Texas

Commissioners' Court Regular Session 06/27/16

COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know we had a baby flood a couple weeks ago, a month or so, whatever it was. And I keep hearing these reports of the old, old system, and I know we're not going to deal with that though. Expect that to be gone where the Jones call the Smiths, and the Smiths call Camp Rio Vista, and Rio Vista blah, blah, blah, along down the line. But it's still there and it still works. The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of night, I'm going to have to start drinking again to put up with y'all.

COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think -- I think this and that's what the committee is going to look at and how to do it. I think the going in position is that we don't need to change anything, and is there a need to improve what we have. And if there's a need to improve how much is improved. And what the options for doing that and what it would cost. And I think the first thing to do is say why change anything. It worked this long and maybe we don't need to do a thing. And then it gets into the thing we talk about earlier today, and that's risk mitigation. And you know there's still people drowned and you know --

COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I hope you ask the question like who are we notifying, or who are we trying to get the message to? Are they these crazy people from Houston that build homes right down on the water?

COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, I think the thing is you say it's for the general public and the crazy people from wherever they are, from Houston, okay, and then the camps, and then how do you get the message out to those, that's all part of it, so it's a pretty complex project.

COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm sure it is.

COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the question is do we need to do anything. And what do we want to do and what can we afford.

MRS. STEBBINS: Commissioner Moser, will you put it on the next agenda for discussion after you have this meeting on Thursday?

COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, absolutely, right.

MRS. STEBBINS: Okay, thank you.

JUDGE POLLARD: I would comment that we don't hardly have any crazy people that live here. The few that we do have we handle them through CSU.

COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or they serve on this board.

JUDGE POLLARD: I'm just trying to keep us out of trouble here, okay. The media's still here. All right. Any other reports?

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In 2016 Kerr County contracted for an engineering study on their current warning system and were told it was antiquated and inadequate.

Commissioners' Court Regular Session 8/22/16

COMMISSIONER MOSER: We had at our steering committee meeting we invited also TxDOT to participate in that. So the original engineer, and both of them as a matter of fact showed up at that meeting. Their assessment was what existed today, and the Sheriff may want to comment on it, is antiquated and it's not reliable. So we said okay with that, you know, not just that, but we thought that there was a pretty ill-defined system that we have. So the engineering study we thought would be appropriate. If the result of the engineering study says that -- recommends that we enhance the system, okay, buying additional sensors, kind of like Comal County did. Comal County spent a little over three hundred thousand dollars, where they had add 8 locations to monitor the rate of rise of the river and streams.

COMMISSIONER REEVES: And while I agree with Commissioner Letz, that if we have a system that's not working, we need to certainly look at that, technology is great, but still one of the best things, and you may disagree with me is the people up river calling. Because you're probably going to get a call. I've received just this year from calls before it's even had time for a warning to go off, I'm getting texts from Divide Fire Chief, and I think -- where'd the Sheriff go? I sent you a text the other night, you may have got it too from him, but we're knowing probably before, and I know with one flood that we had earlier in the year, by the time you got the warnings going off, it had been too late. Because it was coming out of just some draws that took too long to get downstream.

COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have one. I'm going to vote no because of numerous reasons. I think this whole thing is a little extravagant for Kerr County, and I see the word sirens and all that stuff in here. And of course, you say that these are steps that will be taken through the years. But that's where you're headed, there's no question in my mind that's where you're headed. And you're determined to do that. But step one of taking these funds out of special projects, out of Road and Bridge, that ticks me off a little bit.

Commissioners' Court Regular Session 10/24/16

Mr. Hewitt: Sirens did not seem to get very much support. The thought was that sirens are better for tourists than local residents. The sirens would only be beneficial for someone that's not familiar with the area, and wouldn't know what to do.

The second part of the study contained recommendations for updating the system and sirens were purposely left out even though other areas had implemented them.