Commissioners have two meetings on Monday

The Kendall County commissioners have another busy day on Monday with two meetings set for the same day.

The commissioners have their regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. at the courthouse with a relatively jam-packed agenda.

Among the items up for consideration is a discussion on how to proceed with the jail expansion. The commissioners began the bidding process to enlarge the county jail last year.

The jail notably reached its 102-inmate capacity shortly after its construction in 2019, and Kendall County Sheriff Al Auxier repeatedly has said the number of inmates will reach the capacity of the new expansion quickly.

The jail was built with a 5,000-square-foot expansion in mind to accommodate an additional 48 inmates. However, with the number of inmates being transported to Kerr County and other county jails because of a lack of space, the expansion seems to be more in line with a game of catchup.

Beyond the inmate capacity struggle, the commissioners recently have waivered on whether to build a justice center to house the existing state district court and the incoming Kendall County Court at Law next to the jail, allowing ease of transport for inmates to hearings and trials. Court staff have said this would allow more expedient trials and hearings as transport across Boerne would be eliminated.

However, the commissioners earlier this year, when discussing the soon-to-be demolished county structure behind the courthouse, began to consider using the space near the jail for new county offices rather than a justice center, pushing the courts all into the existing courthouse.

The future of a justice center remains unclear.

After the morning’s regular agenda, the commissioners have a 1:30 p.m. special meeting scheduled to host a workshop “to discuss the proposed bond, which is for the purpose of acquiring open space and conservation land and acquiring conservation easements on land for any authorized purposes, including to ensure its availability for recreational or open-space use or to protect wildlife habitat and the water qualify of creeks, rivers and springs.”

While it’s unclear at this time what will be discussed, the commissioners narrowly approved the $20 million measure on the last eligible day to place a bond on the November ballot. The last-minute approval wasn’t lost on some of the commissioners, with Precinct 1 Commissioner Christina Bergmann suggesting the group take a step back for a moment late last month before the bond measures unanimous approval.

“It just feels rushed,” Bergmann said. “There are things that we’re kind of pushing through as the drop-dead day that we have to decide to do this. … I personally think we need to step back, get things in a row and educate the public.”

Further, Precinct 3 Commissioner Richard Chapman expressed concern about using a bond to purchase land inaccessible to the public.

“If we have a conservation easement, or areas we probably don’t want public access to …  to ask for $20 million to buy land the public can’t access is overall not supported,” Chapman said.