What is on the May 3rd Ballot

Unlock the secrets of local governance and policy-making as we break down the Bell County Commissioner's Court meeting agenda set for February 18th, 2025, a day that coincides with President's Day. This episode promises a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of county administration, from the approval of meeting minutes and personnel budget tweaks to the intriguing abandonment of Liberty Oaks Boulevard and a unique property resale proposal. We'll also explore updates to the county's Space Heater Policy, new appointments to the opioid steering committee, and a critical two-year support deal for Workday Finance and HR Solutions. As we contend with special recall election tensions surrounding District 4 Councilmember Michael Boyd, we uncover how personal grudges and media portrayal can shape public policy and discourse.

But that's not all—child care tax exemptions are creating waves in Bell County, with new implications from SB 1145 reshaping the Texas Tax Code. We'll discuss how these exemptions are poised to boost workforce participation, particularly in Killeen, and what this means for the future of local job growth amid federal budget cuts. Plus, get a preview of upcoming workshops on infrastructure and personnel and hear about our engagements at prestigious conferences like the VG Young School for County Commissioners. Whether you’re a local policy enthusiast or just keen to understand the dynamics of local governance, this episode is packed with insights and surprises that you won't want to miss.

Transcript

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Bell County Commissioner's Court Agenda

Speaker 1 0:03

Welcome . You're listening to the Louie Miner Show . I'm your host . Bell County Commissioner , louie Miner , today is February 17th 2025 . Let's go ahead and get started with the agenda for February 18th 2025 . Today is President's Day , so happy President's Day for those observing that holiday , that federal holiday , anyways . So we have court tomorrow . Remember we switched over to now we're meeting on the first and third Mondays of the month , barring any holidays . So let's get to the regular agenda for tomorrow's meeting . We have the invocation pledge of allegiance consent agenda items . Consider approval of the minutes of the February 3rd 2025 meeting of the Bell County Commissioner's Court Personnel budget amendments . Then we have accounts , payable , payroll , restitution , jury pay . And then we have consent agenda items as well .

Speaker 1 1:21

Consider approval of amending the Bell County Space Heater Policy . Consider a resolution appointing a representative to the public power pool board of directors . Opioid steering committee . Consider appointing to the opioid steering committee . Consider authorizing the county judge to enter into an interlocal agreement between Bell County Central County Services and the City of Belton for the utilization of the Bell County Diversion Center . Next item , item F consider authorizing the county judge to enter into an interlocal agreement between Bell County Central County Services services and the county sheriff's office for the utilization of the bell county diversion center . G consider request submitted by the county court of law , number three , to increase grant funded social work position as of 1 1919-2025 using grant funds that are available from a 27-0168 or 0168-079 to a 257-03-70562 . And then H consider authorizing a two-year statement of work with Collaborative Solutions Cognizant , utilizing Purchasing Cooperative NCPA number 1157 , for a not-to-exceed amount of $149,436 for post-production support of Workday Finance and HR Solutions using budgeted funds from Technology Services Department . Then we have Proclamations and Award Presentation on Feral Hog Abatement from USDA Wildlife Services . Then we have county engineer items . Consider and approve a resolution to abandon Liberty Oaks Boulevard in Belton in accordance with Texas Code 251.058 , bell County Precinct 1 . Then we have item B consider and approve a final plat of Highland Estates of Belton being a 32.781 acre 13 lot 1 block subdivision located in Belton , located within Bell County Precinct 1 . Then consider and amend a minor plat of Indian Creek being a 11.479 acre two lot one block subdivision located in Bell County Precinct 2 . Item D consider and approve the final plat of Lanning Estates being a 3.405 acre 3 lot 1 block subdivision located in Bell County Precinct 3 . Item E consider and approve the final plat of Dutton Homestead being a 1.0002 acre 1 lot 1 block subdivision . Item F , block 1 , section 2 , lake Erie Subdivision being a .458 acre one lot one block subdivision located in Bell County , precinct

Speaker 1 5:19

3 . Approval of a resolution requesting the resale of property acquired by the tax appraisal district at delinquent tax sales , more particularly described as Lot 1 , block 59 , morgans Point Resort City Subdivision , section 15 , city of Morgan Points Resort , spell County , texas , tax Account 66364 , being that property , more particularly described as volume 1292 , page 435 , deed Records and document number 20250000187 , official public records , bell County , texas , for a minimum bid of $500 . Then we have lot 4 , block 9 , brooksville Edition . City of Killeen , bell County , texas , account number 36559 , being that property , more particularly described in Volume 1078 , page 14 , deed record and document number 2025000186 , official public records , bell County , texas , for a minimum bid of $500 . That's weird . I've never seen that before , so I'm sure we'll get into more about that tomorrow as why they're doing it that way . Item B consider authorizing the county judge to enter into a separate agreement with KPA Engineerings and MRB Group to provide engineering services during the absence of a county engineer , not to exceed a price of $20,000 per agreement and the associated budget amendment to fund the contracts . And that is it for our regular

Speaker 1 7:36

agenda . Now let's go to our workshop agenda . We have reports and updates from various county offices and departments , capital improvement projects , jail expansion , temporary jail facilities , clean annex , diversion center renovations and then discuss FY 2024 CIP plans . Then we have Discuss Merit Pay for Commissioner's Court Direct Reports . County Judge Discuss the request from the District Attorney to add an attorney and investigator position mid-year . Then we have Discuss Requests by District Attorney's Office for an Ext overlap period for their office manager

Speaker 1 8:26

position . The next item the Bell County Sheriff's Office to discuss nominations of Dr Gina Jensen , commissioner Bobby Woodson , sergeant Dustin Connell , miss Pam Phillips and Miss Anka Nagu and Mr Don DeCarme for appointments to the Bell County Animal Shelter Advisory Position . This item is proposed for the March 3rd 2025 court agenda contract management . Then discuss interlocal agreements , ilas and ETJs extraterritorial jurisdiction . Next item discuss accepting infrastructure and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Authorizing Municipal Utility Districts , commissioner Woodson . Then discuss the abandonment of right away for a monument sign island , commissioner Minor Minor . And then finally discuss adoption of Texas Tax Code 1136 , child Care Facilities , commissioner Louie

Speaker 1 9:50

Minor . That is everything that we have tomorrow . Then we have February 18th through the 20th Tuesday , thursday 2025 Annual VG Young Institute School for County Commissioners at the Brazos County Expo in Bryan , texas . And then the 20th we have a retirement party for Suzanne Camas for Killeen Workforce Killeen Workforce Solutions in Killeen . So that is everything we have tomorrow Busy , busy day for court and then right after court we got to go to college station for our commissioner school . So busy day

Speaker 1 10:41

tomorrow . So I want to follow up on last week , when I was talking , I said we were going to go over local council races and stuff . I didn't get a chance to do that , which was fine , because the filing deadline was on Friday , on Valentine's Day . So now the filing period is closed and we know who is on the ballot and who is not for our local races that affect the west side of the county . So let's start with the city of Killeen . So in the city of Killeen there's going to be , on top of our city council races , there's going to be two special elections as well . One is the bond election and then one is a recall election . But before we get into those , let's go ahead and talk about our . But before we get into those , let's go ahead and talk about our city

Speaker 1 11:45

elections . So these are district races . So there's four districts in the city of Killeen . The incumbents are Jessica Gonzalez for District 1 , joseph Solomon for District 2 , nina Cobb for District 3 , and then Michael Boyd for District 4 . So , as of now , district 1 , we have a lady who is challenging the incumbent . Her name is Sherry and I believe the last name I'm probably going to butcher it Valpicella , sherry Valpicella . For District 2 , challenging incumbent Joseph Solomon , we have Verlin Valentine , verlin Valentine , verlin Valentine , verlin Valentine . District 3 , nina Cobb has two challengers . We have Patsy Bracey , who will be challenging Nina Cobb , and also James Sills will be challenging Nina Cobb . Patsy Bracey from my understanding , according to her Facebook , she was going to withdraw her nomination but as of right now it is on the city's website and Mr Seals . I know Mr Seals . He's been an advocate for improving conditions at Featherline and Chaparral and seems to be an advocate for the community on that . So we'll see if that advocacy will transfer to getting elected . We will see Advocacy will transfer to getting elected . We will see . And then for District 4 , there's actually four candidates three additional candidates challenging Michael Boyd . We have David Loss and Christy Wilbanks and Anthony Kennedy . All of those will be challenging the incumbent . So that's going to be a busy race

Speaker 1 14:16

there . Also , I had mentioned there is a bond election , so the bond election will be for a new city hall at an estimated cost of $155 million . That's what we will be voting on and , according to the city's website , impact to property owners I guess this is going to be Proposition B to the city's website . Impact to property owners I guess this is going to be Proposition B . Proposition B would not affect residents 65 years of age or up . The average homeowner in Killeen would see a 2.3 cent rate increase in 2027 to fund the design and engineering phase , which would be $4.32 per month . In 2030 , the rate would increase by 8.5 cents , which would fund the construction phase , which will be $15.94 per month to the average homeowner in Killeen . The average home value in Killeen is $225,000 . So on average I guess you would add those two numbers together by 2030 , we'll be paying over $20 a month extra on our bill property tax bill to cover that cost property tax bill to cover that cost . So I think it's well worth it . You'll waste $20 a month doing crazy things getting a cup of coffee , going out to eat , playing bingo . So $20 a month is not the value there far exceeds the $20 a month is not . The value there far exceeds the $20 a month . So I'm going to be supporting this . The city needs it , it's part of our downtown plan and well , well past due . Well , well past

Speaker 1 16:42

due . The other thing that is going to be on the City of Killeen election is a recall election for District 4 . Let's see Melissa Brown , former city council member for District 4 , or I'm sorry , for I think she was at large . Uh , yeah , she was at large . Uh , she went out and got this recall petition and , uh , it was actually uh , really interesting uh . And so it's not going to matter , because the recall election , the way it's happening , say it passes the recall of Councilman Michael Boyd is passed and approved by the voters , by the time it is canvassed his term would have expired already and then say he gets reelected , then he gets sworn in . So it's a waste , in my opinion , waste of the voters' time . So voters' time and effort , same thing for the city . But what I do want to play is I want to play the remarks that Mr Boyd had in response to these recall efforts and I think it's worth hearing . So let me pull that up for you .

Speaker 2 18:19

So let me pull that up for you , or 25003 .

City Council Recall Election Discussion

Speaker 2 18:25

Consider an ordinance ordering the May 3rd 2025 special election for the purpose of determining whether District 4 Councilmember Michael Boyd will be recalled . The caption of the ordinance reads An ordinance ordering the holding of a special election in the City of Clean , texas for the purpose of determining whether District 4 Councilmember shall be recalled , specifying that the provisions of the general election law shall control all questions pertaining to such election , designating the polling locations , prescribing the contents of the official ballot , providing for compensation and providing for posting and publication of notice of election , and containing miscellaneous provisions . Council . Ms Calco has gone over the details of this ordinance . Do we have any questions at this time ? Council Member Boyd .

Speaker 3 19:11

Thank you , madam Mayor . Pro Tem , we have four minutes to speak or three minutes three times . What is the policy ? You have three minutes three times each , sir , thank you so much . You're welcome . I'm going to request from the council to use my three minutes concurrently and I don't plan to speak for ten minutes , so no one get concerned here . So I thought I'd take this opportunity to exercise my freedom of speech , given my God-given name is on the agenda today . It's a little different when your name's on the agenda .

Speaker 3 19:41

For those who haven't experienced it , as you know , considering this unique situation I find myself in , it's incumbent upon me to highlight important points for citizens to consider relating to this highly anticipated event , as a local newspaper would desire , and don't worry , I'll speak frankly on the matter . I give them plenty to write about in their tabloid and maybe they can charge you guys more to read their bitter rebuttal . But to get to the point , upon those who spearheaded and championed this initiative , there exists an excitement and anticipation to bring down , if you will , one of the most productive and influential council members the city has seen . As suggested by many , it appears to be a goal of the petitioner to subject members of this diverse , dedicated and visionary city council to recall , as is evident , this sham election petition currently underway , which now targets the mayor and our three at-large council members , unfortunately Ultimately wasting taxpayer dollars , expending staff time and creating frustration amongst the citizenry . Excuse me , the petitioner has proven to be a disgruntled , unelectable former council member with a history of making unsubstantiated claims to the public , disrupting public meetings , being arrested and violating meeting decorum and filing a frivolous lawsuit against a sitting council member . I would argue , excuse me , the source to not be a reputable or credible source of information relating specifically to this recall . It remains my understanding that signatures were widely collected on lies , false accusations , rumors and preying on citizen frustrations , for example , using the construction of Bunny Trail , a totally unrelated petition item , as a catalyst , amongst others , to rapidly collect signatures . As everyone may recall , a citizen residing along Golden Gate Drive stood in front of this council and stated their interaction with a petitioner who stood at his doorstep rattling off unrelated citizen petition items in effort to gain his signature . Again , consider the source .

Speaker 3 21:40

Number two , consider the narrative . The local newspaper , whose coverage of City Hall has become hazardous , would have readers believe that the District 4 Councilmember is absolutely deserving of recall , providing readers with a plethora of misinformation . With the City Hall report a seemingly close relationship with the petitioner . Coverage of this recall has become increasingly biased and unbalanced . I noticed the local newspaper has continuously printed unsubstantiated stories and rumors unrelated to this item stating in the original recall , only just to justify them with phrases like allegedly likely and my understanding . One example is an incredibly unsubstantiated story about a perceived conflict of interest relating to my commercial real estate work . I've also noted how my name is consistently printed so conveniently as Councilman Michael Boyd , who is also facing recall in May In the attempt to rebrand my efforts . I detect the seething tone in these articles designed to mischaracterize myself as an elected official . There's no stories to highlight all of the great improvements I've brought to District 4 with the support of the City Council , or the effective advocacy on behalf of my constituents over the past several years . Just a continued approach to sway voters into recalling a Killeen council member Again .

Speaker 3 23:05

Consider the narrative , consider the facts . The petition specifically accuses the District 4 council member of the following willfully and intentionally ignoring and disregarding citizens . Putting the safety of the public second . Not following the comprehensive plan . Public disrespect and silencing of citizens . In addition to the four statements being totally subjective . They're vague and not suggestive of how I perform as a leader . Furthermore , there remains no specific reference to evidence as substantiated reasons for this sham recall .

Speaker 3 23:40

Again , consider the facts and the last part of my statement as a perfect example of the newspaper misleading the public . And this is important . It should be made unmistakably clear that the voter approval of this recall would carry no weight on my current service or future service to the City of Killeen as a council member . Again , pass or fail , this recall will have zero effect on my service as a council member . Again , pass or fail , this recall will have zero effect on my service as a council member . This is because the petitioner effectively failed to submit those signatures by the proper deadline , affording myself the opportunity to serve a full , complete , entire term . For this , I would argue , god was in my favor . Again , consider the reality . Ultimately , a myriad of citizens , constituents , never believed my name should have been associated with this recall , many of which reject the understanding of its existence . With everything said , and in acknowledgement of the recall election process outlined in the city charter , I make a motion to approve OR-25-003 . Thank you to approve OR-25-003 .

Speaker 1 24:45

Thank you . So forceful rebuttal by Councilmember Boyd , I think well said , well deserved . He definitely needed to speak the truth . To speak the truth and I think this council , a full minority council there are no , there's no one that is white on the council , it's all minority council has been under attack by former council members and other members of the community that all happen to be white . And I mean that's just an observation and it's the truth . So take that for what it is .

Speaker 1 25:44

Now we'll get to the Killeen Independent School District races . We have District or Place 1 , brenda Adams , current board member . No one filed to run against her , so she will be re-elected . Then we have place two , incumbent Susan Jones . She drew an opponent , brianna Sunshine Harrelson , who I believe ran before , ran the last time , and then place three , oliver Mintz . He'll be running for re-election and longtime advocate for schools district , the children and good Democrat , lan Carter . She'll be running against Oliver Mintz in place three . So that is what your ballot is going to be looking like here locally . You'll have some options and I think the biggest thing we'll be looking for is the recall and the city council races recall and the city council races .

Speaker 1 27:02

Now just a little bit more on the city council races . From my understanding , one of the persons or two of the people that are running are on the . I think they're chairs , precinct chairs , for the Republican Party . I think they're chairs , precinct chairs for the Republican Party . So that just goes to show you that I think the Republican Party , local Republican Party , is taking interest in our races , of what's going on over here in Killeen . Remember , killeen is a strong Democratic stronghold . Every elected official at the county level is a Democrat and we're only expanding west east I'm sorry we're expanding east . So , yeah , I think there's some interest for them . By them I mean the Republican Party wanting to stop that eastward expansion . But it's going to be hard to as more and more people come to Bell County , we will continue to , you know , engage with our voters and get them to come out and vote . So this will be a good test and , yeah , we'll see May . First Saturday in May . That's when the elections are . So we have some time to learn more from our candidates .

Speaker 1 28:33

I think Colleen Daly-Herald are already interviewing candidates and getting some information out . I did watch . They did an interview with Oliver Mintz and I'm going to have to critique the paper a little bit that they didn't even bring up school vouchers and see if because it will school vouchers will affect our school districts . It'll be taking money out of the system and they needed to get his opinion on that , the incumbent's opinion on that . They did ask him about getting rid of the Department of Education and he said , yeah , he's for less government , so he's all for it , which is odd because I'm sure they provide a lot of support to Killeen . It's a large school district . Over almost 45,000 students are in Killeen ISD system . So it's going to hurt the school district and they need to be prepared and I don't think at least from my understanding I don't think he is preparing for that . But that'll be something for the voters to decide on and I hope there's opportunities for citizens to engage with them and to talk to them and ask questions them and to talk to them and ask questions . But if not , we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and get to work and get these people out of office that are not going to support public education and they're okay with the Department of Education being abolished and they're okay with school vouchers , even though it's going to take money out of our school system . So I know where I'll be voting , who I'll be voting for . So that's all we have for our local races

Child Care Tax Exemption Discussion

Speaker 1 30:37

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Speaker 1 30:37

Obviously there's some stuff going on in Temple and in Belton the other school districts but I know you're probably more worried about Killeen , killeen , isd , city of Killeen and what's going on here . That's why you listen . You're interested in knowing what's going on in Bell County and you're interested in what's going on in Killeen . If you remember last year and from the agenda , whenever I spoke about , at least on the workshop agenda we're going to be talking about last year it was SB 1145 , but it's now written into the Texas Tax Code 1136 , and that is the daycare , child care facility tax exemption . So I'm bringing that back up on the exemption and the commissioner's been affected by COVID and how they're trying to meet the needs of the community and our workforce . Same thing with our regular agenda .

Speaker 1 32:22

We had a lot of people attend and the commissioners did not seem fit , the judge did not seem fit that we deserved it and it was only going to cost the county roughly about $80,000 in property taxes Not a lot a blip on the map compared to the county's overall budget . But they voted it down . But since then , since that happened , the city of Killeen went ahead and adopted the provisions out of SB 1145 to grant those operators a 100% tax exemption . And you know , truth be told , they're probably going to get more benefit from the city of Killeen . But you know , you add them both together and it's , you know , starting to become a little bit more money , obviously when you add the two together . So I wanted to bring this up . We got a new commissioner on the court , so hopefully he's going to take heed to some of these operators , because I'm sure they'll be in attendance , these operators , because I'm sure they'll be in attendance . If not tomorrow , they'll probably be in attendance when we do bring it up for a vote in March . I plan on bringing it for a vote . So City of Kalina adopted it .

Speaker 1 34:11

The Workforce Solutions , texas Workforce Commission , that local labor council , they voted for it too , to support it . No-transcript has adopted this policy , but we should be pushing all the cities to adopt this policy . It's the right thing to do for our workforce and the right thing to do for the families . But when I was at the conference of urban counties last week , this was something that they talked about . Last week this was something that they talked about . We had the president for the Texas Restaurant Association come and talk to us and part of her speech was do you wonder why the Texas Restaurant Association is here advocating for child care issues , child care solutions ? Because it's a workforce issue . If families are not able to get the proper and affordable child care solutions , it takes them out of the workforce , either for the day or for the week , or permanently while they're caring for kids .

Speaker 1 35:36

So I think they said by 2050 or something like that , we're going to have 300,000 or 800,000 additional jobs , and those 800,000 additional jobs are going to need that component of a child care facility facility . So it's critical for the growth of Texas that we figure this out and that we find some inventive ways to meet this need . I think Travis County did some great things . They put it out to the voters to support additional child care programs . Now , I don't know how they did that , how they did put it out to the voters , but obviously there's some legislation somewhere that authorizes that , because that's the only way we can do things like that , at least at the county level . That's the only way we can do things like that , at least at the county level . So , yeah , I invited them down the Texas Restaurant Association to come and speak to the commissioner's court . Hopefully that'll make the difference and it'll get me the other vote I need . That'll make the difference and it'll get me the other vote I need . I believe we're one vote short for making this a reality here in Bell County .

Speaker 1 37:17

I know the operators want it and even now , with the federal government just completely slashing all these federal agencies left and right I there , there was a report that they fired a thousand va employees and I mean it's , it's scary and you know people are excited like yeah , yeah , yeah , you know , slash , slash this , uh government , federal government . But once it starts trickling down and once we start facing realities to what these cuts are doing , they're just cutting all at once . No real decisions and precision on who , what , when , where , why . They're just cutting and and we're not going to know what is being dropped , what is being missed , uh , and it's going to take years , years to to write this ship . I think,000 federal employees have taken the buyout the quote-unquote buyout that the president may or may not be authorized to give , or Elon Musk , the one who's doing all these cuts at the behest of the president . But this is not the way federal government works as we know it , how it's been all this time .

Speaker 1 39:01

So interesting times trying to figure everything out . I'm trying to figure it out with you , but you know Project 2025 is real and they are implementing it and you know we need to be prepared . Be prepared for everything . But anyways , I'll go ahead and wrap up the show . I will be at the VG Young School for County Commissioners for the rest of the week and then I'll be getting ready to go to the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington DC the following week . So I'm excited for all the opportunities to learn and to travel and to network with commissioners from all over the country and see what good ideas I can bring back to Belk County . So thanks for listening and we will see you and hear from you next week . So We'll see you next time .