County eyes cyber liability insurance

The Gillespie County Commissioners Court OK'd a proposal for cyber liability insurance for the county, but bids proved to be scarce.

After searching for an insurance company that would give them a quote, commissioners had one company to consider.

"They were only able to find one company that would insure us on cyber liability because I guess there are so many claims right now," Stroeher said.

The Great American Fidelity Insurance gave a quote for $25, 180.

"It's a little over $10, 000 more than what we budgeted," Stroeher said.

During the meeting, Stroeher also mentioned a few other hurdles in the way of working with the Great American Fidelity Insurance, especially since the company is not admitted to do business in the state of Texas, as of Monday.

Commissioners approved the proposal, but will continue to discuss and research details further before coming to a decision.

AgriLife Extension During the meeting, commissioners approved the substitution of the Ford Expedition Max with a GMC Yukon XL for AgriLife Extension under the Enterprise vehicle program. "Enterprise dropped off the Expedition and it did not have the third row and Ag needs that third row for hauling the kids," County Auditor Marcie Schneider said.

"Enterprise's solution was they're going to trade out the Expedition for a GMC Yukon XL. However, the Yukon is more valuable than the Expedition," Schneider said.

She explained the monthly lease payment would be the same, but in the end, the reduced book value for the Yukon will be $10, 566 whereas the Expedition would have been $7, 529.

Airport Project The court also approved the payment of $26, 660 to the Texas Department of Transportation's Aviation Division for the 2014 FREDB Airport Project. The $26, 660 is 10% of the contingency of $266, 600. The rest of the funds for the delayed project will be paid for by the CARES Act. The payment will be replacing the $22, 214 that was agreed to but never paid in a September 2020 meeting.

Rural fire departments They also renewed an annual contract between Gillespie County and the Tierra Linda Volunteer Fire Department.

"We did increase the amount we're going to give to the rural fire departments a little bit," Stroeher said.

This year, the fire department will receive $20, 000 and the first responders will receive $5, 000.

Indigent defense grants Commissioners approved the annual resolution and submission of an application concerning fiscal year 2022 Indigent Defense Grant Program with the Texas Indigent Defense Commission.

"We get a little bit of money from the state as you know, to off-set some of the costs for criminal individual defendants, attorneys' fees," Stroeher said.

2021 fiscal year audit They approved engaging Neffendorf & Blocker, P.C., to perform the 2021 fiscal year audit and GASB 87 lease standard implementation. The standard engagement letter said they will not exceed $22, 500 for the audit.

With an additional $2, 500 for the GASB 87, the total comes out to $25, 000 which is $2, 000 less than budgeted.

Commissioners also: Commissioners approved Aumentum Technologies' annual hosting, maintenance and software costs for the county clerk's A2 Recorder.

At the cost of $74, 560, this will not need to be renewed until November 2022.

They also approved the annual radio service maintenance costs with LCRA for the Communications Center.

For $12, 432, the contract covers all radio equipment and dispatch. The amount was budgeted in the Gillespie County budget.

Commissioners approved the form contract for representation and provisions of service to protective order applicants in the court attorney's office.

In addition, they approved the Check Reconciliation Services Agreement with Gillespie County and Security State Bank and Trust. In other business, the court: · Appointed a Personnel Policy Manual Committee to make recommendations for updating the county manual; · Accepted a donation for a cattle guard and its installation in Precinct 2 from Linda Walch; · Approved hiring personnel in the Communications Center, at Pioneer Memorial Library, in Precinct 3, and the sheriff's office; · Approved advertising for personnel in the Communications Center, county attorney's office, Grounds Maintenance Department and Precinct 3; · Approved the transfer of office assistant personnel to the receptionist and Victim's Assistance Coordinator position in the county attorney's office; · Approved applications to revise plat of lots 554R and 556R, Phase 2, Section 1D; lot 624, Phase 2, Section 4; lots 310 and 311, Phase 1; and lots 312 and 313, Phase 1 in the Boot Ranch Subdivision; · Approved final plat for Phase 2, Section 6 of the Boot Ranch Subdivision;

· OK'd the purchase of equipment for Precinct 4; · Approved variances from the county's subdivision regulations concerning lots in Boot Ranch Subdivision, Phase 2, Section 6. These variances included allowance of 50 ft. radius cul-de-sac ROW; 40 ft. radius cul-de-sac pavement; 20 ft. wide roadway pavement with 2 ft. shoulders (residential lots); 50 ft. wide private street ROW; lot sizes less than 1.0 acre; and frontage of less than 200 ft. along roadway and less than 100 ft. along cul-de-sac (lots 659-665, 667, 669-672); · Approved variance from platting and road frontage requirements requested by Craig Fovel, Precinct 1; variance from platting requirements requested by Bill Tribble, Precinct 4; and variance from platting requirements requested by Harry Hohenberger, Precinct 3; · Set a public hearing for Monday, Dec. 13 on the application to replat lot 10 in Kristen's Hill Subdivision, Precinct 2; · Approved the Professional Services Agreement with Public Sector Personnel Consultants, Inc. in relation to proposed salary survey.