A special meeting of the Blanco Commissioners Court on Aug. 17 was called to order at 9 a.m. on Monday by County Judge Brett Bray. All four commissioners were present.
After the pledge of allegiance, Kenneth Welch took the floor for public comments. He began by reading the definition of corruption and said, ”I believe persons in power in Blanco County government may be corrupt. Judge Bray, assisted by this court, has repeatedly denied me my right to make public comment during public meetings. The PIA officer for this county has repeatedly utilized the public information law to restrict access to public information rather than to facilitate access to information, as it was intended by the Texas Legislature. The PIA officer has repeatedly delayed, denied or deceived regarding documents that I have requested. The position was created last year and the assistant county attorney was chosen to perform the duties and was granted an increase in pay of $5,000 per year. Now Judge Bray is proposing to raise that amount to $8,231 per year. I am wondering if this 64.6 percent raise is actually a loyalty check for doing his bidding in restricting open government…”
At this point, Bray stopped the comments due to personal attacks and gave the commissioners an opportunity to deny Welch the rest of his time. The judge explained that there is a local rule that indicates that it is “inappropriate for personal attacks” on individuals and told the others that citizens have expressed disappointment with the court for allowing personal attacks to continue. Weir said that the vulgar accusations keep occurring and he would like to end it. A motion was made by Commissioner Tommy Weir and seconded by Commissioner Emil Ray Uecker to end Welch’s public comments; it carried. Welch refused to sit down and was escorted out of the courtroom by Blanco County Sheriff Don Jackson.
The court briefly discussed the fiscal year (FY) 2020/2021 budget. Next, Commissioner Chris Liesmann moved to approve the proposed tax rate of $0.3950 per $100 valuation and Weir seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. There will be a public hearing regarding the rate on Aug. 25. The FY2020/21 budget was also approved by the commissioners at this time and the public hearing will also be on Aug. 25. Uecker moved to adjourn and Weir seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 a.m.
