 40ft hole with a bank all the way around it and he's burning yeah you know you

[37:35] can tell that he's trying to do the right thing well he's not by law because

[37:41] if it's six foot more than six foot he's not doing the right thing according to

[37:45] law but according to you know Common Sense you'd say he's probably doing the

[37:50] right thing here but then there's a difference between a guy that's piled up

[37:54] everything in his house out in his front yard

[37:58] but is that is it possible to be that subjective that's where in a litigation

[38:04] Nation like we are is it possible like I mean you understand what I'm saying I do

[38:08] understand what you're saying I would say yes um I would say yes that you have

[38:13] that discretion because uh the the a big part of criminal law is

[38:18] intent so you you can you get the ability to to determine the intent of

[38:24] the individual that was that was out there and what they were they were

[38:27] trying to accomplish well it's the same thing with

[38:32] the free on that we talked about earlier and everything that I do in my office I

[38:37] will always start out with an educational period I want to give

[38:40] everybody the benefit of the doubt I want to educate the public because there

[38:44] are genuinely people that I walk up on that genuinely did not know that those

[38:48] things existed and I know that they didn't so I want I want to part of the

[38:53] fire marshal one of the pillars of the fire Marshall's office is public

[38:57] education so that's what I always start out is education but Bobby knows Bobby

[39:03] knows and he's got brush piled up everywhere yeah I got it now he knows

[39:07] I'm burn it it's just difficult it's difficult to walk that that line you

[39:12] know what I'm saying because if his neighbor calls in Smoke is running

[39:15] across their that becomes a nuisance smoke

[39:19] y see where gets real tricky for us to say I you know the more you know it's

[39:25] like our our Liberty ends like I can swing my fist anywhere I want to but if

[39:29] it gets in the Cliff's nose over here then I've lost that's that's the extent

[39:32] of my Liberty you know and so did your Liberty um yeah and then something else

[39:37] happens but um so it's difficult for us as a nation I just want to make it clear

[39:43] because our County's changed so much you know my neighbor burned his barn down

[39:47] three times when I was a kid like you know his own his own barn but our

[39:51] neighbor our county has changed so much and the older people that live in our

[39:55] County are not up to speed yes sir um and they've Lo they feel like they've

[40:00] lost their Liberty including me I'm an older person in in the community but

[40:04] also understand that you know I had a neighbor the other day that just moved

[40:07] in and he put a board up and took a 30 out six and started doing target

[40:11] practice with houses all around like he thought the board you know so I

[40:15] understand that there's there's a balance and everything but most of the

[40:18] time we're out of balance on everything like I'm a less government type person

[40:23] you know I I want less government but it seems like the more Lawless we are the

[40:27] more government we have to have how does this affect burning pastures that's

[40:32] that's part of Agriculture management and there's a there's a

[40:37] section on in the guide it talks about when you're doing that where you have to

[40:41] put fire Brakes in and all that kind of good

[40:45] stuff but when I say fire break that's using your your your tractor with see

[40:51] bricks work no no no no no no talking about a fire break where you're taking

[40:56] it down taking taking it you can't burn your neighbor

[41:02] pass okay so we're not decid anything today we're just talking about you

[41:06] trying to educate the community yeah because originally I my original

[41:09] introduction when I when I when I saw these when I saw these numbers was

[41:13] that's in the future that will be an indicator where I will request a burn

[41:17] man because it's gotten out of control well we had a beautiful day on a Friday

[41:22] and and people set fires and sat Saturday the wind blew 56 mil hour and

[41:27] that's when you had 40 fires prob surely nobody started fire Saturday no but the

[41:32] ones that were burning Friday got out because that wind picked up and blew

[41:36] them out of wherever they were at yeah there was there was one that I went to

[41:39] where there was property construction where they had H someone that started

[41:43] the fire on the Monday thought that it was out and then on Saturday when the

[41:48] winds picked back up it caught it back up and went back over

[41:54] here okay I'm good with the education thank thank you very much sir I

[41:58] appreciate you apprciate all right there's no action on that item item

[42:03] number eight discuss consider authorizing the County judge to sign a

[42:07] resolution to apply for Indigent defense grant program propose you unaware

[42:12] Indigent defense is something that the that the county re required to provide

[42:18] to uh people who get arrested and cannot afford it's part of the Miranda Rights

[42:24] if uh you cannot afford attorney one will be appointed Ed for you well that's

[42:28] what we pay for that's what you pay for and uh to the tune of a little over

[42:33] $600,000 a year for this County and uh this is a grant that uh gives us just a

[42:40] little bit back and uh the auditor's office goes through a great amount of

[42:46] recordkeeping in order to do this grant so that we can get roughly 40 to $50,000

[42:52] back so um and it's in there is there a is there a motion to approve allowing

[42:58] the County judge to sign a resolution to apply for the Indigent defense grant

[43:03] program so moved is there second second is there a further

[43:10] discussion all those in favor say I I oppose like sign motion passes item

[43:17] number nine discuss consider RFQ for engineering study for the current jail

[43:22] facility one of the uh things that we need to do uh in order to move move

[43:27] forward with the jail is to actually see what the condition of our current jail

[43:33] is that was built in 1992 and the engineering study uh as

[43:38] opposed to structural analysis like we did on the other building but the

[43:44] engineering study needs to go in to look at the mechanical the plumbing

[43:48] electrical security Plumbing is is primary one well they're actually going

[43:53] to scope the pipes and uh it's a pretty intensive you know to see if it's uh

[44:00] what the condition is if it's uh worth trying to add to it or if it's not and

[44:06] so what what I'm requesting is that we allow us to go out for a uh RFQ for

[44:12] engineering firms and I have several names so that we can submit it to to uh

[44:18] to to RFQ as a request for a quote and I would propose that the uh

[44:25] the jail committee be the one to to working

[44:29] this I'll motion okay I'll second all right motion made second is there any

[44:35] further discussion all those in favor say I I

[44:40] all those opposed like sign all right motion passes item number 10 discuss to

[44:46] consider authorizing the sale of fireworks for S jeno day which is April

[44:51] 21st 2025 and I assume I have Marshall still here didn't talk to me about that

[44:59] uh we have to actually approve the sale of fireworks for Sano day and this is a

[45:07] resolution that does

[45:11] that you I guess I should have asked you

[45:15] before I put it on I thought I did maybe I did I don't remember I I did the one

[45:20] yeah Texas which I didn't really see any in in March for Texas I think the I

[45:29] don't think the the word got out very very well on the text of I see a lot of

[45:34] sales fireworks I see a lot of fireworks stands open

[45:39] so well I think they need time to order and all the rest of that business before

[45:43] so well they they know the you know they know all the dates the state has set all

[45:47] the dates for for when when they can and cannot

[45:51] sell the de so is there a motion to authorize sell fireworks extend your s

[45:56] day April 21st 2025 or there's a rain sir

[46:01] there's a motion I'd make that motion authorized

[46:05] to S the Firework s and is there a second second all right uh any further

[46:12] discussion all in favor say I I oos by time motion passes item number 11

[46:18] discuss consider appointing jet plon to the net RMA board of directors to

[46:23] represent vanzan County Chad is our current representative and he uh for the

[46:28] last two years and he needs to be uh reappointed and I talked to him uh asked

[46:34] him if he would be willing to serve again he said yes I motion second all

[46:39] right motion to made second all those any further discussion all those in

[46:43] favor say iOS like sign motion passes is there a motion to adj can I say

[46:49] something first no can you or may may I you may about number nine I know we've

[46:55] moved past it oh go

[47:00] ahead we're doing an engineering study on our current jail correct well we're

[47:05] requesting for a quote to get some engineers then we to see if it's

[47:10] feasable to to work on it correct so I think that's the right

[47:18] decision I just think it was should have been done I

[47:23] know before we did all the other stuff I just want to state that I think we're

[47:28] out of order on a lot of things and some and it's you know I know we're trying to

[47:32] recover and get and get our stuff together but this probably should have

[47:38] been done a long time ago is there was there that's my

[47:44] statement your was yeah on the adjournment yes sir who who who motioned

[47:49] to adjourn Brandon did now second all right and Bobby and uh before you rudely

[47:54] interrupted yes sir yeah okay all those in favor say I like time

[48:02] motion no you but I can I have theability of being but I

[48:15] won all right we start the workshop in five minutes on economic development

[48:56] work well I

[48:58] was oh yes sir yes I want to make sure you understand because I understand as a

[49:03] commissioner

[49:09] sit then I'm here I'm just thinking I got

[49:25] big here

Van Zandt County Commissioners Regular Meeting 3/12/2025

Transcript