All right. Good morning. It is nine thirty two,
and I officially call the march 31st, uh, meeting of
the commissioner's court to order. We will start with public
comments. And first up is mr. Bill ver
law.
just hang on. Yep. Okay.
bill cover law williamson county,
also a proud great grand, great grandpa of the ninth generation
texan. Understand the, uh, public, uh, meeting
last week. Um, from what it described me, he sounded, sounded like an
argument in sandbox in a kindergarten. First
one, uh, item five. Um, I'm kind of baffled
while we're trying to continue building a whole lot more housing authority and
block grants and whatnot. Uh, now that we've got the borders under control,
there should be plenty of, uh, vacated, uh, availability. And
I don't know how we get past the spending problem, but, uh, more debt on our kids' future,
and, uh, all this new housing that's gonna get built, who's actually gonna be in
it. So it seems strange that, uh, we're
continue to pursue this without some good analysis. Item
23, the purchasing department award brings back memories.
back in the, uh, mid eighties, I was a software technology acquisition
as a purchasing manager, and, uh, was also
a corporate chair on software technology position for texas instruments,
probably the one of the most fun jobs I ever had in my life. That
included, uh, putting together the specs for and
defining a buyer workstation of automating the process, which was another fun
task. I actually, uh, did an evaluation
on the first prototype in 1986, and,
um, gosh, that was 30 years ago. It's come a long way. It
included speech technology, but that particular unit, uh,
the speech was handled by a full pwb sized, uh, computer
board. Now it's on a little chip in a cell phone.
so, anyway, um, automating the, uh, purchasing
functions, uh, really does help improve, uh, ev efficiency and, uh,
manageability. So glad that we, uh, have
a top end purchasing organization in our county.
thank you, bill.
all right. Next up, richard. Frederick.
frederick, or fredrick? Fredrick. Fredrick. All right.
richard frederick, uh, I live in bell county, but I'm a member
of the, let me, let me interrupt you just real
quick, because I noticed this is not on
the agenda. So I just wanna clarify. These are non-ag agenda public comments now. Right. So
go ahead. Thank you. Right. Um, yes. So you have two minutes, right?
um, but I'm a member of the sweetner community club, which
is in, uh, williamson county. And, um,
there, uh, we've had a, a contract,
a lease contract with the county for 25 years, uh,
for the facility that's out there. And, um,
so I'm hand delivering the, the letter saying that we'd
like to do it again, because we're now at the end of our 25 years,
within a couple of months. And, um, I'll, I'll
hand this to whomever, but, um, so, uh,
if there's any question about who we are and what we do, uh,
it's just a, a hall out in the countryside that people can
rent for birthdays and, um,
weddings, various, various, um, things.
um, we're aware and, and we're working on, um, getting
a new lease, and we're actually, we're actually fixing the parking lot. Right. That
was point number two. Rather than bring you a complaint, I was going to bring
you a thank you. Yeah. Um, I, I, the contractor
has had to shift his schedule around
a little bit, but I believe this month it will take place. And we thank you for
that. It's a great improvement. Um, it, it is
your facility, but we are kind of the stewards of
the day-to-day operations, and, um,
I, I have been told that, oh, and, uh, victor morrick
is our president, and he says to say hello to everyone,
he and modine, uh, I'm vice president, and, uh,
uh, you know, he broke his leg and he can't get around quite as well. So I'm here,
and that's what I'm doing. Um, he told
me that a few years ago they were a, uh, uh, a,
a voting precinct and, um, if there is any
interest in doing that, again, he, he is interested in that, you know, a
facility for yeah. Uh, because right now, even though I live
very close to sweetner, I go toledo to vote because I'm in a different county.
yeah. . But, um, there are a lot of people in that area that
it would save them some, yeah. Driving time. Yeah. Well, thank
you for being here. Uh, my wife and I have been out there a couple of times absolutely. To
meet with y'all and, uh, just a wonderful community and wonderful people. So,
um, if you'll hand that to the bailiff and, uh,
well, I know, I know commissioner bowles will be happy to meet with y'all and look forward to
the parking lot improvements. And, and y'all do y'all do a really good job of
keeping up that facility. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Thank
you, richard. Alright, uh, next
on the agenda is, uh, number two, we'll hear from the county auditor
dooo minutes. Oh, we'll do it after that. Okay.
, I'm ready. Discombobulated
today? Mm-hmm . Good morning. Nathan meyer, williams county
county auditor's office. I'm requesting approval today for the funding report that was submitted
electronically last week in the amount of $11,144,400
and 90 or six 79 cents. Um, in
addition, I have four wires, two quick payments, one in impress
payment and one benefit payment, tolling $941,045
and 19 cents. I move, we approve. We have a motion
by commissioner cook, and I'll second. Second by commissioner bowles. All in favor?
motion carries. Five zero. Thank you, nate. Uh, going back to number one,
review and approval of the minutes, and I move, we approve. And I'll
second motion by commissioner cook, second by commissioner bowles. All in favor.
motion carries. Five zero. Thank you. Um, court items
three through 22 are presented to you in consent
agenda. If there's no, uh, agenda items to pull out,
I will entertain a motion for the consent agenda. I move, we approve
the consent agenda, and I'll second I have any issues. Motion by commissioner
cook second by commissioner bowles. All in favor, consent agenda
passes five to zero, which brings
us to item number 23. And that is receive
a report with an update and insights into the purchasing department. Discuss and
take app production on proclaiming the month of march, 2026
is procurement month. And recognize the williamson
county purchasing department as the recipient of the 2025 achievement
of excellence in public procurement award by the national procurement
institute. That's a lot of procurements in that. It is, it is. Agenda items. Welcome,
joy. Thank you. Joy simonton, county purchasing agent. Good morning, judge commissioners,
we appreciate, uh, this time every year in the month of march as the
national institute of government purchasing has proclaimed the month of march procurement
month. So thank you for your time this morning. Um, we do have a, uh,
report to bring you in a slide deck here shortly with overview and insights into our department.
but, um, we do have a proclamation to read today,
which is important to us, and then we'll, um, talk briefly about what this
award means and how proud we are to present it to you each year thus
far. Um, our procurement today, procurement month proclamation
march, 2026. Whereas the williamson county procurement professionals
help make it possible for the county to provide maximum use of available
resources in support of county residents and county departments by obtaining the goods and
services needed to provide services in an efficient and economic manner.
and whereas in addition to the purchase of goods and services,
procurement teams add value to the organization by performing functions such
as executing and administering contracts, developing procurement strategies,
and cultivating working relationships with suppliers and departments within the organization.
now therefore, be it resolved at the commissioner's court of williamson county, texas, hereby
proclaims the month of march, 2026 as purchasing month.
thank you. And I'll second super motion by commissioner covey. Second by bulls.
all in favor. Motion carries. Five zero. Thank you so much. Uh,
in addition, the williamson county purchasing department received the achievement
of excellence in procurement award in 2025. It recognizes
the department as one of the top organizations of all at all levels
in public purchasing. Uh, this is at the city level, county level, school
district state, higher education and nonprofits in the country, um, apply
for this award. We are one of 48 agencies in texas and
one of 45 counties in the nation, uh, to receive this
award, the a ep award is nationally and internationally recognized
as the gold standard for the achievement of customer service, innovation, and best
practices in the profession of public procurement. The 2025
award represents the 26th consecutive year that williamson
county has achieved this prestigious honor and recognition. Um,
and I will note that, uh, they move the goalposts on us every year with this application.
they ask applicants to reach higher every year, and, uh, we are,
uh, grappling for points cast in hancock. Our deputy works tirelessly
to submit for this award every year. And, um, it's our guidepost for transparency,
innovation, and efficiency. So we're proud to bring this to you. While
we do have the court's attention once a year for our our march moment,
we do also like to shout out to our, our end users
who we teamed with this year who perhaps had a complex procurement, something lengthy
and difficult, or have leaned in with us on a process improvement and
our shout outs this year. Just for a moment, jaylen morris with the county auditor's
office, judge redden, jp four delia kalan,
uh, county judge sarah crane, the budget office, kelly murphy road
and bridge, dati morales emergency services, julie wassink
in it. Jennifer miller, general counsel, mariah
ak rodent bridge. Bonita bonner in parks and chba.
kara malik in corrections. They had some, uh, challenging
things this year, so thank you for letting us shout out to them. And with that, we'll start our report to you.
I was just gonna say congratulations once again on the award. That's,
um, quite an achievement, so congratulations to the whole gear. Yes, indeed. The whole crew
is here. We'll, we'll capture a photo at the end of the presentation if that's okay. You know, so,
you know, from physician and county commission, we get to see, you know, many things
that the public doesn't get. And of course, um, the county's
a forward facing organization. We're out in the, we're out in the field. We
we're talking to people and, uh, and our employees and our elected,
you know, they, they need things. We have to purchase things, we have to make sure the software runs. We have to make sure
the cars run, the buildings run, and there are ever increasing
state laws to make sure that as a government, that we do things very,
um, transparent and fair to, to, to the public
out there. And it's always something new and different that you have to,
um, comply with. And, and I mean, nothing
sweeter to my ears than to hear that we've gotten an award and that, you know, we are,
uh, spending the taxpayer's money wisely and per the law. And,
uh, we thank you and we thank your department for that. Um, it's, you know, it's one of those
positions that we don't always get to say thank you enough, but we, you know, we don't run without
our purchasing department. We appreciate that. Thank you. We love what we do.
okay. Alright. Congratulations. You, we love to have a picture. Okay. We've got a, oh, you've
got your report. Yes. Thank you. We, we have about a five minute slide got ahead of for you. Thank you.
alright, this is our, uh, overview and insights 2026 into
the purchasing department of williamson county. We'll talk about several things
to you for you today. Uh, our achievement and excellence of procurement, we've just talked about
that, how, how artificial intelligence may affect public procurement.
our by the numbers report to the court, our vendor support, our
job order contracting initiative, and what is on our horizon.
we've talked about our award this morning. It is our 26th consecutive year.
we do love to show a brief, um, slide on images of things that we have been,
um, working on or contracted for these past 12 months. We have parks
field upgrades, uh, a lot of support to our fleet department.
hazmat professional services for, uh, facilities and roads,
um, fiber optic optic cabling, our animal shelter support,
debris removal, uh, purchasing support for our justice center,
um, ems, law enforcement corrections, our
veteran services department, our new headquarters, our admin building,
and of course, um, armored car services. Just a few of the things that we
purchase and contract to deliver services to the county. Uh,
next up, how artificial intelligence may affect public procurement
as we're getting used to this, uh, new world of ai in the
short term vendors will use ai to create a solicitation
response document in minutes. What would otherwise take days and weeks
to respond to a formal solicitation, which means we will see more
responses, um, turned into our solicitations.
we do expect to see more competitive pricing. We have some data on that here in a few
minutes. Prices may flatten as vendors will have access to real time
cost data, and then evaluating people and customer service
in vendor finalist interviews will become even more important.
wilco staff specification writing will become faster and easier
in the next few years. Predictive analytics on forecasting and costs
will help us in a lot of ways. Ai enhanced oversight
on compliance tools will be available and embedded ai
procurement considerations will be available, uh, in our policy writing
by the numbers for the court, we did wanna let you know that our bonfire
solicitation portal has been, uh, acquired by una procurement.
so in conversation and communications around the county, we'll be referencing it as
una una does provide, uh, terrific metrics
on several things in the formal solicitation environment. One of those metrics
is the average responses received per solicitation.
I've been in this field for, uh, several decades, um, and in the region
for about 15 years. And I'm always happy when I see about four
responses per solicitation. That's a good snapshot of the market. Gives the county,
you know, choice when they're making a decision on an award and scoring.
we're now up to six, six responses per solicitations an excellent number.
uh, for some reference that's up 20% from last year. Last year we were
seeing five, so we're averaging now six responses per solicitation.
it also gives us insight into how long our process and our
staff is running on a formal solicitation. This includes the two
weeks of advertising. We close the bid or rfp, we
evaluate it, we interview finalists, and then we bring that recommendation to court. We're
averaging 78 days in that process. We're proud of that.
just a reminder to the court that we do support 67 departments. And in fy
25, we provided oversight on $434 million in spending.
we processed 2,697 purchase orders and added dozens of
new vendors to the county's operation. We do look at our
purchase order volume for a number of reasons, one, to make sure we're staffed correctly,
and two, to make sure our efficiency measures are being effective. And you can
see we've hovered around 3000 purchase orders a year for some time.
we, uh, clocked 2,697 last year. We're, we're good, happy
with that. You know, our efficiency measures are working, blanket, pos, uh, multi-year
contracts, et cetera, affect all of those things. Our active pcard
holders, this is our most outward facing program. We're supporting roughly, uh,
between 386 and 400 pcards throughout the county.
this is our system for allowing end users to make low dollar point of sale
purchases. Think amazon. This
next graph we track, uh, to, to make sure we're balancing transactions
correctly in terms of how we let, uh, end users procure things.
this is number of transactions. This is not dollar spend. You can see the
p card transactions in blue last year, 17,910
individual transactions purchase orders. Again, 2,697.
uh, purchase orders are more complex. We try to keep those right at to
a minimum as much as we can because
the cost of, um, a procurement cycle with a pcard is much less
than the cost of a procurement cycle on a purchase order. Right? The end user's time,
purchasing's time and aps time. And if there's any questions, just let
me know as we go. Some of these numbers, um, are familiar.
we do receive a rebate through our pcard program through jp morgan chase. That
rebate is, uh, predicated on our spend level. So we received $66,892
for a rebate last year from jp morgan chase.
our formal solicitations, which are now a hundred thousand and higher,
um, we ran 81 formal solicitations last year. And
anywhere you see a green audit check we did, we did green audit, that program last year,
our savings through solicitations. And we'd like to bring you
this number. This is insightful for all of us. Um, I started tracking this
last year and had a three year number that I was able to bring to the court, was averaging 7%
and 10.3 million per year on the 22 through 24 figures.
when we looked at the 2025 data, it's now 16.9 million
for the year, which is 16%. And we're arriving at that number
based on the engineer's estimate
in a road and bridge project compared to the contracted award amount.
and then in the formal solicitation, um, data
for rfps, csps, et cetera, we're comparing the budgeted amount
compared to the contracted amount. Are we always lower close?
not always, but the aggregate for 2025, um, 16.9 million
in the formal solicitation setting.
we do run the sur. Uh, we do run, we we touch the surplus auction, uh,
run by our it warehouse and, um, fleet department, but we can bring
you the revenue numbers for 2025. This is, um, auctioned
items, surplus items, things that have reached their, uh, end of life.
and that was $262,000 last year. We use both gov deals
and gaston sheehan are, those are our auction sites.
our public information requests have, uh, spiked significantly. 78
in fy 24, 151 in fy 25. And
those are requests for contracts, award information, scoring information, et cetera,
some additional updates. Just a reminder, we have, um, countywide contracts in place for
temp labor equipment rental, uh, I think next week that's coming
to court and pre-positioned emergency contracts, which we were glad to have in place
this past year for debris removal, debris monitoring, generator
purchase and rental. And our facilities contracts have been augmented with fema
addendum language, so they are pre-positioned for that as well.
um, we're very appreciative that the audit office
allows us to issue professional services pool solicitations.
and this was important and, um, really
good for the county in that. Through these four solicitations for various professional
services, we have been able to award 41 consulting contracts
without these pre-qualified pool awards. These
would be individual solicitations. So what we're able to do
is issue requests for qualifications
for professional services, pre-position those firms that are qualified,
and then award from those pools. This helps us with architectural
civil engineering, landscape architecture, mechanical electrical and
plumbing engineering, environmental engineering, fire protection engineering, roofing
consulting, business envelope analysis, hvac testing and balancing
engineering. Another interesting metric to bring
you today, our purchasing website traffic has gone up significantly
in fy 24. The unique page visits to the purchasing landing
page has gone from 1051 unique visits to
4,161 visits. These are,
uh, we hope vendors looking for opportunities and engaging with
us, um, on opportunities to bid as to how to do business with the county.
we also bring to you today an overview of, um, a new
tool that we are, uh, teaming with facilities on to deploy for
job order contracting for facilities management.
the construction contracting volume for facilities management for the county
who's supporting 100 buildings, um,
required the issuance of 566 purchase orders last year.
32 master service agreements last year, 53 contracts,
21 professional service agreements and six solicitations.
the court will be familiar with the master services agreements that we've
worked hard to put in place these past few years. Um, these master service
agreements, we now have 95 total in use by the facility maintenance department.
these have become ideal for building maintenance.
msas typically provide a service for one licensed trade such as hvac.
the pricing is predetermined and established at the time of contract.
the work is let through a work order and we're, um,
recommending that the court, um, allow the facilities management
director to let work through a work order under $100,000 and
then ratify that contract through the court agenda. Subsequently
at 100,000 and over. The commissioner's court per statute
must authorize the work order prior to the commencement of work.
what we're bringing to you today is the job order contracting program,
which is ideal for construction projects, different
from maintenance, um, the repair, alteration, renovation,
remediation of a minor construction of a facility. Uh, when
the work is of a recurring nature, jocks will involve one or more licensed
trade and related contractors supervised by a general contractor
similar to msas. We ask the court to consider that under $100,000
a task order can be let by the facilities management director
and then ratified through the commissioner's court subsequently. But 100,000
and over those projects would come to the court for permission.
this is different than an msa in that estimates through a
are obtained through the ms means database. This is
a way to find reliable cost data on construction materials, equipment and labor.
and they source over 970 markets nationwide.
uh, the awarded gc would be able to develop an estimate through
this database. This is then an auditable figure
so that those estimates, um, can be vetted and compared
the msa versus the job order contracting. Um,
williamson county solicitations issued both cooperative contract
master services agreement on some will not be, um, a cooperative
contract available for the jock in this setting. Construction services, job order
contracting, building maintenance master services agreement, not to exceed amounts
on all contracts. Yes, under 100 facilities maintenance can
authorize over 100 commissioner's. Court must approve,
uh, similar to any current cip requests.
the request will be budgeted, uh, during the budget process
estimate will be provided by the jock contractor for approval.
the task order created and then the work would commence.
our vendor support, uh, continues. We do have our annual vendor forum
scheduled for april 30th from two to 3:00 pm this is a virtual setting
and this is our way to engage with vendors that are interested in how to do business
with williamson county. We have our written guide available on our website at all
times, which, um, shows vendors how to register through our portal so that
they can be notified of bid opportunities on our horizon,
workday. We are actively working to configure this new system and
we're excited about, uh, what lies ahead. Thank you for
your time today. Thank you, joy. Thank you joy. Great presentation. Okay,
a couple of things. Uh, the workday you mentioned, uh, the change
in name for one of your software packages, the bonfire
yes. That is going to remain as we move forward with workday,
is that correct? That stays in place, yes. Commissioner the results through now
una are, um, terrific and we do not, we don't, we don't pivot from that.
correct. But everything else is going to be moving into workday, correct?
yes. From what we can tell. Okay. And the other thing was, um,
if you could go back to the, uh, jock discussion,
it's a hundred thousand dollars and, but through the budgeting,
if we're going to budget for a, a category for that into
facilities budget, we're gonna need, I I would assume that that's when
the court gets to have a say on how it's spent. Um, because there
could be a lot of larger projects that go through there
that may or may not fit into the whole plan. So,
you know, how, how are we gonna navigate that? Uh, do you know, I'm not suggesting that we don't
do it because I think it's good for the, the items that you listed, but indeed,
I believe dale butler is here to answer specifics on that.
good morning. Dale butler facilities. Um, so,
uh, the way I see it, we would still go through the normal process of cip and
facilities enhancement requests like we're currently doing this fy
and uh, we would turn those in to budget like we normally do.
those would turn back around and come back to us with an approved list. So
it would still be planned work for the most part, especially the jock would
be planned work your microphone button please. Okay.
thank it. Probably just wasn't, can y'all hear me now? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
so, um, it would still be planned work. Like most of it normally
is, um, some things are a surprise or an emergency, but
most emergencies would fall under those msas. So the jocks would be more for planned.
yeah, because they're for construction projects, those are not for maintenance. So
something happens and you have to tend to it right away, use a different bucket. But for this,
um, and we'll have to see how we're going, going to budget for that. But we would have a discussion
before any money gets spent. Is that or not? For those larger,
for those larger items, yes. Right. Okay. I
just know that, that, um, others may call upon you to do
certain things and it may not fit into the overall, um,
direction that we're heading. So not to use money
where we don't need it spent because we have a bigger plan. Understood
that. That's my concern. Yes.
so do you need action on this today to move forward with the jock or not? Our next
steps are to bring the jock solicitation through the court for approval. We'll issue that
and it would, our goal is four gcs. Not today. Not today. Thank you. You'll
approve it at that time? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Alright.
thanks. Joy. Now is a picture time. Picture your time. Congratulations here. Super. Thank you.
are we going down or staying up? I think there's enough of them. We probably should stay up here.
rest trip on the plunder down here.
congratulations. Good morning. Good morning. Yeah, well done. Great job.
easily the best looking department in the county.
good. Hey, congrats. Congratulations. Great job guys. Appreciate you. Keep up
the good work. Congratulations. You bet, johnny. Keep up the good work.
all right, thank y'all. And congratulations again on the award.
moving on to agenda item 24, discuss, consider take appropriate action on a line
item for transfer for succession plan,
uh, dollars for ems emergency medical services department.
I'll entertain a motion. I move approval, although if we don't approve it, does
that mean bet will stay , ? Kind of doubt it,
huh? Yeah, I move approval. I'll second. Alright. Motion by commissioner.
long second by commissioner cook. All in favor? Motion carries. Five
zero. Beth will be missed tremendously. Yes. Yes. Um,
court and audience, we're gonna move agenda item 25 to the end of the
regular agenda. So the next item will take up is item,
uh, or item 26, discuss. Consider, take appropriate action on approving
servicing goods contract 2020 6,183
between williamson county and cofi technologies incorporated for
the preservation and restoration of historical records for the county clerk's office
in the amount of 646,882 and 42 cents
in authorizing the execution of the agreement pursuant to an interlocal agreement with
denton county move approval. All right. Motion
by commissioner long second by commissioner bowles. All in favor.
motion carries five zero item 27,
discuss. Consider tech property action on approving, um, agreement for
services and goods. 2 0 2 6 dash 180 between data projections incorporated
and williamson county for audio visual system upgrades to multiple rooms
at the williamson county sheriff's training academy located in hu texas.
could we get clarity on how, uh, what budget it's coming out of, please?
good morning, richard. Simple technology services. Uh, this is coming out of
the its budget. Okay, thank you.
any other questions? I'll move to approve
and I'll second motion by commissioner covey, second by commissioner cook.
all in favor? Motion carries. 5 0 27
discuss. Consider take pro production. Oh, wait, wait, 28.
um, richard, discuss, consider take pro production on an update on
major products, projects by technology services.
so, good morning, uh, richard sample, and I have julie kelly up here for the first update.
um, these, uh, updates are mainly on our capital projects. I think there's
only one in here that's not a capital project. So, um, if we
just go through those, there's certainly a lot more that we're doing besides these. But, um, it's definitely
time to update the court on a few of these major issues, um, projects that are
ongoing. So, uh, the very first is the wow project,
the wilco on workday, um, which is going on right
now. And, and, um, just as a
quick refresher, um, this is our finance procurement asset and
hr systems, um, that are being replaced with workday.
and, um, it's important to note that while we're replacing a
lot of things, uh, you may see on the screen, oracle benefits portal, those sort of things. Uh, we
are keeping ukg kronos, um, is staying,
uh, as well as una the bonfire that, um, joy mentioned
just a little bit ago. And, um, the funding for these
is, is coming from cip. Um, and if you'll notice in
all the slides I added, um, some icons to indicate, um, the time
and and budget, um, status of each of these efforts. The red,
if it's bad, I don't have any red ones, fortunately. Um,
we do have a couple that are yellow, um, for various reasons and we can talk about those.
um, but to look at the, is there anything you wanna say about this part? Yeah,
so good morning, julie kiley, county auditor. I just wanted to take this quick
opportunity to give a shout out to all the teams that are involved in this project.
I know we've mentioned them in the past, but we've received a lot of great compliments
from our implementation firm on how spot on this team
is, how hard they're working, how well this project is on,
uh, target. Uh, so I just wanna shout out to the benefits department, the
treasurer's office, it, hr, budget, purchasing, general counsel's
office. Uh, they were involved with the rfp process soon to be involved
in some of the procurement processes and how we'll handle those. And then, of
course, my staff that are involved in this project. I also wanna give a huge shout
out to jaylen morris, who's the county's pm kayla, who
re, uh, uh, represents the hr from a project management perspective, many
batay and it who represents the it side of the shop
as a pm and then our contracted relationship of valerie guts with
barry dunn, who's keeping us all in tow, including myself. So thank
you to the team. Keep up the good work. Uh, we've got implementers on site
the next three weeks over in it, uh, and everybody
is doing hands-on testing already, if you can believe that in this project.
so I'll be running over there to check on the teams, uh, that we have. Hr is this
week, next week is mostly financials and richard will cover that. And
then the third week will be payroll.
so as julie mentioned, there's a lot of folks working really hard on this. And, um,
we've got, fortunately our, our folks from barry dunn, um, helping us
along with a vap who's helping implement, uh, workday. And as
you can see, um, we've already gone through a lot of the planning, um, and now we're really in the
configuration phase. And this is a really key phase where we are, um,
going through each module, each screen and configuring exactly
how it needs to work for us as, and then testing that to
make sure each of those functions perform the way we need to. Um, this
is on the individual units, so as we progress, you'll see we're getting into some
more, um, testing phases later this summer. Um, including
end-to-end testing where we will, you know, start something like, say start
a procurement from the very beginning, um, and work it all the way through invoicing.
um, and, and see where all those issues and things that need to be cleaned
up are. Um, so this, this testing is super important
on us. Um, you know, that we take the time to make
sure it's working exactly as we need it to function. Um, not just how
the system works, I just wanna say how, how much I've
seen all these teams work together. Great job. It's,
this is a, a huge project and it's very complicated and it
has to be, right. So I appreciate all the time that you guys are
spending and all the other leaders that are, that are helping their departments move through,
maneuver through this. Um, this is something we can't get wrong and, and,
and it's at lightning speed actually for government work, uh, to start
really, um, testing it now, but to have it online
next year, early next year. So I appreciate it and all
the things that are complicating it by real life stuff that happens in that time. So
I appreciate all the work. Thank you. Yes, it, it's a, it's a lot of
work on top of everyone's regular job duties. Um, and taking a lot of time
out for this is certainly taxing for those folks. Um, and for everyone else who's
having to help, um, keep the lights on. So we are, um,
going live on december 14th for hr payroll,
um, and a lot of the, um, other modules and then january 1st for
all the financials. So, um, there's a bit of a, a staggered go live. And then after
that we'll be, uh, budgeting. So the budgeting for
fy 28 will be done, will be done in
workday. But speaking of budget,
you have, you continue to tell us that you have the funding needed to
make this happen. That's correct. Good. Yep. Thank you.
um, as, as important as the configuration is, is also the folks, um,
that are helping get the word out about this project and then going
to help, um, facilitate inside their departments. Um,
so we have, uh, started the change champions network,
um, which right now has 28 representatives from several departments and offices.
uh, these are folks that we're gonna be working with all spring and summer,
um, and into the fall to, you know, get feedback, to give them information
they can give out to other folks in their departments. Um, and really help
us ease that transition into workday. Uh, 'cause there are a lot of
things gonna change for folks. Thanks, rich.
uh, the next thing I wanted to update is our, uh, dispatch and law
enforcement records management product. Um, we purchased a product from hexagon
now called octa. They love changing names. Um,
so, um, on that, um,
as a, as a refresher, we are replacing our current 9 1 1 dispatch systems.
the mobile data systems use out by units in the field and the law enforcement records management
systems. And in, in reality, there's a whole bunch of other, uh, smaller systems that are gonna be either
affected or replaced as part of this. Um, you'll notice the icon for,
for budget turned yellow in this case. Um, and that is because while we are still in the,
uh, budget we had planned, there are some additional funds
needed, uh, to be able to complete this project, um,
which is going live next year. And here's where we are on that project. Um,
sorry for the small font, uh, but there is a lot, a lot going on. But essentially
we are doing some configuration in the beginnings of testing right now. Um,
so this week is actually a really busy week for a lot of folks because we've got, um,
the law enforcement record system, um, configuration going on right now
in one of our training rooms. And then our other conference rooms are filled with workday folks
doing testing. So, um, a lot going on, but we are,
um, moving forward to that, uh, on completion
on these projects. Uh, this will be going live in february of next year. So,
um, a lot of changes coming the beginning of next year,
but this project is, is on track and we've got some really great folks,
um, involved in that from various county offices as well.
some of the other projects, um, we've got through cip, um, our public
wifi project. So, um, public wifi on the square
here, um, as well as the expo center and taylor ballfield will be
launching in may to the public. Um, there is some available right now, we've got some
tweaks to do. Um, and we are also, um,
gonna expand to do some service at southwest regional park in and around the splash
pad area as well. Um,
and we are just now planning that part out. Um, and this is funded
a million and a half for arpa interests. And again, we're
on time and on on budget with that. Um, even adding in the,
um, southwest regional park,
the countywide fiber optic project, um, while I show green and
on time on a budget, this has been not without its challenges, although
it's green with maybe a few dots behind it. Um, we have definitely
faced our share of challenges trying to run, uh, fiber around the county. A lot of aerial routes
have had to change, um, and different routes decided and some underground,
uh, but we will be complete with that, um, by december 1st.
um, we've got, um, $8 million in arpa funding, uh,
for that and as well as a million and a half of cip we always knew this
wasn't gonna be enough to do all the fiber that's needed around, and that's future
years. Um, we'd originally estimated about 16 million.
um, hopefully that's still true. Um, but we will have quite
a bit, um, complete by then. So we will have, uh, some good
use outta this fiber and we are still working with our cities and school
districts and other folks to discuss what their needs are and how we can help each other through this
project. Are they pitching in? Uh, their part will be in,
if they want to connect, we'll discuss how that those costs will be
shared. And we didn't, we
didn't specifically run to any of their buildings we're running nearby and then pointing out where the
junctions are so that they can decide, you know, if that's something they'd like to connect to. We can
discuss how that goes. Kinda like when the city pulls water up to your property and,
and you get to pay to connect. Exactly. Yep. So are we gonna spend all of
the money that we've assigned from arpa before the end of the year? Yes, thank
you.
uh, enterprise asset management system, uh, for road and bridge parks and
facilities. Um, we are working with barry dunn, who's
the same folks are helping us with the, um, workday project.
um, so with this one we have received rfp responses and we are evaluating
them right now. Um, after we select
a system, we can also then start looking at data conversion
and data gathering that needs to happen to go into these systems. Um,
so if say we're gathering information for parks, you know, it's which
specific pieces of equipment, um, and items they wanna
track and be able to load that into the appropriate formats for whatever system
is selected. So, um, we're expecting a go live in the
fall of 27, um, and we do believe we have enough money,
um, at this point without knowing specifics yet on which system we're gonna select
and what data will cost. Um, but we are estimating that
the two and a half million that's currently funded in cip is, is adequate for this project.
radio towers, additions and upgrades. Um, so this is a project
to add five additional tower sites, um, not necessarily the tower
themselves yet. Um, we've also added in the lake creek annex tower,
um, to provide coverage. So we are working
with a company called mission critical partners, who's helped us with several projects in the past. They're
also helping us with a, a body worn in-car camera system that's
on this list 'cause it's not cip, um, to study
those individual sites. And then we are starting discussions with partner agencies
on specific sites that may be, um, an opportunity
for us to put those towers in as currently funded at 3 million,
um, from cip for the tower sites and land acquisition.
um, which is adequate. This is the map of where the
current sites are in, in green tribe mission critical study had identified
needed towers. Um, so you can see they kind of fill in some of the gaps around.
so we are working to identify some of those specific sites and
exactly who we can partner with if necessary. Um,
and where it's acceptable to put a tower. What's the, what's the minimum number of acres you
need per site? So originally we had said, okay, let's look
for five acres because that would be enough space for a guy, wire
guy, wire supported tower, which is a little cheaper to build, um, depending on the, the
land. Um, however, really a
even as small as a hundred by a hundred feet, um, can
be enough for a self-supported tower depending on the height and the land. Um,
so it, it kind of varies, but we can go quite small and in fact, um,
one of the sites we have identified would be a good fit. Um,
out in the liberty hill area is actually on the property,
um, that the liberty hills cscd office is on,
um, which is pictured up here. And a conceptual drawing
that we had just, um, been discussing with facilities, um,
was potentially creating a driveway off the back of that to the back corner of the property and putting a
tower back there that would be out of the road right of way.
um, and that would be on a potentially good location for a
tower, um, that would have a lot of infrastructure right nearby. Can you go back to that,
the picture before please? That would take care of the dot that's out
that way. Yes, the far left one. Yep. And you know, you know, the wccf
owns property at 1 95, which looks like where one of those dots might be
correct. Yeah, we have been studying that. It may be a little close to the
florence, the existing florence tower. Mm-hmm . Um, but we are looking at that.
we're also talking with, uh, city of georgetown has mentioned, um, that they
may have some opportunities coming up, so we're right. Um, starting discussions with them on
how we could partner there. Good, thank you.
so lake creek annex, um, so we purchased this building in
the fall and we've been, um, working with levy akima for architectural
services for the 9 1 1 training center that'll go out there. Um,
that one again has a, has a different color for the on budget. Um,
and, and thanks to dale for a lot of this information. Um,
the, the programming for the building, these are the spaces identified and the,
um, southwest wing is where the, um, the 9 1 1
training center is allocated to be. And,
um, just some, just some budgetary numbers on there.
um, you know, it's currently funded at 10,550,000.
um, there is additional requests from cip for 575,000
to be able to finish out the space for, um,
9 1 1 training. Um, and that does not include, um,
some future equipment that'll be needed to make that a good long term, um,
place. However, those aren't needed day one, so, and we
could maybe go after grant since other absolutely. Other funding sources for that. Yep. But
the last, could you talk about the last part on that schedule and, um, the,
the last two items, the 500,000 and the 2.1 million is,
um, options if there are other occupants for that building, uh, in some of the other spaces
mm-hmm . So not,
not necessarily needed for the nine one training, but it's a separate for other. It's separate, but it's
something that has been discussed. Yes. Mm-hmm . Thank you. It's
for the sheriff. Thank you. Um, this is not
a cip item, but this affects, um, nearly all of them.
uh, and I just wanted to bring this up is that, um, we are still working to
transition our computer domain from wilco.org
to the wilco tx.gov. Um, all of our emails have been done for some
time. We are now, um, working on the scope to transition
all of the users, computers, uh, servers, those sort of things to this
new domain that is an incredibly complicated process,
um, and incredibly nerdy. I would put everyone to sleep by talking about it. Um,
but it is a very important project that a lot of our other efforts are
tied up in. Um, so we are working to complete this one. Um, we
hope mainly by the end of the fiscal year. Um, but there will be some things
that that drag into next year, uh, through march of 27.
so this will affect how you sign into the network, um, how you get access to
things and, and all of the servers that run, uh, the content that we have.
um, our carlson cove tower, um, which
is off the inter loop. Um, we have a new shelter and monitoring equipment going in,
uh, that was funded a million and a half from cip. Uh, and that is on target
to go live same time as basically everything else in january of 27.
um, so, um, we've got that well underway
and it is on track
generally for all of our projects. These are the major challenges we're facing.
these affect all the ones above, uh, and a whole lot more that aren't even on this list.
um, but, you know, the daily work, uh, unplanned events being from,
um, issues that come up, uh, those could be,
you know, moves of departments, those could be cyber issues, um,
outages of various types. Those create a challenge. Um, our many
other projects on our list, uh, that departments are counting on to do their work. Um,
certainly, uh, impact our ability to schedule things and, and get some
things done. Um, just having enough staff time and, and resources.
um, like today we're out of conference space, uh, to have all
the testing done, um, in place. And then, uh, last thing I wanna bring
up is it hardware, um, is very difficult to get right now. I have on here seven
days that's, um, actually long. Um, we have,
uh, one of our key vendors has a three day quote.
I mean, I don't know who can get any kind of, um, purchase back
in three days. Uh, that's asking way too much. But, uh, dell
right now is giving us seven day quotes. Um, so making it
very difficult for us to do business. And a lot of other folks, a lot of that's driven
by the need for chips and ram for ai, um, data centers.
so mm-hmm . That's creating a, a big headache for us. You got enough going on?
you got enough going on? I, I wish this was the list. I wish there wasn't, uh, about several
dozen other projects. We should be for a while until we, until you get some stuff. We are good with that.
. So richard, I, I think I heard two things. Uh, as far
as additional budget needs, um, 5 75
for lake creek and the other one was 500 for, um, the cad.
for the cad and rms for the cad. Yes. Mm-hmm .
alright, thanks. Okay. And thank you. And
to your team, I mean the, just the two major
systems alone, are you on? Is your, is your, yeah, it's on. Okay.
the two major systems alone are huge, but that's in
addition to everything else. So thank, thank you for what you are doing and, and for your team. Yeah, great
job. Great job. Thank you all for your support and please relay that info to
your team that, yeah, it's just an amazing, uh,
amount of work and resource y'all do to keep the county up and running and they're,
we're grateful for y'all and your work is appreciated. Thank you. We've got a great
team. Hey richard, we're proud of that. Um, we're gonna move into the, uh, admin building
in a few months. Are y'all testing that before we move in? In
every capacity? We are indeed. So there, there is already internet service to
that building. Um, we will be installing wireless coming
up soon. Um, there are also cellular repeaters throughout
the building, so cell service will be excellent throughout the building, wherever you are.
um, no matter which, no matter which brand you use for, for all those
people who are not gonna have desk phones anymore, that's a good thing. Exactly right.
um, so there are a lot of other efforts out there like, like that, um, which is gonna
take a sign, significant amount of work from our staff to get that building completely
set up, um, in, in all the different technology systems that
are gonna run in there as well as all the users. Um, getting everyone moved,
so, mm-hmm . Thank you. Good job. Thanks richard. Thank you. All right, thanks
richard. Alright, moving on. Court
items 29, 30 and 31 are all facilities related. 29,
um, deals with electrical infrastructure, maintenance and installation
services with doyle electric. Um, 30 deals
with electrical infrastructure, maintenance and installation with allied
electrical services. And 31, uh,
is awarding, uh, half and associates for
the architects and design services for the road and bridge training building.
I will entertain a motion for one or all three of those items. I move.
we approve all three. I'll second. All right. Motion by commissioner cook. Second by
commissioner bowles. All in favor? A I just to comment on the,
um, motion carries five, oh by the way, on 31, sorry, on 31
that, uh, we've, we've, uh, already approved 750,000
I think for this project. So this is coming out of that just for note.
okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm . Alright, moving on. Items 32 through
39, all concern road and bridge projects. I
will entertain a motion for one or all of those items.
I move. We approve all of those items. Motion by commissioner cook.
I'll second. That was 32nd by commissioner bulls for items
32 through 39.
any discussion on any of those items? We're good. All
right. All in favor? Motion carries five zero.
moving on to item 40, discuss, consider tech appropriate action on the agreed
final judgment with roger doyle bonnet and patricia lin
bonnet, trustees of the roger d and patricia l bonnet trust order
instrument dated october 1st, 2020 to acquire 0.109
acres needed as right of way on baghdad road at county road 2 79,
project partial 23 move approval.
uh, commissioner long motions to approve. I'll second. Second by commissioner bowles. All
in favor. Item carries five
zero. Item number 41. I would like to pull to executive
and address when we come back from executive. Um, before
we, uh, recess to executive, I would like to give our people
who signed up for non-ag agenda item, public comments, a chance
to speak. Richard has already spoken. We will, uh, the next person
who signed up is ben fras. Um, coming back
to discuss the drift track, I'm assuming in hu it doesn't say on here.
yes sir. Yes. Okay. Yes sir. I apologize for that. There seems
to be some ben frascona williamson county. There seems
to be some question on decibel levels requirements
in the, in the county and the state, since the county doesn't necessarily have any noise ordinance,
the state does, it starts at a minimum of 85 decibels. Now that's not
a hard and fast rule. My dishwasher operates
at 42 decibels. Very quiet. A large, large
noisy dishwasher operates at above 85. You can see the
comparison, but I also refer to texas supreme court address on
nuisance law, cross tech north texas pipeline lp versus the
gardener family, which I provided for you last week started in
2008 where a family purchased a a 95 acre lot
for the investment retirement and raising cattle. They purchased
that property and over time the pipeline company came in,
put in pipeline and a large generator, which made noise 24 7.
it started in 2008, went to a jury trial. The plaintiffs were successful.
it went all the way up to the state supreme court where the state supreme court,
uh, judged for the plaintiffs in this matter. And
it doesn't in the state. It's a three page brief, which I provided to you
last week. It doesn't matter whether the noise is day or night. The fact, the matter is
the family was there before the pipeline was there. In my case,
or in my community's case, there's a bunch of homes that were there long before
the drift track was there. And no, uh,
no notice was given to the residents to talk to the owner about
that. Yesterday I did an, I did an interview with kxan.
the owner pulled up and we, the reporter told him what
we were doing and filing a story over
the noise. Would he like to comment? He did not want to comment on that.
so it is being, I did ask the media to address it as well as,
uh, caroline harris davila's office. Okay. Two
minutes is not enough time to go through all this. Okay. But if the county attorney is in the,
in the building, I would love to have 15 minutes to talk with him over this.
okay. Um, he is, and, and I know, uh, commissioner
bowles in his office is, uh, aware the situation as well. So
we'll be in contact with you and I don't think the county attorney is in the office today. Oh. Or
in the building today. I'm sorry. I thought you okay. I was thinking of our counsel in, and I'm still waiting from
your schedule or to schedule a meeting with you, judge. Okay. Okay.
we'll get that asap as well. Thank you, sir. All right. Appreciate you.
alright. Bill cover law,
uh, bill cover law williamson county, uh, too. Minutes, minutes goes by real fast.
it is interesting to point out on my way to a meeting on, uh,
saturday. I ran into a nightmare on
1431 because of some bike ride that had been scheduled. We
had traffic going east and west, backed up for almost two miles else.
and all that traffic was, uh, engines running pollution, carbon
emissions, people missed appointments, missed, uh,
deliveries, et cetera. Probably a couple wrecks along the way
with all of that poor planning that went into that. But anyway,
I wanna, knowing the back roads I got to my meeting on time.
the, um, meeting was interesting too. It kind of ties back
into last week's, uh, sandbox argument. It's hard
to get good civility in, in a lot of meetings.
the, the, um,
meeting I was in, uh, I had to bring up, uh, robert jules's issue that was
called, uh, divide the question. And then they still wanted to debate that. So
I had to get the parliamentarian to advise the group that it wasn't
debatable. But, uh, one quick last item is, uh,
citizen's use of the av equipment in the, uh, courtroom. It would be nice if
we had equal access to
be able to present information like all the other people that make presentations. And
there's always an argument about security, but it can be an isolated system. There
ought to be a way for us to be able to present some of these things.
and if you got a noisy neighbor, I saw that problem with the noisy neighbors I had
a couple years ago behind me. I built my own generator and it was
150 db and I got their attention. They quit making noise.
thank you, bill. Next we have dr. Laura
presley
is court. I'm dr. Laura pressley, true texas elections. I'd like to provide
some good faith professional advice regarding resolving the serious
voting rights issues that were raised to this court. During early voting for the primary
number 1 21 early vote and 29 election day voters
casted legal ballots resulting in disenfranchising of those 50 voters
from voting on all races. These issues were raised to you to
the court, the first week of early vote. I wanna
provide potentially how you could have changed the outcome of
this. Um, I wish that you had
demanded that the election administrator provide daily reports of
anyone casting those illegal ballots, and thank the
citizens for bringing these issues to you. And if one person had,
had, um, had cast an illegal ballot,
that you would've demanded the removal of those ballot marking devices and
you would've apologized to those voters. For that.
I wanted to see an apology from this court to the 50 voters at cast
illegal ballots. Number two, the ballot box surveillance
vi videos have been going off for years, and we reported this during early vote
the second week of early vote. Uh, commissioner bowles, we reported this.
I wanted you to demand that it stop, that the videos
stop turning off you. Thank the citizens for bringing these
issues to you for the illegalities that were occurring. And you apologize
to the voters of those early voting ballots that the videos went off, that you
apologize for the vote for the laws being broken and you demand
those clocks be put in all the areas. The four videos that I
recorded were taken directly, commissioner bowles from the youtube website.
I did not splice any of them. I want that on the record.
these voting issues must be resolved quickly by this court. All thank
you, dr. Presley. Criminal complaints. At this point, we will go to item number people
going to the court of public opinion to help resolve. Will you help with dr. Presley? Thank you
once again, refuses to follow the rules of the court. We're moving on to
item number 25 cip.
I think we can pull those up.
all right, julie, when you're ready. Good morning, judge and commissioners. Julie kiley,
county auditor for williamson county. And I have dan weiller with me, our financial advisor
from specialized public finance. We drafted this agenda item in
an effort to just discuss various things besides just the cip balances.
so I'll start with the balance that's left in the 2026 cip.
there is $17,999,753.
that has not been allocated at this time. Uh, there are various projects
that I think the court may want to discuss this morning. One of those being, uh, funding
for the balance of the juvenile justice center, of which we've already,
um, put the change orders or the contracts in place
for those additional three phases. Uh, the 500,000
that mr. Simple brought up this morning for the cad project. Uh, last week,
the court negotiated, um, or, uh, finalized
a $78.6 million contract for, uh,
property for the justice complex. So those are some of the things I
wanted to start the discussion with and get some feedback from the court in a direction we wanna
move. And one other item before I, uh, forget, we need approximately
50 million more for right of way for the 2023 program.
is that all kidding? .
okay. So one of the things that we would propose for
the land purchase in the right of way at a minimum would be a tax anticipation
note that mr. Weiller and I and bond counsel would bring back for the court's
consideration later in april, roughly april 21st agenda is what we're
looking at. Uh, so if we wanna start there with any discussion or
questions, um, I know, uh, mr. Weill's here and can help answer
any of those questions. We've been running various scenarios to make sure this works in
the county's current debt structure. Before we get into that, um, I
would, I would propose that we have two projects
that we could pay for with current remaining
cip money, 26 cip money. And that would be the,
uh, the juvie center, uh, juvenile detention center.
I think it's 17 at eight or something. 17.4 million. There you go.
17 four. And then another half a million for the the cad project,
uh, to finish those out. And that would use up, I believe, the bulk of
that money, is that correct? It would leave $99,753.
some, some, some change. Yeah. So that would be something that
we have already moved forward on contractually for the, um,
the juvie center and well both projects. And so
that that would finish them up. And we could, and we don't have to vote on anything if, however
you wanna do it, judge, but we can talk about how, you know, if we're gonna move forward on
these projects, how we're gonna pay for them. That would be my recommend, my, my
proposal and my, my motion. If you're accepting motions at this point,
if you wanna look at the whole thing, we can. And then go back and figure out how we're gonna pay
for each thing. So this is when we went through
the process back in september,
oct whenever it was. Um, we left this much on the table knowing
we had some of these things coming up. And so at this point, um,
I, I do think, uh, we need to figure
out the lake creek piece. Mm-hmm . And whether that comes out of,
um, I don't know timing wise whether it can be out of the next
f-y-c-I-p or not. Um, but
you know, we've already voted and committed on the juvenile piece and cad
is, uh, we're in the middle of implementation. So that are kind
of two commitments. I think we that's right. Have to follow, follow through on. Well, and we could
use the rest of the cip you said about a hundred thousand dollars, is that what you said? Um,
along with, um, other funds to, to finish out
the lake creek aspect of the training facility. 'cause I feel like those three
projects, everything else we can talk about, we want, you know, if we wanna move forward.
but first I think we need to fund what we started. And I know in some discussions
with dale, and he can certainly answer any questions, um, uh,
both last week and, uh, again this morning, lake creek, as
it stands right now, cashflow wise, we can keep moving on that
project. We don't have a cashflow issue that needs to be addressed before the end of this fiscal
year. Um, and so we could certainly, uh, tag
some of next year's cip bucket that at a minimum should be certified to
you at approximately $20 million for next year. Right. Um, so,
uh, dale, I don't know if you have anything to add, but those were discussions that
we've had making sure that we weren't gonna leave a project in a cash flow situation.
so before, before we go any further with those
items, because I, I feel like those need to be funded. The other things that
I would like to put on the table for discussion, um,
we can talk about lake creek. There's, uh, you know, we've talked to the sheriff about what his
interim needs are until a new jail gets built. And,
and he has, um, he has asked us to come forward
with a plan to move certain aspects of his operations. It would also
free up space that is better utilized in the, in the current jail.
the numbers that dale showed us, uh, or richard, I guess in his presentation showed
us is, um, anywhere from a half a million to 2.6 million.
and so that would be something that would be another project to consider if we want
to relieve the sheriff's actions over there in the jail
until the new jail gets built. The, um, the other thing would
be when we move out of, when we move into the admin
building in, uh, in a few months, the interim
plan was to, was to relieve some
pressure on the, uh, district attorney's office and, and adjust some things on
the second floor of the current justice center, uh, where, um,
the county clerk is currently. And so the estimate
for that is, um, uh, the estimate for that is about
$750,000. Again, it can come out of
the future cip or this next year, cip, but I feel like it's something that
we've, we need to have, take actual action on.
we've talked about it in the interim plan, but we haven't really voted on it. But we need
to in order for there not to be a delay because there'll be moving out in this
summer. So I just wanted to throw those other items out. And then if we're gonna
continue on, the other item would be we, we purchased the land for
the new justice complex. We haven't closed on it yet, but we're doing
our due diligence. And to move forward on, uh, phase
three of that project, we would need some additional funds.
I believe the numbers that you have put into, uh, what would
fit, because my question to you was, and to dan was
what, what would not put us in a, uh, uh, an action
of raising the tax rate for debt service. And your
estimate on your spreadsheet is for $135 million
and that would be in may this year and it
would be a seven year tan, is that correct? Yes, ma'am. And in that,
are the, the items that you've mentioned, the 50 million for the road
for, um, road right away and uh, to pay for the land
that we just voted on as well, it would give us nine or
$10 million to move forward on the, on the justice center yes ma'am. Com justice
complex. Yes. Um, so those are the items that I think we're talking about
today. If we wanna move forward on those and how we're gonna fund them.
so, um, just you, you know, you, your
cpa mind, uh, fired off a bunch of numbers just mm-hmm . To, I
can go back over it. So well, lemme summarize 'em. Yep. Uh, so
using a tan, roughly 78 million
for the land purchase, 50 for the
right of way. Um, that would leave about, you said 135 million
that would leave about seven left. It, it's really less than that on the land. Yeah. It's
75.8 on the land. Oh, okay. So 76.
yes ma'am. Mm-hmm . Rounding. Yeah. Um, so that basically leaves
9 million left out of that 1 35. And
what's the cost of phase three for the,
and rebecca's here she can speak better to, uh, and I don't think, we don't
have kiel here, I don't believe, but rebecca, if you have, um,
information on that, I think we're gonna, we're going to finish phase
two this summer is what they're telling us. And so to continue to move forward,
phase three would be within this time period. Um,
rebecca, I don't know how well that one works. The other one works really well.
rebecca, cls. Oh, there you go. I'm back on. Um, I can look up what phase
three would be. We had broken it down by years moving ahead. And so I think
the amount that we had allocated for next year's cip
included phase three and maybe a small piece of phase four. Um, so I can look at the numbers and break
that out real quick. I think it was around three, three and a half million dollars, but I can double check. Okay.
and that would be, I mean,
we're, we're talking about the design team
with that money, we would be talking about the money for, um,
kiel and for hok and for half for our three consultants that are on the project. It would not include
the money for like the architecture fee. That's what I'm talking about. Right. 'cause we've,
we've, we've talked about moving those monies into the budget and I think ashley's
doing that. I'm talking about if we're gonna continue to move forward on actually producing
buildings, we need to hire the design team at some point in the near future, right? In phase
three. Yeah. It would not include the cost for that or a cr and that's what this money could do.
so, oh, I'd like to
that piece of it. We've got the land under contract
yep. And sort of pause and look at
all of those funding requirements going forward. 'cause the,
the big hard push was securing the land. Mm-hmm . Because
land's not getting any cheaper and god's not making anymore. Um, so,
uh, getting that nailed down. But I I, I think at least for me,
comfort level and I see some heads nodding yeah. That
let's look at how the rest of the project lays out estimated
costs and, and and timelines, um, on that. And then,
um, also get a better handle. And I, I know you did
this before, becca, but what are the real costs
of our stop gap? Um,
whatever that time period is. And you know, I, between, uh,
the extra space we're gonna open up in by opening the admin
building, but then the additional space we're gonna need in the current justice
complex justice center, um, for, um,
and how are we going to utilize the buildings that we currently have, and including
the one we purchased right across the parking lot, um,
to house those various individuals before we
lay out money to 'em. And, and I'm not expecting a vote on that today. I was just laying it
all out. The, the, what do we not have funded at this point, items
so that we can have discussion. And I think rebecca was planning on coming back anyway.
aren't you coming back at, I've spoken with a couple court members about coming back to court and doing another
interim plan because we pretty much have covered through this summer. Um, and getting some
feedback from the court on what it would look like timeline wise, um, to build the justice center,
what our interim plan would look out, look like, and what the court's preference would be. That's right.
so, so I I, I agree with that. I, you know, I, I
agree that securing the site, um, you know, that's,
you know, that's where we start. Um, and I wanna see where we
go from here. The timing, the cost, uh, the court makeup of the court has
changed since we came up with this plan. And, you know, I think moving forward,
um, you know, I wanna see, you know, I I I'd like to see the court
moving forward together, um, to make
sure we all understand the direction that we're headed. So I, I think that would be
great. But I, I think, uh,
we need to make some decision though on how we're gonna pay for the land
and the right of way piece, um, to, because those are two things
that, that again, we've committed to. And when, when are you planning on coming back
in april? Um, it would be probably late april or may. When
do we have to decide on, um, the amount of the tans
swap? You have a couple of
options on the, uh, amount of the tans it, when you
delegate authority, you can delegate an upper limit. Will you introduce yourself please? Dan
weiller with specialized public finance financial advisor to the county. The,
um, um, upper limit is what goes in the delegation
authority. And then we have up to, uh, six months
to a year to issue the debt. So, but if you don't wanna set
an upper limit, you know, it's, it's really your schedule based on need. We,
we can adjust as you move forward. So, so if we set an upper limit, you're,
you're sitting there looking for the best time. Mm-hmm .
con, uh, best time and confirmation of the
dollars going into it. What, what I'm really looking for, dan, is that if rebecca comes
back in april, um, late april to talk about, and we
can get more into detail about the justice complex moving forward, that
would be enough time for you guys to go forth in may. Absolutely.
I would say we, we come back in may with the delegation order and just
fit that number in and move forward. Yes. So then we'll have time to talk about it and think
about the next moves on that, what that amount should be. But cynthia, are, are you wanting a
decision today on paying for the site and the right of way?
I mean, I don't think we have to decide today,
but, um, no, we don't. There's, uh, there's
probably sufficient cash to pay. We just have to make this
decision probably within six months. Well, we'll, we'll also the next, well,
the way that works, so next tuesday I will bring place on the
agenda what's called a reimbursement resolution. This gives us the ability
on the land purchase to pay ourselves back within 18 months. That's
the trigger. Mm-hmm . Um, and so we wanna get that reimbursement resolution on
timely so that we don't lose sight of it. Uh, so you'll see that on next week's
agenda for the 75.8. Okay. We've also worked with the title company to estimate
any buyer's related, uh, closing costs in that number. So that,
that resolution is an estimate and we would only reimburse ourselves for the
actuals. It'll also include the $300,000, uh,
uh, deposit that we reimbursed to the broker this past week.
so, right. And the, and the current, um, due diligence period
that we're in, I think it's over in may. I think it's over in may. It was 75 days.
so in other words, march, we have april to discuss it. I'm throwing it out today. 'cause it needs
to be discussed, you know, in, in total concept, but, uh, in some direction for,
for everyone. Mm-hmm . But we don't have to make decisions right. Today, and I'm happy to
meet with each of you. The, the debt modeling that dan and I have been doing have taken
into account a number. It's, it's an estimate for
a justice complex. It has taken into account a future road bond election, should
the court entertain that at some point. Mm-hmm . So we are looking forward looking
at what the needs are. Uh, there is currently, from a cash flow perspective,
no need to issue any road bond money this year or park bond money.
so that's why we're looking at the, this tax anticipation note to take the
place of that because the cash flow is not needed for those programs. So except for the right
of way, which, except for the right of way yes. Why we're putting that in there. Yes ma'am. Okay. And
so you've, you've, you've thought about over the next five to six years what
it would look like continuing on, so the buildings would not keep
the road bond projects from happening. Right. And
we still have road bond money that we haven't sold correct. As well as parks,
right? Correct. And you've put that all into your calculation, dan, is that right?
absolutely. And kept what we think is fairly conservative assumptions on growth.
right. And it maintains the tax rate at the current level, which is probably gonna be pretty close to
the growth rate that we're gonna hear from a, from alvin. So question,
um, the, the commitment that we've made to
continue to fund the juvenile center, um, phases three through five,
um, is 17.4 million. What's the
timing on that? And the reason I ask is, um,
there are a number of projects on this cip
list that can't be, we can't use debt for,
um, that is one we could use debt for. Um,
but some of these others aren't. So I, I just wanna look at the balance
of those kinds
of,
excuse me, ga butler facilities. Um, so the timing on juvenile,
sorry, is, um, january of 26.
um, is the finish for phase one, I'm sorry, 27
time flies dale ? Yeah, it does. Um, the final phase
is three through five, and I don't remember the exact dates, but finishing in, in
28 calendar year of 28. Okay. So from at the end of 28,
a cashflow perspective, wi mean, when is, when
do we start owing bills on those phases?
so phase two would be, um, somewhere in
the beginning of, uh, calendar year 27. And that's, that's
already funded though. Um, phase two, correct.
phase two is already funded. Phase three would be the same timeline
though, because it's also a remodel. So we're starting the remodels, which
are three through five, the beginning of january okay. Of 27.
so I'm not sure, and I can get y'all a breakdown or julia breakdown the cash. So
this bottom line, not this fiscal year, not this fiscal year, not the current fiscal year,
the, the remainder of 17.999
is this fiscal year's remainder cip to be allocated?
correct. So we don't necessarily have to allocate the
juvenile part out of that at this point in time, except that I would say
yeah, you're right. I mean, it could come out of either bucket. I would suggest that we,
that we look at the cip list very strongly about what we
actually have to have. And because I don't know that that dale's group
can get any more done in the time period until we get some of this stuff done.
and so, um, I mean, yes, we could put it into debt,
but we have other things that, I mean, we're, we're gonna have, we're gonna have a lot in debt.
uh, that's not a problem. I would just want to know what
on this cip list is rises to the top. And I think we've talked about
several things. I mean, we've talked about a, uh, you know, uh, precinct four,
uh, we've got projects over there that can happen. I mean, I would love to see
a campus over there style and maybe sell all the buildings that we have,
you know, uh, currently have and put it into campus. But that's something that can come
and talk about the, the, the issue is not do we need any more money over there, but
what are we gonna do? And, and we haven't heard that plan yet, but I'm not sure what else
on here other than what we've been talking about would rise to the level of using the
current ci uh, cip money. Well, and because it's cip
we don't necessarily have to allocate it all. It can carry
over. Um, so I, I just, I,
I wanna, because we do have a lot of projects
that are big ticket items, um, but I also want
to be mindful of the things that we can't use debt for that have been
on this list sometimes for a while, um, before we,
but bottom line is we don't have to make decision today. This was just to kind
of update us. Um, but where are we? I I do
know we are mid, we know we are definitely midstream on
the cad project. And so I I, I'm comfortable saying
or making a recommendation that we fund the gap on that out
of current cip to, um, 'cause I,
I think that's, uh, already down the track. So my, I would move that we add
out of the cip budget 500,000 to the cad rms
project. Second, do we need to vote on that today or
next week? I can put it back on next week if you prefer. I mean, if, is it, if it's
a action item, it's an action item. It's an action item. Yeah. That's the only one I want to do today. Alright,
so we have a motion and second on the cad funding. Uh,
make up any more discussion on that. All right. All in favor.
motion carries five zero. Um, back to the cip list.
uh, commissioner cook, wanna give you an opportunity to speak if you would like
any, any, well, I'm in agreement with these, the issues of
the critical, let's get this one fully funded, fully funded, we're working,
commitments have been made and that we start looking at can we
do that? Um, and I do want a meeting
with you on show me the money. Yes, ma'am. So, um,
I, I like the list that we've got going. Um,
so I'm, I'm content. Okay. I
want a campus in taylor. Yeah. So let me
talk about a couple things, uh, on this list. Um,
first of all, just starting with precinct four, and you see a lot of items
on there in the hopper. I know, I know commissioner bowles is working really hard, but,
um, not a lot of new over in the taylor
area, right? So we're looking at other buildings to restore
or, sure. So, um, judge, one of the things is the
court has been gracious and has, uh, allocated
different rehab, uh, monies,
um, in previous budgets that haven't been spent. So
there is, there is some, there is some, it's 0.5 million. There's some monies waiting
to be spent, um, in, you know, in discussing
our, our electeds who have offices and precinct for, and that's, um, gonna
be the tax assessor, the jp and the the constable.
um, they without a doubt feel that the spot for,
uh, the campus needs to be in taylor, um, as opposed to hu.
so, uh, so looking at, there's, there's some existing buildings that we're looking at
as well as some other possibilities. Um, and looking to see what it
would take to acquire one of those, remodel it, uh, with the
existing funds. Um, you know, we're looking at the possibility of
selling the current hu annex, um,
on, uh, edge schmidt, uh, which would add,
um, you know, if, if you move that over with add funds and so, so,
so I'm working on it. Uh, I just, uh, just
need a, a hot second to get there. Yeah. And, uh, so,
so anyway, I'm, I'm working on it. I, it's something that I've discussed with dale and rebecca and I do have some
numbers. So, and I yeah, I know y'all have a plan. I just wanna keep that on the forefront
that we're just not kicking that down the road, uh, even more.
the second, uh, comment I have is on the lake creek
annex improvements. It's my understanding that the building was purchased for a variety
of things and, and, and dale's showing me that building, um,
you know, you got the nine one one call center, it's gonna take some money. You've got the needs of
the sheriff's office, it's gonna take some money. And sometime in the future we're gonna need
a medical examiner's office. So, just so the court knows, I've asked,
um, rebecca to get me information and do a little research
on that. The medical examiner's office is not on the agenda, so we don't
need to talk about the merits of that. Just what those capital improvements might be,
and just a proposed timeline on when we might look to
do that, spend an awful lot of money in that area. And I just wanna make sure
we're just not, uh, forget it. Forget it, forget it. I think there's some opportunities
there. So rebecca's doing some research for me at a future time,
and that might play into the future cip monies, um, as
well. Can I interrupt you for a second? She's, she's, is she looking at construction but
also, uh, m and o? No, she's just researching
what it would take to stand up the office itself. So you've got capital, then you've
got it on the equipment side, but not the personnel. Correct.
so, well, I mean, she's looking at everything, but that's not what we're talking about today. Okay, thank you. Yeah, no,
no, I understand that. Just as far as capitals. Alright, now
onto the courthouse. So fasten your seat belts for this comment.
um, I know we're moving down, that train's rolling pretty quick
on a new jail and new justice center and, um,
appreciate all that. Definitely understand the need on the jail
side. Definitely understand the space considerations
on the justice side. But we have a building in a justice center
that in my opinion is a very good building. Are we outta space? Yeah, we're outta
space. That's why we're talking about remodeling some space for the das.
but we're gonna be in that justice center for a while and our population continues to
increase at a rapid spot. We need another courthouse,
in my opinion there. And I want, I, I know they're working
on it. I think the deadline is when courtroom, not courthouse, courtroom. Thanks
for correcting me courtroom. We have space to do that. I don't think it's
a lot of money and it will help that court function a little bit more.
um, I'm, I mean I'm just one vote up here on this daas,
but not to put any money in that. As we continue to grow
in the next four to six years, we'll grow by at least a hundred thousand, maybe
even close to 200,000. We just got a new justice, which is getting sworn
in in 25 or j or judge, which getting sworn in in 25 or not
sworn in, what's the official word? Sworn in ceremonies coming up in 25
minute investiture. We'll probably need another one in another courthouse.
and I just want the court to consider
making that building as functional as possible. I'm also
very concerned with just simply abandoning that building in the future.
I think it's way too good if a building has a lot of courts to replace
the building that is there would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
and I don't think we need to just spend that money to replicate
what we have and is usable in that space. Would we have to spend a
little money? Sure. Would we have to change the way we do things? Sure. Would
it make everybody happy? No, but I think when we look
at the amount of money we're gonna have to spend in the future on a new jail, which is
greatly needed and six years from now, it's really gonna be needed. And then the amount of
space for the justice center we're gonna need going forward, where 740,000
population a day by 2050. I think we're at 1.6 million
by the end of the century. We're building this building, you know, for the next a
hundred years, right? We're gonna be at 3 million people in this county.
so to abandon 10 courtrooms, I don't, I
I I can't agree with that in my role as county judge. So I want us to look at that.
I want us to keep that building as workable as possible and I know it's gonna take a little money.
so that's, that's what I feel about this list. Everything else on here is needed.
a hundred percent. And thank you for everybody, um, who's moving forward.
and I'm not saying stop the process. I'm saying we need all the new stuff as well,
but let's not throw away the old stuff when it's perfectly usable. And, and to be
honest with you, nobody in our, uh, justice, uh, working group
has suggested any of that. Uh, to get rid of the current justice
center. I mean, that would be a court's decision. I've, I've, I mean, I just
wanna clarify what you're saying specifically. We're not spending any money on this because we're moving
out and number one, I'm not a hundred percent set
that we're moving out at any point in the future. Even if we build
new and number two, while we're, we can't ignore
it and let it be outta space while we're there. But I've specifically heard the
comments, we're not spending any money on this building 'cause we're moving out. I don't know
what date they would be. People would be moving out, but I know
the county attorney's office is gonna grow. The district attorney's gonna grow and
we're gonna need more judges and those judges are gonna need more staff as well.
um, so there's things to look at.
there's more than one way to skin a cat, but I wanna make sure the time we spend in
that current justice center, it's usable and functional, um,
for that. And I believe they're bringing forward a ci believe the deadline's tomorrow into
business. I think they're bringing something for cip request.
oh yes. New cip requests, new cip requests for the future. Not, not the current,
but I'm in support of what the court has talked about so far with that.
I just wanna make sure, man, we got a good building over there. Let's keep it a good functional
building for the county. That's it. Thank y'all. Okay. For
listening. So just a quick clarification. Would you like us to bring back the,
uh, delegation order before the end of april for the tans? Or would you like us
to wait till the first week of may? I think we need to hear from rebecca. Okay.
before you do it, I'll coordin with rebecca, but we'll coordinate with rebecca,
make sure. Yeah. But I think we meet four times in april. Yeah, you don't meet
next week. So there's only three, three times in april.
so we meet in april. She's coming back at the end. So you
can coordinate that with her. We'll coordinate. Thank you. And julie and dan, thank y'all very
much, um, for your work on this. Okay. Great job. Um, I know ashley's helped as well
and, and dale with all the facilities and thanks to all the commissioners for all the work you
do, um, assessing all the needs of the county. Uh, just
one more thing on your comments, judge, just so for the record, um, our
guys and kiels not here today, but rebecca can back me up if I'm wrong on
this. Um, every year we delay, uh, building
something new, it's gonna be multi tens of millions of dollars
of additional cost. So I just want everybody on
the court to remember that, that uh, that's what our guys are telling us, not what
kobe came up with. Um, no, I I agree with that a hundred percent. I'm not saying delay
anything. I'm just saying we have yeah, 10 really good courtrooms right now.
let's not, some would argue with that, but throw away the baby with the bath water. Yeah, yeah.
no, I gotcha you. Thank you. So, alright, before we go to, uh,
and we'll close that item before we go, um,
into executive, is there any comments from the commissioners?
yes. Um,
hey, I want to give, I wanna give a shout out to those who, uh, attended
the buckle ball. Um, last thursday, um,
in support of the williams county fair and rodeo. Uh, 450
people attended and more than $40,000 was raised, uh,
at that event. Uh, and more importantly, every dollar generated will go
directly towards the wilco fair scholarship program supporting students across williamson
county. Um, I want to commend, um, kelly and the,
and the fair board for their, uh, all their hard work. It was
a great event and, um, the, uh, the school
kids across williamson county. Thank you. Good. I second
that. Kelly, you did an amazing job. It was a well run event.
commissioner cook, do you have an event coming up you'd like to? Well,
I will talk about the opportunities, uh, for williamson and burant county
meals on wheels program. Big annual fundraiser is a sip and
shop marble falls on the 16th,
um, seats at tables and you get a meal with that is or 50 bucks.
um, you can go online to o wbc tx.org
and sign up. It is so much fun. Um,
we have designated servers. The judge will not be one this
year, but he was the overall winner last year for getting the
most tips. And he was gracious, he was alert, he was
really focused on serving his tables. Um, and,
and we do get a good set of those designated gentlemen every year to
help with the tables. If you'd like to be one, let me know. I have a place at my table
for your wife or girlfriend to join us as the perk
with, uh, participating in that service. Uh, it is 11
to two on the 16th at the,
what's the facility's called? You got the cart.
okay. Lakeside pavilion in marble falls. Um, and
it is just so much fun, uh, to come do that and raise money
for meals on wheels and, and commissioner cook, you're doing better
than I am, um, including the website. So thank, thank you for putting
all that out there. It supports a lot of great, uh, people who need that type of
service and, and there's no replacing them for seniors. Yep. Um, and if
you'd like to support the williams county fair and their scholarship program, that is wilco
fair.com as well. So, and the
reason I won't be in attendance this year is because my son, what's today,
march 31st is on track to graduate from college who,
uh, mid mid-may . So that's, that's on the, on the schedule for,
we're gonna pass mid-may. That's right. Um, and just before we recess,
I think we're gonna recess court, um, to go to that investiture service. We'll
come back and do executive session. And just for the audience, I just wanna let y'all know we'll
be taking up item 42, which is texas governor or government
code 5 5 1 0 7 2 to, um, talk about
the items listed on the agenda. And then items 43,
which is texas government code 5 5 1 0 7 1 attorney client
privilege. Uh, the time is 1114
and I wish each of you a wonderful holy week and a happy
easter. If you're traveling, please be safe. We'll
come back and announce when we officially go into executive session and
then we'll be back. We will, uh, readdress the items that we're taking in there. Thank you.
happy easter. Thank you.
all right. The time is one 12 and we have returned from executive
session. We will entertain again. Agenda item 41,
discuss, consider and take appropriate action on the engagement of law firm
bickerstaff heath delgado acosta, llp, to represent
williamson county and williamson county individually named defendants in
relation to civil action number one. Uh, two five cv oh 1 3 7 7
rp, rug cruz jr. Versus williamson county, texas, et
al in the united states district court for the western district of texas,
austin division. And exemption of these services from the competitive bid proposal
requirements of the county purchasing act pursuant to the discretionary
exemption for personnel or professional services set forth under texas
government code 2 62 0.02 a
four second.
all right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor?
all right. Motion carries four zero. I'll
say commissioner cook. You can say five zero. Okay. Five zero.
okay. Uh, real quick, we're going back to commissioner's comments.
where's how all right, commissioner's
comments. So, county of williamson county presents this
certificate to how halls in recognition of his recognition and appreciation
of 20 years of dedication wow. And service to the citizens of williamson
county in witness where of april 10th, 2026
are affixed the signatures of the county judge. So congratulations
on,
appreciate you. I'm not retiring though. Alright. That's all
the speech you need. Alright. So at one 13,
if there's no other commissioner comments, which there might be, hearing none
darn happy easter and holy week to everybody, we are officially
adjourned at one 14. Thank you. Yep.