[0:04] Good morning everyone. It's 9 o'clock
October 24th, 2026 and our regular
[0:08] commission court meeting is now in
session. First item on the agenda is
[0:12] roll call by county clerk Mary Jane
Vaden. Mary Jane, good morning.
[0:16] » Good morning judge commissioners.
>> Morning.
[0:19] » Judge Rasma
>> present.
[0:20] » Commissioner Moya
>> present.
[0:21] » Commissioner Morales
>> present.
[0:23] » Commissioner Solis
>> present.
[0:25] » Commissioner GarcA
>> present.
[0:26] » We have a quorum. Judge.
>> Thank you Mary Jane. Will everyone
[0:28] please rise for the pledge of
allegiance?
[0:33] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:38] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:44] justice for all.
[0:49] » Item number four, communications
commissioners
[0:53] comment on this morning.
>> I think I'm
[0:59] have any announcements other than uh
Congressman Greta will be here on Friday
[1:03] um 9:00 to do the groundbreaking for the
league sheriff's office uh expansion. So
[1:09] I look forward to see him. He's also uh
going to join be joined by USDA
[1:14] director, state director. So look maybe
all of us can be will be there on on
[1:20] Friday at 9.
[1:26] We'll move on to any more communication.
We'll move on to public comment. Uh this
[1:30] section provides the public the
opportunity to address the commissioner
[1:34] court on any item on the agenda. Any
members of the public? Yes.
[1:38] » I want to come for that.
>> Okay.
[1:42] » For number 19.
>> 19.
[1:45] » Morning Pat.
>> Good morning.
[1:47] » Morning. Healthcare director. Good to
see you.
[2:03] Thank you.
[2:09] » Okay. So, good morning.
>> Good morning,
[2:12] » judge and commissioners in the court for
the record
[2:16] county healthcare director.
Um I did write something down because I
[2:21] usually come in around this time and
it's always been like more complaints or
[2:26] issues that we have um regarding number
19 and it's um I want you to focus and
[2:33] see it in another way because it's
hasn't gotten us anywhere. Okay. So I'm
[2:39] going to I'm going to go ahead and read
it.
[2:42] As a Sapata County Healthcare Director
I'm going on the fourth year with a
[2:46] program and throughout this years we
have the community through different
[2:49] organizations and programs that have
supported the indigen healthcare.
[2:53] Although we are affiliated with the
medical center here at the Sapata family
[2:59] clinic which is the name but it is a
health center. I'm always looking
[3:03] forward to looking for other
organizations that can help our
[3:06] community for what the medical clinic
can offer and it's not only for the
[3:12] indent clients, it's also the whole
community because we're basing it. Today
[3:17] at the family medical clinic, we are
limited with services like lab work only
[3:23] three days out of the week. Two hours of
those three days, that's all we have. No
[3:28] shots administered at all when needed.
No sutures when needed, limited or not
[3:35] on medication samples. The patients
sometimes they don't have
[3:40] uh benefits or anything. So they don't
have money to buy the medication.
[3:44] Redirecting patients to Laro for the
lack of services that we just mentioned
[3:49] or any other lack of services. uh the
refusal of services to certain patients
[3:55] from the FMPs banning patients with
mailed letters and they and and those
[4:00] patients can come forward if you need
them. They are mailed letters signed by
[4:05] the doctor or the director of that
medical center which is then they will
[4:12] no longer be seen for whatever is
whatever they put in that letter. the
[4:17] lack of new equipment. We are working on
an ex with an X-ray machine which
[4:21] belongs to the county and it is an old
machine more than 20 years. The downfall
[4:26] of our facilities the maintenance inside
and outside the building has
[4:30] deteriorated and you know because you
you can actually see it in addition to
[4:35] numerous numerous complaints from the
community and since I'm the one that's
[4:39] sitting there all day even though you
probably have called it ah we can't get
[4:44] to Miss Mons. Well, guess what? on there
trying to figure out how we can fix this
[4:50] lack of services that we have from 2008
through 2026 which has been 18 years and
[4:57] this is I base myself on what I could
get that is public to the to anybody
[5:03] you're more than willing to come ask
where I got it we have contributed out
[5:08] of our 8% taxes to Larto medical center
for their services with a total of 13
[5:14] million
$686,558.
[5:20] And I leave it like that. You should It
should go through your minds. What
[5:25] What's going on with all that money?
Right. I know that we're we're a small
[5:29] town. We're But we're a community with
great hopes for better healthcare.
[5:35] Thanks to Congressman Henry and everyone
behind the 1 million grant, we can now
[5:40] look towards a better healthcare
facility. I ask the court to consider a
[5:45] plan for change. A change in providers
that is willing to give our community in
[5:50] two or five years from now the growth
that not only the services but also
[5:56] better equipment, technology.
We need to we're behind all of that
[6:03] equipment that can include machines that
can save lives here and between an hour
[6:09] to look where what hospital is going to
take care of his patients. We don't have
[6:13] that.
This would give us a better diagnosis of
[6:18] what a patient is going through and
eliminating the use of an ambulance when
[6:22] not needed and somebody else needs it.
That is and we are sending people with
[6:28] has stomach aches in an ambulance
because we cannot take care of it here
[6:32] in okay in the process of the commitment
the complaints with the people that have
[6:38] helped us along the way we have
concluded that Sapata actually needs a
[6:42] better service a health service better
plan a plan where we can expand in
[6:48] futures providers that are willing to
come to the community and serve Sapata
[6:53] those doctors need to come to Sapata
there are people in Sapata that don't
[6:58] have the means to go anywhere else.
Okay. And I'm not only telling about
[7:02] indigent healthcare, it's everybody in
the community.
[7:08] In in the in addition and as a reminder
again,
[7:12] I will tell you that the Sapata County
Healthcare Program and the services
[7:16] provided by Sapata Health Center, which
is the family center for this community
[7:21] come out of the 8% taxes of all the
people that survive. So, let's give them
[7:26] a better plan. something that really can
help us in our own community, your
[7:32] families, us, anybody going through SAP.
God willing, we will have an awesome
[7:40] facility in 2027 because we have a grant
and everything goes well, we will have a
[7:46] great facility. So let let's do
something
[7:49] where all the court myself and everybody
that helps out can say I was part of
[7:54] that. Let's not be like that. Okay,
please. And in in the page that I
[8:00] provided, you can see the amount of
monies we have provided to contribute it
[8:04] with their tax money and how much we
have actually been charged because it's
[8:10] monies that are relo relocated to their
facility where they charge us then for
[8:16] the services. But guess what we've been
charged from? We've been giving them
[8:20] 100%.
When was this accepted? 100% when LMC
[8:28] probably has a 7%
Medicaid rate. All indigent programs,
[8:35] all of everybody us around, they pay 7%.
We're paying 100%.
[8:43] We don't get paid for rent. We rent our
facility for $1 a year. How do you
[8:50] expect the county to fix
anything that's broken there? Because
[8:55] The first thing the LMC says, "Well,
that belongs to the county. How do you
[8:58] want us to fix it when you pay me $1
ransom when you could be paying me?"
[9:02] Because they do get facilities in
Loreno. They pay a,000 to $2,000 a month
[9:08] for them to get those facilities. Why
are we so generous?
[9:13] I think we need to stop and we need to
get out of this comfort zone that we're
[9:17] at and try to get a better plan. And
there is people out there waiting for MC
[9:23] to step up and for you guys to recognize
that it is the time for a change and
[9:29] you'll see what will come in. But if we
don't give that opportunity, we'll never
[9:33] have it and we're going to keep on
having the same problems over and over
[9:37] again.
>> So, thank you.
[9:41] » Thank you so much. I appreciate the
transformation that the indigent program
[9:45] has has seen under your leadership and
and yes uh your points are well taken
[9:50] and we'll certainly uh visit that item
which is uh a yearly transfer of the 8%
[9:57] uh to the 1115 waiver where in turn uh
the medical provider in ter LMC receives
[10:03] an additional uh uh funds from the state
of Texas through federal monies
[10:08] » and maybe our error has been that we
don't have a
[10:12] » and of course that's in we are very
limited as to how many uh there's two re
[10:18] major regional hospitals in our area who
can handle our imagent patients
[10:22] especially in care patients and then
that has always been the concern of the
[10:27] court where do we turn to yes but we'll
take that on
[10:31] » but sometimes it's good to bring it up
because if we are having problems here
[10:35] at the clinic well maybe they'll say you
know what let's bring it up a notch
[10:40] » okay thank
It's only a reminder. That's all it is.
[10:44] Whatever.
>> I believe it just arrived.
[10:47] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[10:52] » Are there any other public comments this
morning? Yes, sir.
[10:58] » Please step forward.
>> I don't We're not on the agenda.
[11:02] » That's all right. That's okay.
[11:12] Good morning.
>> Yeah, just state your name for for the
[11:15] record and good morning. Thank you for
joining.
[11:16] » Good morning. This is
[11:22] » Good morning, judges and commissioners.
Morning.
[11:25] » Um, today we come before you guys just
to respectfully ask for permission to
[11:28] use the
>> the plasa here right next to the to the
[11:33] sheriff's office for the month of
September for childhood.
[11:38] » Oh, absolutely.
>> So, um, yes.
[11:40] » Our goal pretty much is just to help the
town goal by displaying gold decorations
[11:44] throughout the plaza as a symbol of
hope, strength, and support for the
[11:47] children and families that have been
affected by childhood cancer in our
[11:50] community.
This effort would bring our community
[11:52] together in a meaningful way and help
raise awareness in an important cause
[11:56] that touches many lives in our
community. As many of you guys know, um
[12:00] my family has personally suffered
through it.
[12:03] » Family has suffered through it and a lot
of members of our community have
[12:06] suffered through childhood cancer. Not
only just childhood cancer, just any
[12:10] type of cancer.
>> Yes.
[12:12] Um, not only do we want to ask for
permission for to use the plaza for the
[12:16] month of September, but to see if it
would be available for us to hold a um a
[12:22] remembrance, a candle at remembrance on
September 5th, the evening of September
[12:25] 5th. Yeah. Towards the night, um we want
to ask um the father from our lady to
[12:31] come and say a prayer. We want to this
big candles for uh those that have
[12:36] passed and um have a remembrance for
those that have survived as well. Um, we
[12:42] want to get with our with the sheriff's
office to see if there's anybody they
[12:47] can help us out with traffic control and
stuff like that. That would be more on
[12:50] our end. We'd go out there and ask if
they're willing to help us with that,
[12:53] which I'm sure they are. But
[13:00] I mean, it's a beautiful thing that
you're doing. So, I think it's a
[13:03] wonderful.
>> It's a public public. So, thank you for
[13:08] for advising us and informing the public
of of what you're doing. But yes, it's a
[13:12] public plaza. I'm certainly you can see
that.
[13:14] » So, if we have a chance, can we also
decorate the front um next to the table?
[13:20] » Yeah, that's what I was about to ask if
you can include a zag.
[13:24] » I know. We have this picture in our
head.
[13:30] » Thank you so much.
[13:34] Any
[13:38] other public comments this morning,
judge? Good morning, judge.
[13:42] » Good morning.
>> Good morning.
[13:47] » Good morning, judge and commissioners.
For the record, uh JP,
[13:52] uh judge and commissioners, I'm here
with this wonderful group.
[13:58] » They're representing well the border
wall, the birth sanctuary. So, I advised
[14:04] them to come over because they wanted to
come and speak to the commissioner's
[14:08] court and have a few words, but I did
advise them that maybe for the next
[14:12] meeting to put it on the agenda to where
we can have a sheriff's office, somebody
[14:17] representing the sheriff's office, uh
maybe Kiwi as well, so they can
[14:22] understand the boundaries, you so kind
of so they can have like some kind of
[14:26] communication so we can avoid arrests
because I know
[14:31] poor Elsa
But I've always been there for her. But
[14:35] anyways, just just so we can avoid
conflicts, maybe they're going to put it
[14:39] on the next agenda where there somebody
representing sheriff's office, like I
[14:42] said, it may be somebody representing
can be here so they can be an
[14:46] understanding. So that being said, uh,
Commissioner Mades, maybe we can put it
[14:50] under you on the agenda and we'll talk
about it. So that's it for me. I'm I'm
[14:55] here just just to let you know and I'll
let you talk. Yes. Thank you.
[15:00] Morning,
Miss Elsa.
[15:05] » Good morning. Um,
I like to say I'm happy to be here, but
[15:11] under the circumstances, um, I just have
to say as a former state investigator
[15:18] for 25 years, I worked as a state
investigator. I have worked cases with
[15:24] local law enforcement, sheriff's, police
departments in our region, Department of
[15:30] Public Safety, state troopers. I even
had a case I worked with the Texas
[15:33] Rangers. And I have to say, to be
arrested on false charges, not once, but
[15:40] twice, is absolutely humiliating.
And besides being ridiculous and absurd,
[15:48] I'm absolutely humiliated.
Um, I do not understand why the Sabbath
[15:53] County Sheriff's Office appears to be
taking orders from CDP and arresting the
[16:00] residents while they're allowing the the
real criminals to run a muck. Um,
[16:07] the first time this happened back in
June,
[16:12] I felt like I I should give the
sheriff's department the benefit of the
[16:17] doubt. Maybe they are truly ignorant of
the laws and they are unaware of the
[16:23] history and this ruling that Sonicasio
obtained uh excluding the land and the
[16:30] town from federal taking.
Um I I I'm giving them the benefit of
[16:36] the doubt the first time and while
Maxine and I were there at the bird
[16:42] sanctuary trying to prevent further
destruction within this exclusion area,
[16:46] Mr. Brisco was at the courthouse and he
tracked down the records that proved
[16:52] what we were doing and what we had been
saying. Uh, and it proved that we were
[16:56] not trespassing. It was not federal
property. And you know, back in June, we
[17:01] presented this to everybody, the county,
the the the the federal government, the
[17:05] Army Corps, attorneys met, emails,
meetings, and we thought it had been
[17:11] settled um that we had demonstrated this
is not federal property. and they had
[17:16] been staying out at least at the bird
sanctuary. Um they did continue to
[17:21] trespass through private property. Um
you know Mr. Luis, a veteran,
[17:28] 90-year-old veteran, Mr. Lolita. Um and
they're and Mr. Brisco, they're also
[17:33] trespassing on people's property. Um,
and we're trying to get the sheriff's
[17:39] department to support the residents, the
people that they are supposed to be
[17:44] protecting and serving instead of the
real criminals. Arrest the real
[17:48] criminals, you know, um the these land
owners, these veterans, even the widow
[17:55] of a former county commissioner, her
property was also damaged and these
[18:01] criminals trespassing through her
property. Um, And and and this second
[18:07] arrest is is absolutely inexcusable
because the sheriff's department,
[18:13] the federal government, the county
government, everybody has been provided
[18:17] with this documentation about the Sunday
Nasio exclusion. And the second arrest,
[18:25] it there were there there were no there
was no hostility. I was on adjacent
[18:32] property just kind of keeping an eye on
things and I saw two surveyors walk into
[18:37] the bird sanctuary and I'm like, "Well,
they're not just driving through.
[18:42] They're on foot. Why are they going in
there?" And I didn't see any signs about
[18:46] the bird sanctuary being closed. And I
went in there and there were other
[18:51] people there un associated to me just
fishing. And I politely asked the
[18:58] surveyors, "What are you all doing in
here?" One of them responded, "We're
[19:02] just," but they told us to come take
measurements. And I'm trying to explain
[19:06] to them about the exclusion and that
this isn't federal property. You need to
[19:10] make sure before you come in to some
place and you're going to do work, you
[19:15] need to, you know, verify with your
supervisor because all this was provided
[19:18] to them. There must be some kind of
misunderstanding.
[19:22] And you know, he he left and the second
guy there, you know, he picked up his
[19:26] stuff and and left it. I was not
threatening. I wasn't interfering. I
[19:30] wasn't trying to block them. I was just
trying to inform them. And I I have all
[19:34] this on video. I have evidence to back
up what I'm saying. But but it was all
[19:39] very cordial. And after they left, I
left. And next thing I know, here comes
[19:45] the sheriff's deputy. And I'm watching.
He went down below shaking hands with
[19:50] Border Patrol contractors. They were
talking, but then he got in his truck
[19:53] and he left. He passed by me. And I'm
thinking, well, he didn't arrest him.
[19:59] Hopefully, he gave him a warning.
Next thing I know, the deputy Hernandez
[20:05] is wandering around in the lot behind me
asking, "How do I get to you? He he
[20:10] can't seem to find me." I'm like, "You
just have to come around here and you
[20:15] know, just a little bit further down."
giving him directions on how to find me
[20:18] because I was so confident I had done
nothing wrong. And um first thing out of
[20:23] his mouth was turn around. I I was
blindsided. And I tried to explain,
[20:29] well, I'm on private property here. And
he's insisting that I was trespassing on
[20:35] federal property. And I tried to
explain, I was just in the bird
[20:39] sanctuary. There were other people
there. Why are you arresting me and not
[20:43] anyone else?
even showing him this declaration of
[20:48] taking in the map of the exclusion area
in San Nasu. Not interested, not
[20:53] interested in seeing this. And I didn't
even have the opportunity. I didn't get
[20:59] to the get far enough along to explain
to him also, we have the word. The
[21:05] county attorney gave me his word. We
would not be arrested in the bird
[21:09] sanctuary or the exclusion zone.
And again, I was arrested under false
[21:15] pretenses. And I just we need to have
the sheriff's department on our side
[21:22] supporting the people that live here,
the people protecting our property. Stop
[21:28] arresting us and arrest the real
criminals. Um, you know, we have
[21:33] trespassing signs that have been erected
now, uh, uh, put up now. No trespassing.
[21:39] trying to inform the the contractors and
everybody this is private property and
[21:45] but we need the support of our local
government and our sheriff's department
[21:50] and um I do want to say we have seen the
Spencer Construction the the company
[21:57] that got the buoy contract almost $300
million for 56 miles of buoys and their
[22:02] boat has been in the river they're doing
their scouting so that's coming up next
[22:07] um and and I do We are still um awaiting
to find out information about the
[22:13] hydraology study. So I hope that's still
being pursued. But but we do need the
[22:17] the sheriff's department on our side to
enforce the laws and stop protecting the
[22:23] criminals and and stop arresting the
people they are supposed to be
[22:27] protecting. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
[22:34] » Morning doctor.
>> Yeah. Thank you. I am Eric. retired
[22:38] position citizen in Sanasio. I'm going
to speak briefly. The first thing I want
[22:44] to say is that when I'm sitting with
Elsa and the people that are occupying
[22:51] the bird sanctuary legally uh in the 100
degree heat, I feel like I'm following
[22:57] Elsa into the pit of hell. It's just
very very hot out there.
[23:02] » So, first I'm supporting Elsa by being
here. The second thing that I wanted to
[23:06] say is that um taking position the
things that are happening are putting
[23:12] people who are making these decisions on
the wrong side of history and and this I
[23:18] got on Saturday morning is an Elmanana
front page
[23:31] front page. So this is international.
And the next morning after our Laredo
[23:37] press conference on what's the lawsuits
in San Agnosio, I was called by some a
[23:43] friend in Houston and had just heard
about it on PBS in Houston. So this
[23:47] story is not just here in the county.
This is a larger story and as we move
[23:53] into the midterms, there's going to be
increasing attention on this. So to be
[23:59] on the right side of this and to prepare
how you're going to deal with what's
[24:03] happening there. Now I'm speaking as a
physician
[24:08] who practiced at UTMB for many years.
Galveastston had a plan when the
[24:14] hurricane was coming. And what I've just
handed out to you is a photo of Chip's
[24:20] sign that was put on his property. And
the and the little red flag was the
[24:25] height of high water in 2010. It would
be over the wall if the wall was there.
[24:32] And in the recent rains that came, the
water came over the riverbank up to
[24:37] where they're going to place it. Now the
the land is cracked, but it would be
[24:42] defin it was already would have been
feet wet under the recent rains.
[24:48] So
public health my second we're plugging a
[24:54] major artery
coronary artery by what we're putting
[24:59] plaque along one side of this river and
we're building a barrier that is going
[25:04] to lead to catastrophe and the second
thing I have is the flood zone that's
[25:11] the exclusion is there but the red is
the flood zone the federal government is
[25:17] building in what's known as the flood
plane. So, I'm going to ask the county
[25:22] and maybe Olga can help it get onto this
next agenda and ask, does the county
[25:28] have a plan for a catastrophic flood?
Who in San Ignasio, if the water comes
[25:35] up, is going to need to be to know they
need their documents so they can get out
[25:41] of the way of what's coming. So, a flood
plan. And [clears throat] the second
[25:45] thing is we almost lost our water in San
Agnosio in the recent heavy rains
[25:52] because the flotation device in the
river floated up onto land with the
[25:57] water and when the water went down the
float stayed on the land which has an
[26:03] artery which goes to the big tower and
there were like 30 people they came down
[26:08] they had to move the float out. So the
second public health thing is what is
[26:13] your plan to get water when it begins to
be compromised by the potential of
[26:21] what's coming?
>> Okay. Thank you all very much.
[26:27] » Okay.
>> Hello. Good morning.
[26:31] » Morning.
>> My name is and I
[26:35] here to speak about positivities and
innovation.
[26:40] My name is Alejandra Portinas and I come
from the family of Juina Redsville and
[26:45] Matamoros who stood up for the people
and believed in protecting their
[26:48] communities. Today I want to carry this
spirit forward not for politics, power
[26:53] or personal gain but for the people,
the land and the living things that make
[26:58] Sanio special. I believe Sanio has the
potential to flourish through
[27:03] innovation, empowerment, posit
positivity
[27:07] and love
for our environment.
[27:12] We can restore our parks, improve our
basketball court at the church,
[27:19] strengthen and protect our bird
sanctuary, create spaces for families
[27:24] and children, and work toward bringing
essential services such as fire station
[27:32] to better and protect our community.
These not just buildings or projects,
[27:38] they are
investments in our future. Together, we
[27:44] can restore what has been neglected,
protect what is precious, create create
[27:49] new possibilities, and give our children
something to be proud of. S Sano
[27:54] deserves to grow without losing its
soul. Let let us protect our land, our
[28:00] birds, our families, and our community.
Let us build a future based on love,
[28:05] unity, opportunity, and service to the
people. Thank you.
[28:13] » Um, I'll be brief. Uh, good morning.
>> Um, thank you guys for listening to us
[28:19] and I just want to say that I've been
out to the Sagasio Bird Sanctuary for
[28:23] » your name for the record. Just
>> My name is Ed from Texas.
[28:27] » Okay.
>> Uh, but I've been introduced to the bird
[28:30] sanctuary and as you guys may know like
Big Ben, they're already a national
[28:34] park. So, the beauty is already going
everywhere and people are defending that
[28:38] beauty because it has worldwide
attention. This bird sanctuary is
[28:42] freaking awesome. That's it freak. But,
um, it is amazing. It is so cool. And
[28:48] just recently, we were out there
kayaking, some of us out here. Uh, and
[28:52] two things here. One is that they're
trespassing on a 90-year-old veteran's
[28:56] property, right? Uh, that's one thing.
And he gave us permission to tell people
[29:02] not to trespass. and at that point she
got arrested. Right? So that's one
[29:06] issue. The second thing is now that
they're trespassing um and they're going
[29:11] to get started on this wall is being
built on both sides of the bird
[29:15] sanctuary. Uh what
makes us think they're not going to just
[29:20] bulldoz it if they already have like
these little markers already doing
[29:22] assessments. Um I'm here to also just
say that uh I really believe it's a time
[29:28] for people to protect the land. Uh what
we have, you know, always been here and
[29:33] I've learned a lot about the history of
Sapata and Sanas. Uh so I just came out
[29:38] here to support and hope hope that you
guys can do something about that.
[29:42] » Thank you.
[29:47] » Good morning,
>> Judge. Good to see you
[29:50] » commissioners. My name is Frank Brisco.
I am an architectural conservator at the
[29:54] resident of Signasio. Uh I'm going to be
speaking on behalf of myself and Nana
[30:00] Ruiz, my neighbors. um primarily about
private property that that they own that
[30:06] I own but also wanted to talk about the
larger uh context of the the ver the uh
[30:13] selling exclusion.
This is a selling exclusion is really a
[30:17] remarkable kind of it has a a great
history. It was is the result of a
[30:22] petition. Let me start over again. This
says on on June 3rd, the contractors
[30:27] working with the Department of Homeland
Security began crowing a 150 foot wide
[30:31] strip along the river bank below Sunny
Nasio in preparation for the border
[30:35] barrier through a petition campaign led
by county leaders including people from
[30:39] Zapata. This was not just the Sunnasio
thing, which is also really impressive
[30:44] to me that uh we had we had people from
Zapata. We had many veterans involved in
[30:49] this petition drive and uh and area
leaders including Rudio Martinez
[30:56] came together and guided this petition
through the federal court system and
[31:02] ultimately prevailed uh with they had
200 some 200 signatures and uh and the
[31:09] federal government we struck a deal
basically and and the deal involved
[31:13] we're still finding out details of it
but the deal was sunny. The sunnasio
[31:18] exclusion was created and spared from
the condemnation of all of the parcels
[31:23] around. U
the the flip side was we foreclosed
[31:30] our as I understand it we foreclosed our
right to sue the federal government for
[31:35] flood damages. Well, it's worked out
pretty well for us and uh you know there
[31:39] have been flood there have been flood
damages as Eric showed that 2010 flood
[31:44] was right up to the blood that would
that would be above the 307 traverse.
[31:49] 307 Traverse was chosen as the as the
area that was that was purchased in
[31:56] December by the federal government in
1955 with a judgment of the declaration
[32:02] of taking number 52 which
[clears throat] is right across the hall
[32:06] here. And we we have we have distributed
among a number of people including the
[32:12] sheriff, IBWC,
uh border patrol
[32:17] virtually. We feel like we've got it out
there and we would like to see it
[32:22] enforced because uh the county owns
property right here. This is the the
[32:28] bird sanctuary uh which was which was uh
donated to the county in I think 2007.
[32:35] Whoever Reese was instrumental in that
uh it was donated by a fellow named
[32:40] Richard Spite SiT.
And one of the reservations is that
[32:46] is used for anything other than a
wildlife refuge, it's going to revert to
[32:50] the Far Allen Island Foundation in
California. And I don't know how they're
[32:55] going to determine
whether, you know, a a barrier through
[32:59] it that takes upund virtually half of
the property is going to be uh still
[33:05] allowed to continue as a wildlife refuge
or if that's going to trigger their
[33:10] reverting to them.
But they they are aware they're
[33:14] following this very carefully.
Um
[33:20] we we we've also produced besides the u
besides the documents related to the
[33:27] exclusion we've distributed two letters
from the IBWC
[33:32] uh two people inside and to the
commission indicating that they have
[33:39] that the federal government has no
jurisdiction whatsoever between the
[33:43] within the site master exclusion. uh one
one of these letters is just very
[33:50] briefly this is uh directed to Anel Gar
who's the county commissioner of
[33:54] precinct 2 and this is 90s
because of the fact that the government
[33:59] did not take the properties within the
town center I'll show you the town's
[34:04] people own to the wat's edge and he goes
on to say Lincoln Grant Washington we
[34:11] aqua awa
are all public access without the
[34:16] intervention of the
>> county and water commission.
[34:20] » Sure.
>> Yeah.
[34:22] » Okay.
>> Okay. Let me let me just uh uh
[34:26] wrap up with that. So, we've had
numerous uh contacts with the sheriff's
[34:30] department. We we have not been able to
get them to
[34:35] see our side or show us any documents
from the other side. However, the most
[34:40] the most uh
uh productive contact we've had so far
[34:45] has been with uh Captain Captain I
suggested we set up a liazison which
[34:51] which we would really like to be we'd
like to see instituted. Uh it would have
[34:58] all of the stakeholders uh who could
share communication on a much more um
[35:06] immediate way than is happening now. Uh,
I I I'm not sure what the whether there
[35:13] is a win-win in this, but I'm [snorts]
certain that there's a lose-lose if we
[35:16] don't change the course of what we're
working on.
[35:18] » Thank you very much.
>> Thank you so much. And yes, we're not
[35:25] going back and forth today. It's not on
the agenda, counselor, but uh I do want
[35:29] to and of course the counselor is
representing uh Sapata County many
[35:35] communications negotiations.
>> That's correct. Judge, I can apprise the
[35:39] court as to where we're at, judge, in
reference to the
[35:45] I've discussed this matter with uh uh
Captain Deo and uh notified him that the
[35:53] there is that exclusion area that has
been uh that was adopted back in uh when
[36:00] the initial taking occurred, judge,
which was back in in the 50s, judge. So
[36:04] because that exclusion exists,
uh we have to be very mindful of the
[36:11] fact that if someone were to be
arrested, uh for their under the grounds
[36:17] of it being a trespass, well, it can't
be a trespass if it's on public lands.
[36:23] Okay. Correct.
>> So uh that's where we've been in contact
[36:27] uh with them. Now the issue becomes one
of um the line between a peaceful
[36:34] protest and uh say one that's disrupting
the peace judge. So those are more
[36:41] factual elements dependent on what
exactly happens uh in that situation.
[36:47] But having said that, I am meeting with
the IBWC
[36:52] on Thursday, judge, where they are going
to uh bring forth their maps, and if we
[36:59] receive anything that would contradict
that which we have, judge, uh then
[37:04] obviously we'll make the residents aware
of what it is uh that is uh that is
[37:09] brought forth. But uh based off
everything I've researched, judge, uh
[37:14] there doesn't appear to be anything
beyond uh uh uh that exclusion zone that
[37:19] was adopted. So uh the federal
government cannot take any of those
[37:24] lands without initiating an eminent
domain proceeding. So, um I believe
[37:30] we're in a solid footing to at least
require them to start those proceedings
[37:36] against against the county uh for those
specific lands judge. So um while they
[37:43] may have worked up to those specific
area uh uh that exclusion area they will
[37:49] have to be stopped because as the court
is aware we notified them that they did
[37:53] not have permission from Sapata County
or the governing body of the county
[37:58] which is about theata county
commissioners court. So they cannot
[38:01] enter onto those premises and any of uh
of them entering onto those premises for
[38:08] the purposes of construction of that
border wall um
[38:14] will be you know uh addressed you know
so now because it's public lands they do
[38:21] have a right to get onto the land. Okay.
Well, we're talking we're talking about
[38:25] different
[38:28] apparently talking about the bird
sanctuary which is owned by the county
[38:32] but bookending that parcel
>> is one acre on the extension of the
[38:39] which actually traded to the county for
the county provided the deed that he has
[38:44] that shows his property goes to the
river. There's no the 307 uh traverse
[38:50] has no bearing whatsoever within the
sunny area. We're talking about private
[38:56] property on the north side and on the
south side
[39:03] » any
that are considered part of the the the
[39:09] lands that have been uh that are not
were not automatically granted to the
[39:14] United States based off of that eminent
domain taking that were excluded from
[39:19] there. Okay. Then the we cannot arrest
individuals that are protesting there so
[39:26] long as the individuals that are
protesting there are there at the
[39:29] permission of the private property
owner. Does that make sense?
[39:32] » It makes sense.
>> So so that is where we what what my
[39:36] instruction was to the sheriff's
department on those specific matters.
[39:40] Now it didn't exist before but now that
I've discussed the matter with them I
[39:44] think we're kind of on the same page in
reference to
[39:47] » did not exist. uh the
uh their ability to make arrest because
[39:52] they weren't under the they didn't they
didn't know that that was part of the
[39:57] exclusionary thing. So I relayed that to
them, provided them maps and and all
[40:02] that uh uh information that hopefully
clarifies the issue. So
[40:06] » these contractors are continuing to
trespass through both of their
[40:11] properties and the sheriff's department
is not addressing it.
[40:14] » Okay. Well, see the problem with that is
that if they're not going to be
[40:19] arresting the protesters, they can't
because it is a disputed issue.
[40:24] » I'm sorry. What is the dispute?
>> Are you saying that we don't own that
[40:28] property or that
>> sir? I'm just saying that it's a
[40:31] disputed issue between you and the
government, sir. Okay. Now, I know you
[40:35] believe you own it, sir. And I would
tend to agree with you, but from a uh
[40:40] law enforcement standpoint, sir, unless
it's a clear-cut issue, it's difficult
[40:45] for me to authorize the sheriff's
department to go make arrest
[40:50] specifically uh in reference to that
issue because you have a and you have a
[40:55] lawsuit uh
>> you have two lawsuits, right, for
[40:58] nation, which is different different
from trespassing, but they're working
[41:01] their way through the federal court
system.
[41:03] » Correct. So once that is clarified, well
then if it's if it's a deed by a court
[41:08] because the issue is in disputes, that's
why the law enforcement I I know I I
[41:13] know what you're saying and believe me,
I I I sympathize with you because I I I
[41:18] have uh very clear opinions as to my uh
feelings on this border wall. Okay. But
[41:24] having said that, I do have to protect
the interests of the stuff about the
[41:28] county and
>> I understand. So, so that's kind of
[41:31] where where we're at with with that. So,
but you know, based on what we have, it
[41:36] would be it would potentially be a
trust.
[41:39] » Can we have this on the agenda for
meeting counsel? And I appreciate the
[41:43] info. Uh,
>> judge, I just have to say this is an
[41:45] urgent issue because
>> I understand there's
[41:50] still trying actively to get heavy
machinery into the bird sanctuary.
[41:55] » Well, I I'll Mr.
I guess you can uh reach out to them and
[41:59] say that our
>> we we
[42:02] » because it's public lands judge they do
have the right to enter. Now, they're
[42:06] doing something that's damaging our
property. Well, that's a different
[42:09] story. And then we can absolutely have
police uh uh come in and prevent them
[42:14] from doing it, which I don't know.
>> Trees in the bird sanctuary, sir. They
[42:18] have knocked down trees in the bird
sanctuary. They have damaged county
[42:23] property in addition to private
property.
[42:26] » Okay. Well, if that's the case, then law
enforcement absolutely.
[42:30] » Initially, before the awareness of the
exclusion zone came about, they did not
[42:37] » they did not our hope is just that
they're aware of it now and we can take
[42:41] action to at least warn them.
>> We just we've got a long agenda, sir. We
[42:47] need to move on and we can't take any
action today. But I appreciate your
[42:50] concerns. They're all concerns that we
all share. Absolutely. I appreciate
[42:54] » just to let you know we are in constant
communication with a core of engineers.
[42:59] Okay. Who's uh uh who's I guess
supervising the actual I I don't know
[43:06] they're there on a day-to-day basis as
far as s supervising the the
[43:10] contractor's work, but uh I'm in
discussion with them and they've assured
[43:14] me that there's been no uh invasion in
into the the private documentation. I'm
[43:20] glad you you're you're you know letting
us know investigator. I I know
[43:25] » we've got one more speaker. Uh this
>> you've got two sheets there. Two pages.
[43:31] You can breathe fast.
[43:41] » Morning sir. Call me a poet. Some call
me the dude. But I've always been Jesse
[43:46] Gera. Anything you might have heard
about me is true. Only the names of your
[43:50] chain to protect the guilty,
>> not blowing in the wind. In the name of
[43:55] the father, in the name of the son, in
the name of the great spirit whose work
[44:00] we all marvel at, in the name of
humanity, in the name of that big beast,
[44:06] manifest destiny. I am speaking as an
indigenous man. All this land belonged
[44:11] to my ancestors, to your ancestors, to
our ancestors. So what kind of engine
[44:17] are you? The great cho port Rahul Sen
Selenas was asked in El Paso before he
[44:23] crossed over. Mexican, he said. Oh, in a
disappointed tone, "I thought you was a
[44:30] real engine," said the white man. The
repercussions of your actions or
[44:35] inactions today will reverberate for
years as a ripple or as a tsunami and
[44:42] years into the future. Just as your
brave ancestors, civic leaders, and
[44:46] veterans of the 50s of San Agnesio who
had the courage to confront Big Brother
[44:53] and save Sanio from being flooded.
Meanwhile, the real fascist lawbreaker
[44:59] issues marching orders from the throne
of his 23 karat goldplated monuments.
[45:05] His fake arch his non- congressionally
approved billiondoll ballroom in
[45:10] Washington DC. While the Rosa Parks of
Sonic Nasio are being harassed,
[45:16] threatened, and arrested. We will not
sit at the back of the bus. While the
[45:20] real perpetrators are trespassing and
yellow jaw bulldozers and botinous amad
[45:27] water golem water tankers guzzling
thousands of gallons of precious Rio
[45:32] Grande water. We ask that the sheriff
aim his focus and arrest the yellow men
[45:39] trespassor and not indulge in John Wayne
genre gestapo type ICE raids on
[45:45] indigenous people on stolen land. Stop
the land landowner trespassor. Stop the
[45:52] environmental holocaust. Are we
regressing to separate water fountains,
[45:57] to separate bathrooms, black and brown
and white? The writing is on the wall.
[46:01] The ten commandments at the closed
schoolhouse. Where is our conscience,
[46:07] our common sense for the common good,
for our brotherhood, for humanity, for
[46:11] our sacred lands and rivers? We are
stewards of this great land. Just
[46:16] because Big Brother says to do something
doesn't mean it's right. Look at all the
[46:20] indigenous people massacred it took to
create this country. All the stolen
[46:25] land, all the tears, all the blood.
Imagine waiting your whole life to be an
[46:30] ice cube. And then you melt. Your whole
life, your very existence melts before
[46:36] your eyes, before your feet in the name
of the great spirit. You are water. You
[46:41] are life. The answer is not blowing in
the wind. San Ignasio strong. Sapata
[46:48] strong weather.
>> Amen.
[46:55] » Gracias.
[46:59] [applause] Thank you all for your
information. We'll see you soon.
[47:04] » Commissioners, before we move on, I know
we've got some school independent school
[47:09] district employees here. Uh we'll go to
>> 25 resolutions and proclamations. Uh we
[47:16] have item number 25 is the proclamation
on attendance matters. Yes, Miss
[47:21] Guerrero. Good morning.
>> Good morning.
[47:23] » Morning.
>> Thank you.
[47:27] » Good morning,
commissioners, distinguished elected
[47:32] officials in county and state community
members. For the record, my name is
[47:38] Nancy Guo. I'm the federal programs
compliance manager at Tapa County ISD
[47:43] and I am pleased to present the
attendance awareness proclamation for
[47:47] September 2026.
Our school district proposes to
[47:51] officially designate this month as
countywide attendance awareness month to
[47:57] highlight the importance of daily
student attendance.
[48:01] By uniting our school district, elected
officials and local communities, we can
[48:06] ensure every student is about the county
attend school date. Together, we must
[48:12] emphasize to parents and guardians how
essential regular attendance is to their
[48:18] children's education.
It is essential for everyone to
[48:23] recognize that our district maintains
clear attendance policies designed to
[48:28] support every student's educational
success. Last year, last school year, we
[48:35] collaborated with justice of the peace
preudge
[48:39] to inform about the consequences of
regular absentism.
[48:44] We highlighted state law which requires
students to attend class at least 90% of
[48:50] the time offered to earn course credit.
Although these measures are structured
[48:55] to curb chronic abstences, achieving
lasting results requires communitywide
[49:00] support.
Monitoring participation and tracking
[49:04] attendance are vital to determining if
students are connecting with your
[49:09] lessons or if intervention is required
to address attendance barriers. We aim
[49:14] to boost attendance this school year
through the joint effort between the
[49:19] justice of the peace judges office and
our attendance recovery officers.
[49:25] Operating daily. These dedicated
officers reach out to parents, transport
[49:30] students, and re-engage those who are
absent. We extend our sincere gratitude
[49:35] to all partners supporting our attend
attendance initiatives and remain
[49:39] committed to drive continuous progress
in the years ahead.
[49:44] Therefore, the proclamation states,
"Whereas good attendance is essential to
[49:49] student achievement and graduation, we
are committed to dedicating our
[49:53] resources and attendance to reducing
chronic absentes and rates. With a focus
[49:59] starting as early as pre kindergarten
and kindergarten, whereas chronic
[50:04] absence missing 10% or more of school,
alert schools, community partners, and
[50:10] families that one or more Positive
conditions for learning are not in
[50:15] place.
Whereas students are more likely to
[50:18] attend school when positive conditions
for learning, physical and emotional
[50:23] health and safety, a sense of belonging,
connection and support, academic
[50:28] challenge and engagement in adult and
peers with social emotional competency
[50:33] are in place. Whereas the imp impact of
absence of punitive approaches to school
[50:40] discipline contribute to the achievement
gap that separate students for lost
[50:45] learning time in the classroom.
Whereas showing up for school is an
[50:50] opportunity for students to build
routines that can create a sense of
[50:54] safety and belonging, increase
engagement, and develop trusting
[50:58] relationships with peers, teachers, and
school staff that increase engagement
[51:03] and motivate them to participate in
learning.
[51:07] Whereas reducing absenteeism requires
taking a comprehensive approach that
[51:13] begins with prevention and early
intervention and adopting trauma inform
[51:18] approaches rather than responsive
responding with community action.
[51:23] Whereas improving attendance and
reducing absentism takes schools, family
[51:28] and community partners working together
to identify and address factors
[51:33] contributing to students missing school.
particularly a lack of digital access,
[51:39] mental and physical health services, and
access to basic economic supports,
[51:45] including food and housing.
Whereas partnering with students and
[51:50] families to monitor attendance as well
as understand and address barriers to to
[51:56] attendance requires building and
sustaining caring relationships and
[52:00] regular communication in the home
language spoken by the families. Whereas
[52:05] research found even before pandemic that
families had high aspirations for their
[52:11] children yet faced significant barriers
in getting their children to school or
[52:16] lack the knowledge that showing up
nearly every day to school was crucial
[52:21] to academic achievement.
Whereas taking attendance daily in a
[52:26] consistent manner and for different
times of types of learning opportunities
[52:32] in person or homebound is essential to
identifying when students begin to miss
[52:37] too much school.
Whereas taking positive problem solving
[52:41] approach to reducing absenteeism
requires expanding data to include
[52:46] reviewing chronic absence and attendance
data for inperson and homebound
[52:52] availability of working contact
information for families connectivity
[52:57] devices and internet and positive
relationships.
[53:01] Whereas promoting attendance requires
noticing as soon as possible when
[53:06] students are starting to miss too much
school in order to engage students and
[53:11] families, identify and offer needed
support and early intervention
[53:16] resources.
Whereas ensuring an equal opportunity to
[53:20] learn requires using data to detect high
levels of absenteeism and missed
[53:26] opportunities to learn by school, grade,
and student population.
[53:31] Now therefore be a result that the
Sabbath County Commissioner's Court
[53:36] stands with the nation in recognizing
September as attendance awareness month.
[53:42] We hereby commit to focusing on reducing
absenteeism and addressing the factors
[53:48] that cause students to miss school,
whether offered in person or homebound,
[53:53] in order to ensure all children an
equitable opportunity to learn, grow,
[54:00] and thrive academically,
emotionally, and socially. We recognize
[54:05] that we must work together to engage
students and families and send the
[54:10] message that learning can be can and
must continue whether students
[54:14] participate in person homebound or
through approaches. Specifically, we
[54:20] will make clear that improving students
attendance including taking daily
[54:24] attendance in a consistent manner and
monitoring absenteeism continues to be a
[54:30] top priority. Encourage family
engagement and civic action to help
[54:36] families get their children to school
every day. Analyze our data to identify
[54:42] which students are most affected by our
chronic absence as well as to unpack
[54:49] common attendance challenges that need
to be addressed. Additionally, subject
[54:54] to everyone's approval, we warmly invite
our community members, elected
[54:58] officials, school board members,
superintendent, teachers, and students
[55:03] to join us for the signing of our joint
proclamation. The signing will take
[55:08] place at 6:15 p.m. on September 4th
during our first home Hawk football game
[55:14] at Spock Stadium.
>> We look forward to seeing you all there.
[55:19] Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Thank you for so
[55:22] eloquently reading that
>> I apologize
[55:28] but I really appreciate you all joining
in our efforts to spread
[55:33] » appreciate the invite. Yes,
>> we couldn't agree more. You know the
[55:36] attendance does matter.
>> It does matter.
[55:38] » There's a motion to approve the
proclamation as presented.
[55:41] » Motion by Commissioner Si to approve the
proclamation as presented. Seconded by
[55:44] Commissioner Morales. Any discussion
commissioners? All those in favor say I.
[55:48] I. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you
and once again hope to see you all.
[55:53] » Thank you for joining us.
[55:56] I'll picture
[56:09] » you let
[56:20] it walk.
[56:44] Okay.
[56:48] Sorry.
[57:00] Thank you.
>> Take care.
[57:04] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[57:24] Okay.
[57:47] All right,
>> invoices.
[57:51] » Richard, moving on. Item number six,
total of invoices in your packets. We
[57:56] had invoices from August 7, 2026 to
August the 20th, 2026 for a total of
[58:03] I1,54,9381.
[58:11] Uh part of it uh the general fund was
666,000 expenses a little over 200,000
[58:17] was the loan for uh
>> loan and also
[58:20] » the election machines.
>> Yeah. And then the the the part of the
[58:24] like insurance
motion as expenses. Okay. Got a motion
[58:31] » and we will be including uh three
additional
[58:34] » yes
>> invoices for a total of 18,000
[58:37] additional 18,45
>> those coming out of our circular
[58:43] obligation.
>> Okay.
[58:45] » Oh yeah.
>> I was going to explain a little bit more
[58:46] on that once we got to the CO uh agenda
item.
[58:50] » Okay. So we don't include them in
>> No, no, you don't have to because it'll
[58:54] be in the in the other one.
>> Okay. Motion by commission. Seconded by
[58:58] secondary.
Any discussion? All those in favor say
[59:01] I. Motion carries. Uh item number seven
is approval of checks issued. And in
[59:08] your package we had checks from also
from August the 7th through August the
[59:12] 20th for a total of 1,54,938.81.
[59:18] Motion to approve
presented.
[59:22] » I'll second that with the corrections if
if any have to be made. No, we don't
[59:25] have to make it because I'll put in on
the agenda item bring it up. So,
[59:28] » all right, sounds good. I'll second it.
>> Got a motion second. All those in favor
[59:31] say I.
>> Motion carries. Item number eight, tax
[59:34] special collection department report. I
know Daniel, you were at a conference at
[59:38] our regular scheduled meeting. So, I
appreciate you coming in.
[59:42] » Yes. And I don't want to blame anybody,
but
[59:44] » but
>> the documents were on my desk. I just
[59:48] didn't see them. I was supposed to. We
don't have the report.
[59:51] » I we don't have them with me, but
>> I'll go ahead and read them.
[59:54] » They're just go ahead and read them out.
>> I think that they were in the packet.
[59:57] » They were.
>> They were.
[59:59] » All right. Uh collections for the month
of July general fund, we collected
[1:00:04] $67,43
[1:00:08] and 1 cent interest. Uh we did have
refunds of $684.83.
[1:00:15] I wish I could speak with the gentleman.
Um but interest in thinking. Uh we
[1:00:21] collected $29,344.86
[1:00:25] with $78.37
in refunds. Farm to market $24.92
[1:00:34] in refunds. Special road and bridge we
collected $8,99423
[1:00:40] with $11.37.
[1:00:45] Total collections for the month was
$117,854.37
[1:00:52] and that was for taxes only. Then we go
down to fees and other collections tax
[1:00:58] certificates we had $4 hotel motel tax
$4,56369
[1:01:05] copies and faxes $2.25
interest earnings $6.50
[1:01:12] with a net collection of 122
43081.
[1:01:19] Um
[1:01:23] dispersements uh to the treasur
$110,34463
[1:01:32] del attorneys $12,8618.
[1:01:39] Hotel motel tax we have year to date
a total of $64,5183
[1:01:49] and this is of course through July we
still have collections hopefully up for
[1:01:57] August September
>> another yeah we might get to 70
[1:02:01] » I don't know that we'll have 100,000 but
>> no no that was so we adjusted that in
[1:02:06] the proposed budget yes Okay. Yes.
>> We didn't have expenditures of 100,000.
[1:02:12] » It's healthy.
>> Yeah.
[1:02:14] » Um
our collection rate was 80. Total
[1:02:19] collection rate for the month of July
was 88.72%
[1:02:23] compared to last year's 88.90. So we're
slightly below, but pretty much there.
[1:02:30] » So um
>> get to 92.
[1:02:35] » We're going to get to 92.
That's another thing to consider on on
[1:02:40] our budgets before budgets. We hope for
92 optimistic about hopeful about
[1:02:45] getting to 92%.
Um
[1:02:49] » I don't I mean people are coming in. I'm
really surprised that
[1:02:53] » what do you what percentage you estimate
that we're
[1:02:55] » 90 89?
>> Yeah. Maybe maybe about 89.
[1:03:03] » That's another reason why they have some
Yeah, we don't uh we're not we're not as
[1:03:10] high as the anticipated collection
amount of 92% but it's
[1:03:17] » we've gotten there a few years but
lately it's
[1:03:19] » it's not it hasn't
>> okay thank you
[1:03:27] » report presentation item number nine is
a presentation from community limited on
[1:03:32] sapata county broadband access status of
prior to state federal ederal funded
[1:03:36] projects and any direction for
additional research from commissioners
[1:03:40] Mr. Mark Pearson.
>> Mark, good to see you again.
[1:03:43] » Yes.
[1:03:47] » Yes. You were here maybe a month ago,
Mark, when was here a little longer
[1:03:52] » in uh yeah, in early June and then uh
Okay.
[1:03:54] » And then briefly in July also. And uh
>> Thank you.
[1:04:02] » Good morning, sir.
[1:04:07] Strawberry.
[1:04:22] » Okay, sure.
[1:04:30] » Good morning. Y'all have a full agenda,
so nod at me. talk a little faster.
[1:04:34] » Okay. All right.
>> Important things here. So, I'm uh Mark
[1:04:38] Pearson. I'm with a nonprofit group,
Communities Unlimited. Um it's been
[1:04:42] around 50 years. Uh works in seven
southern states based Fedville,
[1:04:46] Arkansas. Um but I live I live in
Austin. I've worked for them most of the
[1:04:51] time since 2004 except for a couple
years with the Texas Water. And Zapata
[1:04:56] County had some has some experience in
the past with Communities Unlimited.
[1:05:00] about half of our group provides some
assistance around water utilities and
[1:05:03] water infrastructure. So,
[clears throat]
[1:05:05] » so I have a couple of good friends,
retired workers, Gonzalez, some others
[1:05:10] that have been provid
>> I'm on a smaller um team around
[1:05:16] broadband and we are not an internet
service provider and will never be an
[1:05:20] internet service provider, but just from
that perspective across kind of the
[1:05:24] southern southern states that we work in
um
[1:05:29] some of our smaller communities and more
rural communities as that expansion
[1:05:33] happens
How do we make sure that those least
[1:05:35] served places, least served communities
are at the table as we're doing that
[1:05:39] broadband deployment? And so, um, I've,
uh, spent most of my career around that
[1:05:44] wire infrastructure work. And in about
three years, I've been trying to learn
[1:05:47] broadband as fast as I can on our
smaller team. And I tell folks, I think
[1:05:51] I'm about up to first grade level now
because I switched all the letters and
[1:05:54] numbers.
>> Yes, of course.
[1:05:56] » Trying to learn as fast as I can.
>> And so, I think there's a little bit of
[1:06:00] a a privilege that I've got because my
has been paid for really to be a
[1:06:05] resource to folks in communities like
yourselves and other places. Um that
[1:06:09] I've gotten to do some deep dive into
that. Um our broadband program director
[1:06:14] Katherine Grants did a lot of work with
uh connected nation doing some broadband
[1:06:18] planning
around the state and other places. We
[1:06:22] have a small team of broadband technical
assistance providers. But specifically
[1:06:26] uh the reason that I'm here um wanting
to connect with all of you and met with
[1:06:30] Jell earlier is that this year Methodist
Healthcare Ministries that's a
[1:06:36] philanthropy group in South Texas had
asked us to pay attention to kind of
[1:06:39] 12count area
>> I appreciate that. Yeah.
[1:06:42] » Yeah. And um and I think Yeah. And I so
I think I would speak highly of them and
[1:06:48] just their attention kind of that same
mission that we're looking at. And so
[1:06:52] because of that, um, we're kind of a
resource. Like there's no cost to the
[1:06:57] county and I've done a little bit of
research, but y'all that live close to
[1:07:02] the community and close to the ground
and drive the county roads know what
[1:07:05] really is happening here. And so I would
kind of welcome input from you. Uh, if
[1:07:10] we can, I'm going to take maybe five 10
minutes and try to kind of run quickly
[1:07:14] through some of the for you.
>> Okay. and then um and just kind of give
[1:07:19] just a few information points, some kind
of high points. And then I would also um
[1:07:25] welcome I'm going to email out later uh
there's about five or six different
[1:07:30] websites basically that um that are kind
of where some of this information
[1:07:35] sources from and that is available some
ways in a lot more detail than it used
[1:07:40] to be. You can put in your h house
address. You can put in a constituent's
[1:07:44] address and zoom down to it and see what
service is per reported at that location
[1:07:49] level. So, there's a couple FCC maps and
there are a couple maps from the state
[1:07:53] Texas broad development office and
something like that. Beyond that, um I I
[1:07:59] would be very open and I know to do kind
of workshop items, you'll have need to
[1:08:04] have public notice, but if there are any
other commissioners wanted to have a 30
[1:08:08] minute Zoom meeting at some point or or
to your judgment longer, but if you want
[1:08:13] me to keep 30 minutes to dive into your
uh your precincts and if you have
[1:08:17] specific questions about what's where or
some information to follow up on. Um,
[1:08:22] and so I think
um I think part of it like I know that I
[1:08:26] come from far away and I will never know
the things that you guys know. So one we
[1:08:30] need to keep the federal data, the state
data honest and then keep it relevant
[1:08:34] too because in my opinion this is kind
of like an active work site and so let's
[1:08:38] make sure it's doing smart work and
we're
[1:08:42] with that. I'm going to try to move a
little quicker into those handouts
[1:08:46] there.
And so just really for reference for
[1:08:52] y'all that um and show these as we go.
That first bro bro bro bro bro bro bro
[1:08:55] bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro
bro bro bro brochure is just about the
[1:08:57] communities unlimited broadband program
and if you're not familiar with this
[1:09:00] I'll also put the link for our our group
in there um we have some group that does
[1:09:06] US treasury CDFI lending if they're
small businesses and entrepreneurs
[1:09:09] especially rural places we want to
restrict to those encourage those some
[1:09:13] of the other areas we work um the the
next page that is just kind of black and
[1:09:18] white text for you
is what is reported at the latest The
[1:09:24] internet service providers are all
required to report to the FCC every six
[1:09:28] months where they have service and what
speed levels and what technology types
[1:09:34] and and so that updates the um the
reporting the data we were using um
[1:09:41] uh was June 30th 2025. They've got a
about a five month lag before they get
[1:09:48] all that processed and make it public.
And so miday they released the December
[1:09:54] 31st reported data and uh some of that
is only as good as the ISPs the telecom
[1:10:00] providers give them and I've seen other
rural areas where maybe a small provider
[1:10:04] I don't know if they're busy or forgot
or just didn't report one time. So
[1:10:08] there's a little bit of keeping it
honest. There's also in the beginning of
[1:10:11] this I think there were some of them
were kind of rounding up on what they
[1:10:14] were serving. It kind of was kind of
hopeful. Uh so here it shows in Zapata
[1:10:19] County um just under 7,000 broadband
serviceable locations. So those would
[1:10:24] include like homes and business
locations.
[1:10:27] And then uh down below it shows Spectrum
is kind of your largest provider with
[1:10:32] the cable internet service and that's
what serves town here. And then
[1:10:39] and then below uh the other ones I'm
going to draw a note to is there's a
[1:10:44] licensed fixed wireless is what's coming
over kind of the towers with the radio
[1:10:48] signals and increasingly that's like
your your cell phone providers are doing
[1:10:52] that Verizon T-Mobile. Uh the other ones
of note here the Texoma fiber and the
[1:10:57] bordertoorder communications that have
some fiber deployment. Um, we'll talk
[1:11:02] about some of the funding in a minute,
but that's a group that um that was
[1:11:06] originally out of Kurville. It's bought
by Oklahoma. It's now Hillary
[1:11:09] Communications and I think they're under
construction on some of that project.
[1:11:13] » Um, do any of y'all have service from
Border Communications or Hillary?
[1:11:19] » I I have border border, but I don't have
fiber,
[1:11:21] » but not fiber. Is it that fixed wireless
signal?
[1:11:25] » I believe the whole town has just fixed
wired. I don't think
[1:11:27] » I think the I think the fiber is in
actually the sunny NASA area.
[1:11:33] » That's where the fiber optic was laid
with that grant that they received maybe
[1:11:38] four or five years ago.
>> When I was here last, I was pulling over
[1:11:41] looking at their markers on the side of
the road and I saw that at Sanasio
[1:11:44] there. Have they had any other
construction in the county or active?
[1:11:49] » I haven't seen other construction. We
were hoping they'd get up some or
[1:11:53] outline areas that that don't have
access, but they didn't make it to
[1:11:58] Las. No, they didn't make it to look
>> or even there towards our landfield and
[1:12:04] stuff.
>> Okay, we I've I've got several calls
[1:12:07] into them
>> and until you find the people on the
[1:12:10] management side of the telecom company,
sometimes they're hard to get.
[1:12:13] » They were difficult to uh contact,
>> but I I confident we'll keep trying
[1:12:19] until we talk to someone with them. And
uh and then I think the other questions
[1:12:25] here.
>> So I'm seeing that like Spectrum I guess
[1:12:29] provides the majority almost 6,000
fiber over a thousand. What's the
[1:12:36] difference in quality or speed?
>> So that's that's a good point. So
[1:12:42] broadbands like as a definition what
we're talking about is just highspeed
[1:12:46] internet and that definition they
changed about two years ago from 25
[1:12:52] megabits per second down and 3 up to 100
megabits per second down and 20 up and
[1:12:58] cable service should be able to do that.
>> Okay.
[1:13:01] » Um but some ways the fiber is kind of
your bestinass service right now. So
[1:13:06] that's the Cadillac. Yeah.
>> So what I understand from fiber is
[1:13:10] you'll get true numbers. If you have a
contract for 300 megabytes, you're
[1:13:16] getting 300 no matter the interference
between a thousand customers logging
[1:13:20] into one line which will tend to drop
your megabytes per second and fiber you.
[1:13:28] » Yeah.
So what's it and why haven't fiber been
[1:13:33] expanded more in our area because we
have cable is that
[1:13:37] » that's that's a good short Yeah, that's
a good short answer to some of that is
[1:13:40] that
>> there there have been various attempts
[1:13:43] over time to use the federal money
primarily to get service to all.
[1:13:48] » We've had several companies come and
pitch their fiber
[1:13:52] » pitch their own service
>> service to to for Sapata County to get
[1:13:56] hooked up with with fiber. Yeah. Yeah.
>> And I And I think there's one thing with
[1:14:01] the the county specifically getting
their service like you got to do your
[1:14:05] procurement and do due diligence on
that. The more fiber companies that will
[1:14:09] come to one place, the more options
you've got and that helps with pricing.
[1:14:12] I live in the middle of North Austin for
the last 20 something years where
[1:14:17] probably people moved in and didn't move
out for kids. And so I had cable
[1:14:21] internet for 15 of those years. It was
good mostly. And it kind of depends like
[1:14:25] anything else that the maintenance is
being managed
[1:14:28] » and uh and so there was there was about
six months sometime in there where I
[1:14:33] don't know if they were getting some
water into some boxes some problems
[1:14:36] happening but you you got to call them
and keep them honest and do your speed
[1:14:40] test and get it fixed and I think with
with some communities what we see in
[1:14:44] other places now in Spectrum
specifically but with um with some
[1:14:48] communities that aren't their largest
communities they're off prioritizing
[1:14:52] their capital management projects and so
on our street like Spectrum has replaced
[1:14:57] Fiber AT&T that was the telephone lines
replaced it with Fibernet
[1:15:01] » and are receiving federal funding for
that or that
[1:15:05] » No.
>> So that that was my my question. I know
[1:15:08] they're the the fiber currently is like
in the outskirts of of town, but it's
[1:15:13] not here in town. You can get it to
local businesses and maybe even
[1:15:17] residents, but it'll be a cost to them.
>> Yeah. To build to build out from that.
[1:15:23] And I think
>> I think part of that is um the places
[1:15:27] that there are two things. One with the
federal funding we don't we don't want
[1:15:32] to use the federal grant dollars to
build over building a fourth fiber run
[1:15:36] in front of my house in Austin. It's not
a good use. The private market is
[1:15:39] getting that done. observation on some
of this funding the last three years
[1:15:43] paying attention the uh the bead funding
through NI was supposed to be the
[1:15:48] internet to all to finish things like we
did rural telephone and rural electric
[1:15:53] » and uh and part of what that induced was
a lot of these private providers to like
[1:15:58] kind of get up and move into some areas
they hadn't been before. So I think
[1:16:02] that's a that's a story that doesn't get
as told as much as that public funding
[1:16:05] and do some private funding to the table
also and to try to get out there with
[1:16:09] the public funding that's invested. I
think we need to kind of keep an eye on
[1:16:13] that know where it is have relationships
with those those ISPs and is there
[1:16:16] anything we can do to like smooth the
way to help them get there and then I
[1:16:20] think when they do get there the other
part of that I've been mostly focused on
[1:16:24] the access part. part of our team. The
other guy from the nonprofit that met
[1:16:28] with us um in June is focused more on
the digital skills side and I know that
[1:16:33] was that was one of the items in the
proclamation a minute ago is
[1:16:37] connectivity and digital skills correct
>> and it's important for the healthare
[1:16:40] it's important for education it's
important for business once you got that
[1:16:44] fiber to that location or good internet
any remote work job somebody can do
[1:16:49] anywhere they can do it from that
location
[1:16:51] » I know there's currently a grant right
that uh South Texas development board
[1:16:55] council is trying to to acquire for for
broadband expansion.
[1:16:59] » Yeah. Our area cog council government is
is actively pursuing those federally
[1:17:05] funded uh grants that that would be he
may be eligible for. But we haven't seen
[1:17:11] any anything funded yet for us.
>> So I think that's what with what I'm
[1:17:16] kind of going here like I've got some
numbers and data I could could plow
[1:17:19] through. So, I know they they do have a
current uh I guess like a
[1:17:24] [clears throat] community uh group where
they discuss all of broadband. So, you
[1:17:29] might want to get a hold of uh with Juan
Ju Rodriguez with with a cog with the
[1:17:35] South Texas Board Council of Laredo and
maybe you can join their group and in in
[1:17:40] efforts to you know give all your
information that you've currently
[1:17:44] collected and it'll make it a hard uh
you know stable. I actually met with him
[1:17:49] and the folks went to him the day after
I met with you in June.
[1:17:53] » Okay.
>> And then um when they had the came to
[1:17:56] the STDC meeting that was here in July,
I was late getting to that meeting.
[1:18:01] » I was like he looks familiar. I think
I've seen you there.
[1:18:04] » We spoke with on the way out of there.
But I've also spoken with with Melissa
[1:18:07] Gonzalez with lower lower valley
development that's going to partner with
[1:18:12] them and and that scope of work is that
through some of the stateing
[1:18:18] There is a request through TARP, the
Association of Regional Councils that
[1:18:22] STDC and Laura for three years of
funding to support broadband planning
[1:18:28] and in my my opinion like the planning
would have been better like four or five
[1:18:32] years ago, but because they said yes, we
want to make that relevant and and a
[1:18:36] good use of it. So what that does is
fund essentially a position at HCO. In
[1:18:40] this case, Lower Valley is partnering
with STDC for this next three years and
[1:18:45] they're going to do a lot of good
community listing and I think I think
[1:18:50] around that like this information that
we've done that focus a little bit more
[1:18:53] on access but also you want the partners
at the table as if there are any grant
[1:18:58] funds whether it's for veterans or for
schools for the devices and legal skills
[1:19:03] learning I think um I think the Zapata
County that I think Roxy explained the
[1:19:08] story when I was first here about how
they decided to replace the the
[1:19:12] courthouse real quick and like let's
tear it down and do quick so I feel like
[1:19:16] there's a lot of like learning like
let's make things happen and so I feel
[1:19:19] like this is like the homework stage and
that group is the one where if you've
[1:19:23] got a good committee to be part of that
homework that's one of the suggestions I
[1:19:26] would make that I don't want to depend
on me to help do some forming that there
[1:19:30] was a somewhat informal Zapata county
broadband committee coalition task force
[1:19:35] I got to be part of a bast county task
force the last three years that had some
[1:19:39] county participation one county
commissioner their development
[1:19:42] coordinator as needed they would pull in
their IT person procurement person, but
[1:19:47] it wasn't their funds really. And then
they had some really robust nonprofits
[1:19:51] that here I think would be like the
library supports the county, but
[1:19:54] somebody from the schools, the boys and
girls
[1:19:58] » and also the community. I believe we had
we also have a local uh contractors that
[1:20:02] have actually worked on fiber projects.
>> Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. that knowledge
[1:20:08] would be good and having that kind of
informal community if it's not a county
[1:20:12] function specifically sometimes having
like a county participation there's a
[1:20:16] commissioner it gets people's attention
that's what gets a high speed to the
[1:20:19] meeting but if you have people that have
some freedom to just ask questions like
[1:20:23] what's the timeline and ask good
questions be ready there's a little bit
[1:20:28] comparisons
Mark on the county by county we're we're
[1:20:33] okay I
I believe
[1:20:38] » I think Jimhawk County was a little bit
more rural than we are and looks like
[1:20:42] their fiber they've got almost entirely
fiber. How did that happen?
[1:20:45] » I I my my take is that I think so much
of the county lives in Heville
[1:20:50] » and a provider got there. So I would say
most of that 85% is in Heville and the
[1:20:55] outline is more federal funding.
>> Yeah. So that was good. They did well.
[1:21:00] Yeah.
>> Yeah. And I think it's I think it's the
[1:21:02] fact that y'all had had spectrum which
can be good but you need to keep them
[1:21:06] honest here. And then I think also
>> I think fiber is all over the place
[1:21:10] right now. I mean I see them all over
the radio hooking up.
[1:21:13] » That's right. Yeah, that's right. And
those and there's a lot of private
[1:21:15] investment companies.
[1:21:20] » And then I think as you're having
conversations with those ISPs like the
[1:21:23] Hillary Communications Communications,
that informal group has has the ability
[1:21:28] to ask questions like what So what rates
are you charging? And so the the going
[1:21:33] thing for fiber was like one gig down,
one gig up, symmetric. And then like six
[1:21:38] months ago, they started advertising my
house 5 gig down, five gig up,
[1:21:42] » and then 8 gig down and 8 gig up.
>> No matter how much my 16-year-old games,
[1:21:46] he doesn't need 8 gigs down, eight up.
>> But if you have a senior, like one
[1:21:49] person in a house and a good fiber
connection, like that that lowest plan
[1:21:54] might be 100 down, 100 up, and that
would probably like stream the TV and be
[1:21:59] able to computer and things you need. So
here just rapidly green is what's
[1:22:04] served. That's 100 down 20 amp. It
doesn't really matter what technology
[1:22:08] could be copper cable wire fix wireless
as long as it's 100 down 20 up. We're
[1:22:14] kind of aiming for better. Uh this is
the comparison to the region.
[1:22:18] » Yes,
>> judge is right. The counties north were
[1:22:20] a little bit behind y'all. That's why I
started with them and worked our way
[1:22:23] here. But we still want to do good work
in the county. This is the funded
[1:22:27] projects in Zapata County. Okay.
>> So that borderto border communications
[1:22:30] shows that they were going to build out
to,240 locations in the county. My
[1:22:34] understanding is with fiber is what that
is.
[1:22:37] » And I don't
[1:22:42] » Yeah. And I think like $5 million grant
and like a good bit alone. So they've
[1:22:46] got their own skin on that project with
customers. But that can't all be inside
[1:22:52] of the 1240 location.
>> Yeah.
[1:22:55] » And the last two kind of maps here this
That's kind of the footprint of where
[1:22:59] that USDA reconnect project is that um
that Hillary Communications World
[1:23:04] Reporter has. And that's the kind of
part that if there if y'all had time 30
[1:23:08] minutes or something, this is relevant
to your precinct to zoom in what we
[1:23:13] know. Is that there already or is it not
there? We could ask what's coming. The
[1:23:17] last one is what was meant to finish the
job and with that NIB funding through
[1:23:22] the broadband development office. They
didn't want to duplicate any federal
[1:23:25] funding,
>> right?
[1:23:26] » And we don't want them to do that with
tax dollars either. But they did a
[1:23:29] competitive process for the state the
awards because those were mostly rural
[1:23:34] kind of individual locations around that
reconnect award where to SpaceX for
[1:23:39] Starlink service and the the question
that I've got on that like kind of
[1:23:44] alongside you would be so what what
actually is the bargain? framed as a
[1:23:48] capacity grant to SpaceX to reserve
capacity for those locations. They're
[1:23:53] different than other internet providers.
If you subscribe to Spectrum or to one
[1:23:57] of the others, they're going to come to
the house and they're going to hook up a
[1:24:00] router. They're going to make sure it
works and show you how to connect it. To
[1:24:03] this point with SpaceX and Starlink,
which is a great technology for the
[1:24:06] remote location, remote ranch open sky.
It's really pretty cool. But to to this
[1:24:12] point, they have been they kept their
cost. There's almost no customer
[1:24:15] service. you get to the website, order
it, they'll ship it to you. When we get
[1:24:18] it, you figure out how to hook [snorts]
it up. And so if we had some individual
[1:24:21] seniors or someone that had a little
less ability to do that themselves one,
[1:24:25] there's a question, is there any support
for getting that connected? My second
[1:24:28] question was all of the applicants that
funding were supposed to have a low cost
[1:24:33] requirement in their application and I
haven't seen that yet and I did a public
[1:24:37] information request a month ago, more
than 10 business days, but uh we're
[1:24:43] trying to work on I would just like to
that agreement that's a contract between
[1:24:47] the state what they're going to provide
because in my opinion the community
[1:24:50] level if you have constituents that
that's the work for those houses those
[1:24:55] and and it's now it's about 150 houses
all in the county but like let's know
[1:24:59] what the deal is so they can ask for the
deal
[1:25:01] » appreciate that Mark I think you
provided us with a lot of information I
[1:25:05] know
>> uh it was rapid fire but but I think
[1:25:10] you've got all the commissioners uh
contact info I think if you visit with
[1:25:15] with each one more, you know, they're
more familiar with their precincts, what
[1:25:19] their needs may be that that anything
that you can help us with.
[1:25:23] » Well, your your company was also
affiliated with uh the transformation in
[1:25:26] Kingsville, right? Or were you not part
of that when they transformed everything
[1:25:30] to fiber?
>> Uh not
[1:25:32] » I know we discussed it in our STDC
meeting. maybe the company that was uh
[1:25:37] that you were trying to uh correlate
with there in that meeting
[1:25:41] » that that might have been the other the
other nonprofit group that had some
[1:25:44] support from Methus might have had some
work there
[1:25:48] » and then to the south there's a really
strong RGB coalition correct had work
[1:25:52] with far down there fiber and supporting
Brownsville and some of those other
[1:25:55] projects based and I think that was the
space that was kind of saying how how do
[1:26:01] we encourage some of that here we just
go a little deeper
[1:26:04] » so thank you for the time. Thank you,
Mark.
[1:26:06] » Yes, we'll keep in touch. See when any
of that funding really becomes available
[1:26:11] to I know we've applied for it, but
>> competitive
[1:26:16] » and I think and I think to the last
comments on that funding there's to me
[1:26:19] like the eye on the ball with the
funding right now and and not
[1:26:23] everything's due to funding. I think I
think with good volunteers with the
[1:26:26] right ideas sometimes that's more
important than funding. Um because of
[1:26:31] some of the change in administrations
and directions, there was alongside the
[1:26:36] B funding what was framed as digital
equity act funding that was pulled back
[1:26:42] but there was um
some settlement some
[1:26:47] » so some of that funding didn't
materialize.
[1:26:49] » The word is that it actually as of last
week two weeks ago it might be back on
[1:26:54] the table. They might have guidelines on
that funding by December.
[1:26:57] » Okay. So I think for us like it's if
that happens this is a good homework
[1:27:02] phase with that work with SDC out if
there are specific apps that are ready
[1:27:07] to go then when that comes down the
grant writers or whoever could ask for
[1:27:11] that. So that's one is the digital
equity. Sometimes it's digital
[1:27:15] opportunity funding. Some of that may
also open up to come back through the
[1:27:19] state again. The Texas Broadband
Development Office is our agency that's
[1:27:23] only four or five years old. We didn't
have one before this funding started. Uh
[1:27:27] it's housed under the controllers office
and it's kind of hit the news some in
[1:27:32] the last month. Um it had the be funding
the change in controller. They put it on
[1:27:37] hold for a minute. They're kind of
auditing those programs. Hopefully they
[1:27:40] get that done quickly. So we can keep
with it. There's not a
[1:27:44] » wealth of information. Mark we can be
here on the whole morning.
[1:27:47] » Let me give you two sentences and quick
last two sentences of money. The that
[1:27:52] that beef money for Texas was $3.3
billion. We only asked for a billion of
[1:27:57] it when they took those bids because so
much was served already in that that
[1:28:02] private meown. There's$2 billion left
over that they considered non-deployment
[1:28:07] funding. And so part of the question is
is that going to be a savings just to
[1:28:11] the federal government or it was
eligible for these other uses. Do we
[1:28:14] need a cleanup round when did we miss
any locations or can that be used?
[1:28:20] » What's that?
>> Sapa being one of there's a need. Yes.
[1:28:23] » Yeah. I think being ready at the table.
So that's be it unemployment coming
[1:28:28] through the state. Also, all of us voted
on a broadband infrastructure fund on a
[1:28:33] statewide ballot several years ago that
authorized 1.5 billion for a Texas
[1:28:37] broadband infrastructure fund. There's
about 700 million of that. It's not
[1:28:41] allocated yet. And because of the
attention of that broadband development
[1:28:44] office, I think the legislature is
probably going to give more guidance on
[1:28:47] what uses of that can be. That's the
source of funding for the $8.7 million
[1:28:52] that's funding that TRDP for the
planning grant. So, that's that's tax
[1:28:56] dollars we need as well, but that's on
the table. So my thought is those two
[1:29:00] general plots of money, how do you make
the best use of those first before like
[1:29:05] those Texas dollars and then how do you
make the best use of those Texas
[1:29:08] dollars? Last pleasant comment, the
broadband roundts that have monthly like
[1:29:13] for the last three years I've been on
there where they're giving information
[1:29:16] briefing. There's usually 50 60 people
in there and we got 254 counties and I
[1:29:20] made the comment on there like several
times like that tells me it's on
[1:29:23] » most of the state is not in that room
and so I think if yall find a volunter
[1:29:27] if someone who's done the construction
of fiber or if it's one of the schools
[1:29:31] like let's get that representative or
that information
[1:29:34] just to be ready for.
>> Okay. Sorry for
[1:29:38] » keep in touch Mark. Thank you
>> commissioners. Uh moving on the action
[1:29:43] item will deliberate consider action
item number 10 is to approve the
[1:29:46] correction of two regular commissioners
court meetings scheduled for September
[1:29:50] the 8th and September the 21st to
September the 14th and September 28th.
[1:29:55] Last year, commissioners, when we
approved the calendar, uh we there was a
[1:29:59] mistake on it's the second and fourth
Mondays of each uh month for a regular
[1:30:04] commissioner's court meeting. And
certainly this year, September 8th is
[1:30:08] not the first second Monday.
>> Motion to approve the correction on both
[1:30:11] commissioners court meetings.
>> Motion by Commissioner Solis to approve
[1:30:15] the two regular commission court
meetings to September 14th and September
[1:30:20] 28th. Seconded by Commissioner Morades.
Any discussion? All those in favor say
[1:30:24] I. I.
>> Motion carries. Item number 11.
[1:30:27] » Clarification. I I Roxy told me about
this issue. I'm sorry, Miss M
[1:30:32] Mississippi Miss Mississippi Miss
[1:30:32] Mississippi Miss Mississippi Miss
[1:30:32] Mississippi Miss Mississippi Miss
[1:30:32] Mississippi miss Mississippi miss
Mississippi miss Mississippi miss
[1:30:34] um and though we are required by by uh
statute
[1:30:39] » to have the meeting on September 14th
because the error was for also the 21st.
[1:30:44] I suggested just make it a
commissioner's court action item to
[1:30:48] adjust both meetings and that way. Yeah,
it was just a taco. It was a mistake.
[1:30:53] So, okay.
>> Item number 11 is to return $36,63.72
[1:31:00] in unspent funds from the rural law
enforcement grant salary assistant
[1:31:04] program from fiscal year 24. Yes,
commissioner. This is from the sheriff
[1:31:07] department. The first year of the SP22,
uh the $350,000 was allocated. Uh we
[1:31:14] didn't spend $36,63.72
[1:31:18] of it. So, we need to return that back
to the state.
[1:31:23] It was just uh since it was the initial
I'm not sure what what the church
[1:31:28] appointment that time and 24 did but uh
after the audit that was conducted they
[1:31:33] notified us that we hadn't spent the
entire 350,000
[1:31:38] » motion to approve the return of 36,603
with 72 cents
[1:31:42] » motion to approve by commissioner to
return the unspent fund seconded by
[1:31:47] commissioner Moya. Any discussion? All
those in favor say I. I.
[1:31:51] » Motion carries. Item number 12 is to
approve payment for pending invoice of
[1:31:55] $1,818.75
to Bob Barker for inmate hygiene
[1:32:00] supplies for the county jail.
>> Morning, Captain.
[1:32:05] » Morning, judge.
>> Is this what you're talking about the
[1:32:09] increase?
>> Yes. The we're having to buy a lot of
[1:32:13] stuff for the gel for hygiene supplies.
>> Sure. that we're already out of funds
[1:32:18] and it's just
>> do you want to Well, we can go one by
[1:32:22] one. Let's go to the the payment
of,18.75
[1:32:29] cents to Bob Barker. Now, will this
cover the remaining of the year or need
[1:32:34] to need?
>> This should cover the remaining of the
[1:32:36] year. That's why I order uh sanitary
napkins,
[1:32:39] uh shampoos, and toothpaste. That's
basically
[1:32:42] » everything for the next month. Yeah.
>> Yeah. We should be good till past
[1:32:45] October with that.
>> And does this cover the requirements set
[1:32:49] forth by the state of jail standards?
>> Yes.
[1:32:52] » So, it's a necessary exper
[1:32:59] $1,818.75
invoice to Bob Barker. All those in
[1:33:03] favor say I. I.
>> Motion carries. Item number 13 is to
[1:33:07] approve the hiring of a C cook for the
regional jail department 560 slot 31.
[1:33:14] » It's to fill one of the vacant slots. We
had one of our our cooks leave at the
[1:33:20] regional jail. So we are down to one
cook there.
[1:33:23] » That's a big meal every day.
>> Yeah. 140 to 160 plates a day. So three
[1:33:29] times a day.
>> And you have you have somebody already?
[1:33:31] We have a cook and then we get one from
the female right now sometimes to go
[1:33:35] help when they do need it.
>> Okay.
[1:33:37] » But the advantage that we have at the at
the regional is that we do have trustees
[1:33:41] uh when we do have them in place. They
do help out with the workload. But as
[1:33:45] far as taking the days off or getting
days off, it's what's right.
[1:33:49] » Do you have them on chipboard?
>> Yes.
[1:33:52] » Motion to approve the hiring of a cook
for the regional job.
[1:33:54] » Motion by Commissioner Solis. Is there a
second?
[1:33:57] » I'll second it.
>> Second by Commissioner Gata. Any
[1:34:00] discussion? All those in favor say I.
Motion carries. 14 to approve payment of
[1:34:05] for pending invoice for $4192
to Bob Barker Company for inmate hygiene
[1:34:11] supplies and clothing. Same thing here.
>> That's for the reason.
[1:34:14] » Yes. Motion. Motion by Commissioner
Saliz.
[1:34:17] » Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Gasa. Any
[1:34:19] discussion? All those in favor say I.
>> I. Motion carries 15 to approve payment
[1:34:25] for pending invoice for $650 to joke AC
and electric for electrical and low
[1:34:31] voltage installation
for the jail regional jail.
[1:34:35] » Yes, they had to install some electrical
receptors, Ethernet data cables for
[1:34:40] computer installed.
>> Okay,
[1:34:43] second.
>> Motion by Commissioner Ga to approve
[1:34:45] payment. Seconded by Commissioner Solis.
All those in favor say I.
[1:34:49] » I. Motion carries. 16 to approve payment
for pend pending invoice of $29941
[1:34:57] to hold cap for generator repairs. This
is yeah the generator
[1:35:02] » reading into it. They literally did
nothing and charges $29.
[1:35:07] » It says that they inspected it, cleaned
it, and that was it. That's the They put
[1:35:11] it under repairs, but it's actually the
maintenance
[1:35:13] » the maintenance on.
>> Yeah, it's a year maintenance or
[1:35:16] » they put it under repairs, but it's
actual maintenance that was in that was
[1:35:20] needed for the for the
>> the hours.
[1:35:23] » Is it under warranty? This one?
>> No, that's the original generator.
[1:35:28] » They charged a bunch on just coming.
>> Yeah. The thing is that like anything
[1:35:31] that's hold caterpillar if you've ever
dealt with like 18 weeks ago.
[1:35:36] » Uh anything hold caterpillar. when I
started working at the facility when I
[1:35:39] saw the generator I was like bunch of
repairs that's hope is
[1:35:44] » but it's working good
>> right now that's important yes
[1:35:46] » and the maintenance is going to be every
>> they do it depending on the hours like
[1:35:51] there's certain years it'll be once a
year and there's some pump that has to
[1:35:54] be twice a year depending on what
whether it's fluids or whether it's just
[1:35:58] an inspection sometimes the fluids have
to be changed on the hours the generator
[1:36:02] does start up every Saturday on its own
it has an automatic function test Uh, so
[1:36:07] all of that and then there's times where
you do have issues where the generator
[1:36:13] either has a false start and we do have
to call them.
[1:36:15] » So we're talking about the hours. Are
you going to call them when we reach
[1:36:18] those hours or do they
>> We do it once a year. One year we'll do
[1:36:22] it once a year and then on the other
year it's twice which is one inspection
[1:36:27] and one fluid change. So
>> to approve
[1:36:32] approve the payment to hold cat by
commissioner seconded by commissioner.
[1:36:37] Any discussion? All those in favor say
I. I.
[1:36:40] » Motion carries.
>> Thank you.
[1:36:42] » Thank you captain. Thank you.
>> Item number 17 is to approve renewal of
[1:36:47] malware vice antivirus software for one
additional year.
[1:36:52] Good morning Mr. Garcin.
>> Morning sir.
[1:36:55] » Morning commissioners.
>> Good morning.
[1:36:57] » Uh yes. Yes. Uh for the renewable
malware bites Jerry, we have two
[1:37:02] options. The one that we have right now
is not with email.
[1:37:08] » Yeah, I think it's
>> I'm not sure we have it in here.
[1:37:19] » We have
option two.
[1:37:24] Option two and option one. Option one is
without the email scanning and option
[1:37:28] two we have the email scanning.
>> What does that mean?
[1:37:32] » Right now now they offer for the email
scanning which is scanning the emails
[1:37:36] that are coming in right to see if
there's no malware or fishing or things
[1:37:40] like that.
>> Okay.
[1:37:42] » So that's an protection but that's like
four like $4,000 more.
[1:37:48] » And so is it absolutely you recommend? I
I would I would address is that
[1:37:54] installed in all all computers?
>> Uh yes, it is right now. All the
[1:37:58] computers that we have right they have
no bikes with exception of the emails.
[1:38:03] » I see. Okay.
>> No, it's a good thing. I was wondering
[1:38:07] if it's already.
>> Yes.
[1:38:11] » Do do we So we don't budget for this on
a yearly basis or what is
[1:38:15] » what is it renewal? like either we can
go three years, one year depending but
[1:38:19] we did it like one year last time or
last year. So
[1:38:22] » So we need to include this in your uh in
your budget because we do budget
[1:38:28] » that was like for
>> that's the other for the equipment.
[1:38:33] » I have like $5,000 for the equipment.
[1:38:39] » Yeah.
>> You haven't brought this to our
[1:38:42] attention of having the budget for this.
So, where were you paying it on a yearly
[1:38:46] basis? Where do we pay this?
>> How much is it for? I don't have a
[1:38:50] » There's two options. Option one is is
that the one we currently have, Mr.
[1:38:55] » Uh, yes.
>> And option two, I believe that's your
[1:38:59] recommendation
increase 12,000.
[1:39:03] » 13,10.
>> Yeah, there's nothing in there.
[1:39:07] Um,
>> we might have um money under computer
[1:39:13] computer hardware and software.
>> Oh, okay.
[1:39:15] » I think there you usually budget like
25,000 and I think there's still uh
[1:39:20] » Okay. I'm just need to make sure.
[1:39:28] Yeah, the computer hardware is 15,000
per year.
[1:39:33] And we have
[1:39:37] So it'll cover it maybe 15 for the year.
>> I I don't think we've used it that much
[1:39:42] this year. So
>> Okay. So this will be for the this
[1:39:45] coming
>> Yes. Uh starting at the end of the
[1:39:48] month.
>> So it'll fall under this current budget
[1:39:52] and he has enough to cover for that.
>> Well, I don't know. Uh it would be under
[1:39:56] computer hardware
>> for the new year, right? When when is
[1:39:59] this due?
>> Uh this is going to be due. We need it
[1:40:01] to start this coming month.
>> Oh, in September.
[1:40:04] » Yeah. That's what I'm saying. So, I
don't know if you you want to go check
[1:40:06] in to see if he has that amount in the
computer line item so we can pay it off
[1:40:10] and for that line item
>> and and we'll be covered for this
[1:40:13] following year. We don't have to include
it in our budget.
[1:40:16] » Okay.
>> It's an next year because it'll be
[1:40:21] » it's an annual.
>> Yeah. Then he'll bring it in. I guess
[1:40:24] » we can do it yearly. One year, two
years. I mean, if we go in three years
[1:40:27] is cost uh better pricing.
>> I think we're going to have to include
[1:40:31] in the budget for next year.
>> We will. We will. It will be this time
[1:40:34] next year. It'll be coming up. So,
>> I would include it.
[1:40:38] » And uh on line item number 18,
>> I I submitted the wrong uh quote, right?
[1:40:47] Then I brought it back by I didn't
change the pricing.
[1:40:50] » If you look at the next papers, which is
the Moro equipment, that's the equipment
[1:40:55] for the firewall that would cover county
court.
[1:40:59] Uh
>> yeah. Well, let's let's we'll get to
[1:41:02] that one. You want to take action
[clears throat] on this one,
[1:41:04] commissioner, is to which you
>> to cover the emails, too.
[1:41:09] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[1:41:10] » So, your recommendation would be uh SHI
>> option two.
[1:41:13] » Yeah. It's a tag for the option two.
Yes, sir.
[1:41:16] » 13,000.
>> 13,000.
[1:41:17] » I'll make a motion judge to go with the
renewal with the recommendation of SHI
[1:41:22] in the amount of 1312.4.
>> Motion by the second by Commissioner
[1:41:26] Morales. Any discussion? All those in
favor say I. I. and it'll be paid at the
[1:41:30] end of the month.
>> And then 18 is to upgrade firewall
[1:41:34] equipment for the courthouse car
department just to the P3 one and four
[1:41:38] and library for 11,000.
>> So and that one is for I
[1:41:44] quote and then brought it back and
changed it on the paper.
[1:41:48] » So it was you over stated or it's under
and there's two options there. One for
[1:41:53] one year 19,000 and 23 for three years.
for like $4,000 more we get two more
[1:42:02] years.
>> Okay, I'm trying. Okay,
[1:42:07] » so currently how much do we pay for one
year?
[1:42:10] » 19.
>> 19. But this is because we need to
[1:42:13] replace some of the equipment for the
county court and uh J and
[1:42:19] » the equipment that we have is like from
2013 2014. So that equipment.
[1:42:25] » Can we do this in October?
>> Yes. I called them and they told me,
[1:42:28] "Oh, you know, we need to do it this
month." And they said that we can submit
[1:42:33] payment within 60 days.
>> Okay, good. Cuz yeah,
[1:42:37] come to my office saying, "Hey, we need
to do this, Judge." But say, "Well, can
[1:42:40] we pay with a new budget?" And they
agreed.
[1:42:43] » They say that we can.
>> Okay.
[1:42:46] » So then we're going with the 23
[1:42:50] » for 4,000 more years.
[1:42:57] Judge, just to go back to the the
previous one in that uh computer
[1:43:01] hardware uh
>> malware by anti virus software for the
[1:43:06] year.
>> We have 13,555.
[1:43:08] So it cover
>> it'll cover.
[1:43:10] » So we'll get it from that line item.
>> It'll cover line item number uh
[1:43:15] » 17
>> 17.
[1:43:16] » What line item am I going to be using
on the
[1:43:21] » 10 409 33 540?
[1:43:28] Okay.
>> Okay. Can I make a motion uh to go with
[1:43:31] the three-year plan in the total amount
of 23,83146?
[1:43:36] » Okay. For the firewall equipment
>> firewall equipment to be paid uh within
[1:43:39] the 60 days.
>> Okay. So, we'll include that in the
[1:43:43] budget.
>> Yes.
[1:43:45] » I'll second that.
>> Motion by Commissioner Z, seconded by
[1:43:47] Commissioner Raza. Any discussion? All
those in favor say I.
[1:43:51] » I. Okay.
[1:43:58] line
item number.
[1:44:03] » We're going to use one of your capital
outlay.
[1:44:06] » Yeah. In the budget
>> from your department.
[1:44:08] » We're going to turn the new budget.
>> So, and the new budget will
[1:44:11] » we're going to add the 19.
[laughter]
[1:44:18] Okay. So,
>> we'll pay it out on your department, but
[1:44:20] we're going to add the money the fun to
be paid in.
[1:44:28] » Yes, sir.
[1:44:33] » Thank you.
Item number 19 is to approve provision
[1:44:37] of 400,000 in IT intergovernmental
transfer for medical center for the DY
[1:44:44] 15 advanced UC view on September 1st
2026.
[1:44:49] » Good morning judge commission.
>> Good morning.
[1:44:51] » Morning.
[1:44:56] » It's that time of year where we pay the
the for the engine and for
[1:45:02] » Yes.
Is this for this coming year?
[1:45:05] » For not, it's for the current year.
>> For the current year.
[1:45:10] » Okay. We did have some uh we did have
some uh words from our indigent
[1:45:15] director. Um I know we have LMC here.
See if we can uh correct those issues. I
[1:45:22] know there's a lot of concerns that are
going on at the clinic.
[1:45:26] Could we step up please?
>> Y'all want to step up? They weren't here
[1:45:31] with the concern. So I guess you can ask
them the question if you want.
[1:45:34] » No. [clears throat]
>> You want to ask them the question?
[1:45:37] » Basically, it's the same saying same.
And here we go again. Um
[1:45:41] » what's because they weren't here. So
>> yeah, they weren't here. But I'm not
[1:45:44] going to read it. I'm just going to go I
mean because the concerns that are there
[1:45:48] because if you are going to agree to for
them for another year is that uh
[1:45:55] uh we have a lot of complaints from the
community. Uh it's only three days. two
[1:46:00] hours three days maybe I don't know
suggestions can you change to lab port
[1:46:06] these people come every day to satan
pick up labs and gateway and other
[1:46:12] health facilities if we can do that it
would be a great help for the community
[1:46:18] » I just yeah and I concur with with your
concerns
[1:46:23] sir can can
>> I forgot your name
[1:46:26] » yes
>> so you We've been partnering with with
[1:46:31] LA Medical Center, of course, our major
regional hospital in in our area for 20
[1:46:35] years now and and sending taxpayer funds
on a yearly basis, which are matched by
[1:46:41] the 11:15 waiver. So, what are we
getting out of it? That that's that's
[1:46:46] the the question we have is why can't
you all suture? Why why is no you're not
[1:46:52] able to somebody goes in there with a
bleeding cut, y'all can't suture. uh if
[1:46:58] somebody needs a shot I can't get a
shot. Uh when we had COVID uh a few
[1:47:03] years ago didn't treat a single patient.
So that that's what we're getting at.
[1:47:08] Our antigen healthc care we're having to
uh uh pay additional additional funds
[1:47:15] other than what we've already
contributed uh the prior year. So, uh,
[1:47:20] your organization has failed to,
you know, you get you get it free
[1:47:25] basically free rent. There has been no
improvement to that clinic in 20 years.
[1:47:30] U, it just, it seems if we're in a
pattern where you take our money and you
[1:47:37] open a clinic for a little while with no
services, there's no medicines. I mean,
[1:47:42] it's a year after year. So, I mean,
you've heard it. I've been on telling
[1:47:46] you about this. Last year you told us
you all were going to bring new
[1:47:50] equipment including possibly a new X-ray
machine. Didn't happen. U so it just
[1:47:55] seems we're in a cycle where every year
we send the money with good intentions.
[1:48:00] We want we want better healthcare for
our community. We're very limited into
[1:48:04] what our community can offer, who we can
bring in. But it it gets it gets to the
[1:48:08] point where you know that just it's just
kind of uh kind of crazy for us to keep
[1:48:14] doing the same thing over and over and
thinking yeah it'll get better next
[1:48:18] year. It hasn't. So I don't know how you
could expand on that.
[1:48:23] » We want to judge commissioners
medical center.
[1:48:26] » Um so I guess we could definitely look
at the lab report but from a lab draw
[1:48:32] perspective. Um I know even at the
hospital we have transitioned some of
[1:48:37] the outpatient labs over to lab or we as
a hospital organization don't really do
[1:48:42] any draws just for a very limited uh
population of patients that are going to
[1:48:48] receive services at the at the hospital.
Right. So we can definitely look at that
[1:48:53] one. As far as the X-ray machine, yes,
you're right. We did that was raised as
[1:48:57] a concern. We have seen the equipment.
We've actually started down the path of
[1:49:01] getting quotes and looking at what it
would take what at the same time we
[1:49:05] talked about the construction for the
building, right? We we've stood here in
[1:49:10] front of the commissioners before and
said, "Hey, well, whenever you're going
[1:49:13] to ready to do remodeling, let us know
so we can also go ahead and use the same
[1:49:18] contract that we can do our side at the
same time."
[1:49:21] » Yeah.
>> Right. So we my understanding is that at
[1:49:23] some point there have been some funds
that may have been made available to
[1:49:26] help with some of that at least for the
county side. Not
[1:49:30] » well in the years past if there was a
willingness from from your group. Yes,
[1:49:35] we would pitch in. But um waiting for us
to take the initiative when uh I mean so
[1:49:42] » and I know we've also talked about
different space and I'm sorry to be
[1:49:45] talking over
>> No, you're not sir. I appreciate you. I
[1:49:48] mean we're just here competition but so
Miss Gonzalez provided us with some
[1:49:53] figures on the last 20 years. I think it
was our 8% you know we've contributed
[1:50:00] almost $14 million for the operation X.
Now that probably been maxed by a
[1:50:06] dollar25. So you're talking maybe 25$26
million in 20 years
[1:50:13] and the place is falling apart. You
think there might be some initiative
[1:50:17] from your group say you know what let's
let's try to fix some things. Let's at
[1:50:22] least minimal things.
>> Uh and and what what what I see is
[1:50:26] instead it's kind of going in the
opposite direction. uh less hours. Um
[1:50:33] no uh no recognizing the the state of of
the facility. Uh just when I when I walk
[1:50:40] into a place and I see a place that
basically the exterior uh just some type
[1:50:46] of care giving to uh the lawn or just
anything that thing is looks abandoned.
[1:50:53] Uh and certainly yes. Was that does that
fall on the county? Possibly. But but
[1:50:59] [clears throat] you're getting that
facility for free, sir. And we're we're
[1:51:01] paying y'all a lot of money and and
during that time, Pat did make uh uh
[1:51:07] some uh you know, looked into how what
exactly how much went to indigen during
[1:51:12] that same period. So those $26 million
uh resulted in about $4 million in
[1:51:18] actual indigen costs that were incurred
by a group. Uh so it's I mean it's
[1:51:26] exponential what what we've paid uh
during that time and I it just I I don't
[1:51:31] I don't see it working the way it is
right now and I I expressed my
[1:51:36] frustration during COVID when the
hospital wasn't even able to provide one
[1:51:42] COVID shot to our community. we had to
do it on our own. And when that
[1:51:46] happened, I just said, "No, uh this is
this is not a direction that we that I
[1:51:51] would like." And and because of our uh
isolation, uh the inability to to
[1:51:58] attract major hospitals, we're kind of
handcuffed as to what we can do. But I I
[1:52:03] just don't see this uh continuing to to
be something that we should continue to
[1:52:07] explore our commissioners. just I mean
>> now not now just sorry to interrupt but
[1:52:12] we're talking about the X-ray machine I
know she you mentioned it was over 20
[1:52:16] years old um why is the delay to
purchase and what you right now you came
[1:52:20] up you said we're looking at quotes a
year later we're still looking at quotes
[1:52:24] » commissioner we have equipment even at
the main campus that's 20 years old um
[1:52:31] if you the cost of the this equipment
it's price
[1:52:36] » um the others with the equipment. We
have to we have to look at what we're
[1:52:41] going to install to ensure that the
staff that we have working at the clinic
[1:52:45] are able to operate that particular
equipment because sometimes there may be
[1:52:49] licensing that they have to have or
credentials they have to have in order
[1:52:53] to operate certain pieces of equipment.
So, and the other thing would be it
[1:52:58] wouldn't make sense for us to put a
piece of equipment in there. If the plan
[1:53:01] is that we're going to remodel, then
we'd m rather put the equipment in at
[1:53:06] the same time that we are going to
whenever we get to doing any of the
[1:53:09] remodeling inside. So, we make sure that
even the supports the equipment that we
[1:53:14] plan on putting in there.
>> So, that's really a lot,
[1:53:16] » right? And I'm just understanding,
right? Obviously, I don't understand
[1:53:20] that. But you're talking about this
machine that's 20 years old. You said
[1:53:24] you're already looking at quotes, but
now you're saying that we you guys still
[1:53:27] have 20 uh 20 year old equipment. So
pretty much we're not going to get a new
[1:53:31] machine. Correct.
>> That's not what I'm saying. I'm I'm just
[1:53:33] putting it in
>> I'm just trying to make a
[1:53:35] » I understand and I'm trying to put it in
context to say that this is not an
[1:53:39] isolated item for Sapata County. This
happens even at our main campus. Okay.
[1:53:45] So that please don't misconrue.
>> No, I'm just trying to make sense of it.
[1:53:50] The thing is to say that I'm sorry to
interrupt.
[1:53:52] » Give me one second.
>> He's talking
[1:53:56] and we we provide services seven days a
week, eight 12 hours a day. Saturdays
[1:54:04] we're open up until 5. We're not open
every Sunday. We're open every other
[1:54:08] Sunday. I think we we have made a very
concerted effort to also have a
[1:54:12] physician come and do clinical here
right so you know we are definitely
[1:54:20] trying to do our part to be good
partners right um it and at like I told
[1:54:27] you before judge it is absolutely your
prerogative to decide whether this is
[1:54:33] something that you want to continue to
fund or not that's we're not telling you
[1:54:36] you have to do it
>> this is your prerogative.
[1:54:40] Mercy
now medical center has been here for
[1:54:45] » decades
>> and we haven't gone away and we haven't
[1:54:49] we're not so we have no plans of going
away
[1:54:53] » right
>> I appreciate that. So it's I appreciate
[1:54:56] that it's it's not a requirement for us
to contribute this.
[1:55:00] » That's absolutely your prerogative. We
we've never we've never said hey you
[1:55:04] need to do this in order for this to
continue to happen. We've been here.
[1:55:07] We're there's no commitment had there
had been any commitment from the from
[1:55:12] the county to fund this, right? We
haven't said, "Hey, we're putting we're
[1:55:16] closing the doors unless we get this."
That's not the case. We're going to
[1:55:19] continue to be here for the community.
Okay. So, that's your prerogative. Yes.
[1:55:24] And even commissioner to the point
earlier, things don't always move as
[1:55:29] fast as we'd like them to. Um, we do
have a lot of things that we're always
[1:55:34] evaluating and we make a very concerted
effort to hit as much as we can.
[1:55:38] Unfortunately, something's something
always comes up and then we end up even
[1:55:43] having to redirect funds just like you
would as a
[1:55:47] » right. So,
>> but u items that we can uh look at from
[1:55:53] » that that would be something that uh
>> yes that would provide an incentive if
[1:56:00] if we see something that improves there.
Maybe next year we might be a little
[1:56:05] more uh uh encouraged to move forward
with that. I just to me depositing this
[1:56:11] money has not really helped uh our
community out. And to be fair, every
[1:56:16] time, you know, I take my kids there,
the staff is, you know, they do their
[1:56:19] job. They're wonderful in what they do,
you know. So, I want to point that out
[1:56:22] there.
>> I have a question and maybe you can't
[1:56:25] answer right now. So, you're saying that
even if we don't pay the IGT, you'll
[1:56:29] still be here as a clinic, but will you
still be
[1:56:35] how will the indigent part work?
>> It's not going to change.
[1:56:39] » Oh,
>> that doesn't change.
[1:56:40] » Okay.
We're we're not here uh just because or
[1:56:47] we may or may not get some money. Right.
That I I want to make that very clear.
[1:56:54] » Your your your fund the funding from the
county is not what determines whether
[1:56:59] we're here or not.
>> Right.
[1:57:02] » Well, it certainly determined how many
hours of operation you were.
[1:57:06] » Judge, we we expanded our hours.
>> No, no. Well, you used to have seven
[1:57:11] days a week, maybe not 12 hours every
day. Maybe the scope is not what the the
[1:57:17] county may be looking for, what you may
need. We can go back and evaluate and
[1:57:22] see what the skill sets that we have,
the the suturing and the shot.
[1:57:26] » If you haven't been able to suture in
years, uh so I get those I get friends
[1:57:31] of mine walk in with a cut and they say
go to LA. So I mean you can't suture or
[1:57:37] you know you know blessed uh Miss
Platner who has been helping out uh
[1:57:42] volunteering at our the clinic that is
not the side of the clinic that's not
[1:57:46] being used utilized by LMC. How many
patients is she seeing on a weekly
[1:57:51] basis? Uh
>> about 30
[1:57:53] » 30 pat
>> and is she taking care of our indigent
[1:57:58] also? Actually, she's taking her argent
basically. That's why she's taking
[1:58:02] » because our agent are not being their
services are not being met, sir. That
[1:58:07] that's
>> it's
[1:58:10] just a reviewing of the staff. I really
recommend is for you to put cameras in
[1:58:14] there so you can see and maybe your
staff.
[1:58:17] » We don't put cameras.
>> Okay, that's great. But maybe
[1:58:19] re-evaluate your staff because I last
Friday I had two indigent uh clients
[1:58:26] » uh refuse they refused their because
they didn't have insurance. When they
[1:58:30] know they're indigent, all they had to
do is send them to my site. I give them
[1:58:34] the voucher and then they were charging
them.
[1:58:36] » We we never whether somebody has
insurance or not.
[1:58:40] » You don't
>> whether somebody has insurance or not.
[1:58:42] » It's the staff.
>> They're an extension of our hospital.
[1:58:47] The same would be the
>> And I appreciate everything you have you
[1:58:50] guys have done to Sapata and all the
services that we get, but it's always
[1:58:55] Sapata last, right? We're always the
last in your in your mind because you
[1:59:00] even said it right now. I mean, yes, you
focus in everything you have right there
[1:59:04] in the You just opened a new clinic in
in in Luke 20.
[1:59:10] » Beautiful clinic.
>> It's an ER. It's an ER. Exactly.
[1:59:15] » And we cannot get it because it's near
enough. you know that we have people
[1:59:20] coming from Heville, Rooney, all the
little towns outside to come to your
[1:59:25] your services.
Look at all the people that we have,
[1:59:29] right? It's it's it's never enough
people. We don't have enough people with
[1:59:34] because we're not given enough services.
That's been my concern. I guess what I
[1:59:38] would say to to the court right is if
you feel that the services that Brio
[1:59:43] Medical Center provides are not
sufficient then let's talk about that
[1:59:47] and let's see what that means
[1:59:51] we want to make sure that we are the
right partner for you guys at the end of
[1:59:54] the day that's really what it comes down
to
[1:59:56] » you don't know how how hard and I
actually begged when co and I still
[2:00:01] couldn't get y'all to help us
>> I was not at the hospital at the time
[2:00:05] but I can say that what happened during
COVID as far as the vaccines were
[2:00:09] concerned because I was at another
healthcare right
[2:00:11] » institution is we were following the
mandates of the state the state had
[2:00:15] their guidelines as to who received what
I worked in a hospital I was not one of
[2:00:21] the very first ones vaccinated
>> I understand it was one of the very last
[2:00:24] » but I just couldn't understand what we
there was no help that that was a hard
[2:00:28] one for me to to swallow
>> I mean we're thank goodness we're almost
[2:00:34] six years removed from that and never
counted again. Maybe there's lessons
[2:00:38] learned from every from that incident
for everybody.
[2:00:41] » But I I'm going to go I'm going to go
back to this, right? Laredo Medical
[2:00:45] Center continues to be here. Okay?
>> Right. Um we always welcome some
[2:00:50] feedback, right? If there's a way that
we can improve the service, we'll
[2:00:54] definitely go back and take a look and
make sure that we are able to. And if
[2:00:57] we're not able to, we will let you know
why.
[2:01:00] » Okay.
>> Okay.
[2:01:02] » Quick question on my end. So, you're
saying if we do not contribute the
[2:01:06] 400,000 to the IGT,
um my question is will the services
[2:01:12] diminish or it'll stay currently as what
we're doing right now?
[2:01:16] » Well, the the transfer hasn't happened
all year long and the services have not
[2:01:21] diminished. So, I would not expect that
the services would the services will not
[2:01:26] diminish. Okay. The services are going
to be what they are.
[2:01:28] » Question.
>> Thank you.
[2:01:31] » Any other questions?
>> That's it. Thank you for your time.
[2:01:33] » Yeah. So, Miss Flat nurse services our
side, we pay the concer or how does that
[2:01:37] work?
>> No, we use the also just
[2:01:40] » does it spread out to other nurse
practitioners in the area or
[2:01:44] » Yeah. Everybody Mario Salenas, Darcia,
everybody goes there because the indigen
[2:01:50] the indigent healthcare is not only for
our facility is for uh we also support
[2:01:57] um
>> gateway
[2:01:58] » gateway because whatever they don't have
that's where we come up where we back
[2:02:03] all this all these little clinics
because it's you're talking about uh
[2:02:07] sending them to Laredo LC if it if it
would continue if it would be what you
[2:02:13] just said right that you're not going to
contribute, then we would have to pay
[2:02:17] them instead of they charging us out of
the 8%. There's a lot of counties that
[2:02:24] are like that. They keep their funding
and then we pay to whoever you're going
[2:02:29] to send them.
>> It's the other way around and then you
[2:02:32] know that you're getting your services
for what you pay.
[2:02:36] » Thank you.
[2:02:40] » There a motion. I make a motion to
approve the $400,000 judge payment.
[2:02:47] » I'll second the motion.
>> Got a motion and a second
[2:02:50] » to approve the transfer the 400,000.
>> This is from this past year. Correct.
[2:02:56] » This
[2:03:00] for this current year for this upcoming
year.
[2:03:02] » Yeah, we don't know it right now. Oh, I
thought it
[2:03:04] » No, for this current year because for
this current year from December to
[2:03:08] December
>> then then I'll retract my my motion. Uh
[2:03:13] let's see what services can come in
judge. Let's see what can
[2:03:16] » So no action.
>> No action. I would say no action on
[2:03:19] this. Let's see what services let's see
what uh agreement we can come to and uh
[2:03:23] see if we can increase our our services
to support them.
[2:03:27] » So there's no action. So there will be
no transfer. Is that correct? If there
[2:03:31] was a motion and that means we
>> Okay, I know. I hear you say.
[2:03:36] » Yeah. Okay.
>> So, would no action be sufficient
[2:03:40] » or would we have to move a motion to
deny
[2:03:42] » or deny?
>> Well, it be to deny judge because it's
[2:03:46] provision of 400,000.
>> So, motion to deny.
[2:03:49] » Now, we have a motion that commissioners
has a motion to deny. Is there a second?
[2:03:52] » So, nothing will change right if you
don't get the 400,000. I don't want the
[2:03:55] services to be interrupted here for
community.
[2:03:57] » No, that's what that's what I was
asking. I mean because that would
[2:04:01] » well the thing is we're going to we're
going to revisit the the services see
[2:04:05] what we can you know services we can use
this
[2:04:09] » we got a motion to deny I'll send you a
motion to deny is there any other
[2:04:13] discussion
>> okay in favor to deny
[2:04:17] » it's not I mean
>> well that's what I was asking you don't
[2:04:21] pay the 400 would the services be
diminished and he said no
[2:04:24] » I mean
>> we got a motion or a second is there a
[2:04:27] vote
>> discussion judge
[2:04:31] I'm asking. So that's the only thing
that I want you to change and then our
[2:04:35] community doesn't have the service that
they deserve.
[2:04:37] » You know, I know you've been here for a
long time and I really thank you for
[2:04:40] that. I just wanted
>> We have no intentions of changing the
[2:04:44] service.
>> Well, you could if you decided to.
[2:04:46] » Well, we could do that in any of our
book of business that we do even in
[2:04:49] Laro. Okay.
>> Right. So, we have no intentions. The
[2:04:53] county could use this time remaining in
the year to evaluate further whether
[2:04:58] they are worthy of the 400,000
>> or not. Next year
[2:05:04] motion a second to deny. All those in
favor to deny.
[2:05:08] » I
>> I for commissioner.
[2:05:10] » No.
>> Okay. Unanimous. Okay. Moving on. 20 to
[2:05:15] approve for this station repairs to be
paid from certificates of obligation
[2:05:20] totaling 25,600
>> and this commissioners is uh for several
[2:05:25] contractors for that uh uh lift station
in Falcon Mesa. So there's two
[2:05:31] contractors I believe two different
contracts.
[2:05:33] » Yeah. I also added uh
>> it's a total of $44,85.
[2:05:39] » It's 25600
plus uh I'm adding uh three more
[2:05:44] invoices for uh two for RAM and one for
ANA pipeline which totals $44,85.
[2:05:53] » Okay. So I would obtain a motion by
commissioner morada to approve the
[2:05:56] payment of $44,000
[2:06:01] » $85 from the certification for uh the
legislation repair and documents.
[2:06:08] » Second by commissioner Solis. All those
in favor say I.
[2:06:10] » I.
>> Item number 21 is to approve the
[2:06:13] transfer of the land devoski from
custodian department 516 slot number
[2:06:16] three to water plant 600 slot 20. I
spoke with the department head
[2:06:22] » on this one. Uh she texted for 21 and
22' be no action at the moment.
[2:06:26] » No. Okay. Yes. The transfer will not be
happening. No action. Okay. Well, she's
[2:06:31] requesting that they don't take place.
So, no action on 21 and 22 to approve
[2:06:36] the transfer
from department 20 to custo.
[2:06:43] No action on that either. Got line item
transfers
[2:06:48] and 3 and 24 line item transfers. Motion
by commissioner to app. Fine. Transfer
[2:06:53] second by Commissioner Morales. All
those in favor say I.
[2:06:56] » I. Motion to return by Commissioner
Mores. Second by Commissioner.
[2:07:02] Thank you.