County mulls feral hogs, sex assault team

In a relatively brief meeting, Kerr County Commissioners Court on Monday reviewed numerous matters such as feral hog abatement funding, a new sexual assault response team, human resources personnel and county holidays.

Commissioner Pct. 2 Beck Gipson was not present.

Feral hog abatement

Noel Putnam, country grant administrator, presented a possible grant opportunity to the court. Putnam said the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Wildlife Services program has requested applications for county feral hog abatement grants. Kerr County previously participated in hog abatement programs.

Texas has the largest feral hog population in the United States. Putnam said the program is designed to encourage counties across Texas to make a concentrated effort to reduce the feral hog population and the damage they cause. Current abatement methods in Texas vary depending on the geographic terrain and vegetation. Wildlife Services stated that the responsibility for management rests with landowners and local constituents who know the surrounding land and waterways as well as the potential challenges to combating feral hogs.

The eligible period for implementing the program is Sept. 1, 2022 through Aug. 31, 2023.

Funds are limited with only $100,000 available statewide. Wildlife Services anticipates awarding 15 grants from $5,000K-$20,000 which will be distributed on a reimbursement basis after counties show proof of allowable expenditures, Notice of grant award is anticipated to be made in October, 2022. Besides bounties paid out, the recipients must conduct landowner outreach events, including feral hog topics, strategies and damage assessment. The program encourages counties to educate landowners about hunting, trapping, and how feral hogs are a public safety hazard,

Pct. 4 Commissioner Don Harris said feral hogs are a “big problem”, and that counties lately have more people with their hands out.

County Judge Rob Kelly agreed.

“Feral hogs are a huge problem,” Kelly said. “I’m a proponent of the grant administrator looking for grants.”

Putnam said the likelihood the grant would be awarded was not real high but said if the county continues to submit an application then their chances increase.

Sexual Assault Recovery Team

The court heard from Hill Country Crisis Council executive director Brent Ives, who explained to the court the process of creating a new Sexual Assault Recovery Team which was mandated by the state in the 2021 legislative session.

Ives said the first step in the SART program would be to create a committee to establish the program in Kerr County and eventually expand to surrounding counties. The first step was for a resolution to be approved by the court to form the committee to work together to produce better outcomes for all sexual assault victims. The committee members will include prosecutors, medical, law enforcement and mental health personnel led by a chief administrator. The SART program must be in place by the end of the year..

The court discussed hiring a company in the search for an interim Human Resources Director. Pct. 3 Commissioner Jonathan Letz said he spoke with one individual who he said seemed helpful.

“They will do the interviews. Their salary is the same as it is in our budget, and it is in our budget to do this. It’s a neutral issue. The only fee is for a background check,” Letz said.

He added that the prospect could meet or talk by phone. They can find a temporary person, and have a pool of mostly retirees available to work.

If the court happened to hire the temporary person, it would cost the county $10,000. The position would be advertised on the county web site for a person with four to six years of applicable experience.

The court voted to have them present a formal agreement and bring it back for discussion at the budget workshop next Monday.

Holiday calendar

Rosa Hernandez, the county acting HR director, asked if the court would consider putting Juneteenth on the county list of approved holidays. The county’s holiday list  for FY 2023 has already been approved and includes Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day/Friday, Christmas Eve and Day, New Year’s (Monday), Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

Hernandez said Juneteenth became a federal holiday as of 2020-21.  

Letz said, “If we do this  it would increase holidays across the board…but if you add one, we should then take one away and I don’t see any holidays to take away.”

Harris said he did not agree that just because it was a federal holiday, “I don’t see that it should be shoved down our throats.”

“It was a Texas holiday before it was a federal holiday,” Pct 1 Commissioner Harley Belew added.

Kelly said that when he was on a school board years ago, they voted a day off for the stock show and not for Martin Luther King Day. ... We can adopt any holiday we choose. I’ve never seen more holidays that before I got this job.

District Clerk Dawn Lantz noted that banks are closed that day, and postal services are closed for Juneteenth which means she could not issue a passport on that day.

Letz asked Hernandez what the City of Kerrville was doing, but she said she did not know.

Several members confirmed that Kendall, Bandera and Gillespie counties had adopted Juneteenth as a holiday, and Medina had requested it.

Harris added, “I don’t see adding holidays as a good thing for the county.”

Belew said he was for it “because of what it stands for. I  don’t give a rip about the federal government. It’s for the community.”

Letz said the only day he could see dropping would be Columbus Day, but he said he would leave it as it is. The vote was split with Kelly and Belew in favor and Letz and Harris against, therefore with Gipson absent, it did not pass.

Youth transitional living

In his remarks starting the meeting, Belew told the court there was a change at the Assembly of God camp out by the Aqua Vista, Tierra Vista and Northwest Hills subdivisions. It will be a camp for struggling youth affiliated with one in Bastrop for kids in trouble and plans to be operating by the end of the summer.

The camp offers a transition in living that, upon completion, the individuals would be allowed to go home.

“They’re on their best behavior,” Belew said. “Lots of people nearby are very concerned and upset.”

However, he added, the operators have spent time talking with many of them to reassure them that everything will work out well.

Harris said he had gone out with Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha and KCSO Capt. Jason Waldrip to Camp Stewart for a visit recently.

“We had a good day and the kids were hard at it running everywhere,” Harris added.

Other business

• Waldrip, on behalf of the sheriff, asked the court to approve an employee whose experience as a criminal investigator could warrant a higher pay scale that the policy allows. The court granted the request.

• The court approved several items such as a new ATM machine upgrade, and a Xerox copier lease as well as disposal of a very old surplus printer.

• In a series of approvals of plats, the court considered a revision of plats for Pecan Valley, Staacke Ranch, and of a final plat for G&H Acres.

• The court approved a nominating committee to select a county employee to attend the Kerrville Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class.

• Road and Bridge administrator Kelly Hoffer received approval to submit requests for annual bids on delivered fuel, which will be opened on September 12, 2022 and awarded that same day.

• John Sheffield of Center Point, owner of Ole Ingram Grocery spoke in public comment, saying that the past two years have been “quite a ride unlike I’ve ever seen.

”Challenged by the Covid outbreak and other factors,” he said, “there have been ‘tremendous sales but little profit.’”

Sheffield pointed out there was an employee shortage, and the economy was in its own drought

“People doing with a lot less in their pockets.”

Although Kerr County has had an increase of sales tax of 69 percent from May 2021-2022, Sheffield said, inflation went up 9.1 percent. Businesses have had 20 percent increase in costs.

“We need to be at a 20 percent increase to keep pace , I would ask not only business people having to live within their means, I am asking for (the county) to live at this level too,” he said.