Town Hall Meeting Presentation — Tuesday, June 23, 2026 — Center Point ISD, Center Point TX

Thank you to everyone who attended the town hall meeting on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, at the Center Point Elementary School cafeteria. The presentation covered the 2026-27 Kerr County budget, Precinct 2 road maintenance, the flood warning system update, the GOP primary runoff hand count, BESS concerns, and the Howard-Solstice 765 kV transmission line.

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Disclaimer: The following summary is an unofficial transcript compiled from the town hall meeting and presentation materials. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, figures, quotes, and details should be verified against official county records, the original presentation slides, and Commissioner Paces' public remarks. This summary is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an official county document.

Summary of Rich Paces' Town Hall (Kerr County Precinct 2)

Date of Transcript: June 23, 2026

Commissioner Rich Paces hosted a comprehensive town hall meeting covering key county initiatives, fiscal status, infrastructural planning, and structural challenges facing the region. Below is an organized breakdown of the key presentation points, along with the audience Q&A from each section.

1. Kerr County Budget & Fiscal Status

Budget Overview: Revenues have generally kept up with expenditures, though property tax exemptions following recent flood damage caused a temporary dip.

The "Over-Budgeting" Trend: County department heads and elected officials are notorious for over-budgeting and underspending. For example, the estimated ending reserve balance for the 23/24 budget was projected at $16.3 million but actually ended at $32 million.

Reserve Balances & Tax Rates: The Texas Association of Counties recommends maintaining a 25% reserve balance. The final approved budget dropped slightly below this guidance to 23% ($14.6 million). Paces proposed a lower "no new taxes" rate ($0.3831) which would have dropped reserves to 20.6% ($13 million), but it failed to get a second motion. The final approved rate was a "no new revenue" rate, which still slightly raised average taxes due to independent property valuations.

Expenditures: Property taxes have increased by 45% since 2019 (averaging 6.3% per year), primarily driven by new development and regional growth. Expenditures rose similarly by 45% due to hiring new sheriff's deputies, inflation (fuel and road materials), and a 13% annual increase in insurance premiums.

2. County Road Maintenance & Regulations

The Grid: Kerr County spans 1,107 square miles. Leaving out Kerrville and Ingram, the county manages 465 linear miles of chip-seal surfaced roads, aiming to resurface them every 10 years. TxDOT handles 298 miles, leaving 640 miles of privately maintained roads.

Adopting Private Roads: To turn a private road into a county-maintained road, landowners must bring it up to strict county standards (base thickness, width, surface). Reconstructing all private roads would cost roughly $1 million per mile ($320 million total), requiring a massive voter bond and doubling the Road and Bridge department.

Developer Loophole: About 20 years ago, state lobbyists successfully stripped counties of the authority to approve development plans if subdivided lots are larger than 10 acres. Developers can now sell plots with subpar, un-standardized dirt or gravel roads, leaving buyers entirely on their own once the developer pulls out.

Recent Projects & Delays: Multiple road reconstructions (such as Boxwood, Booster, Tallwood, and River View) were completed or scheduled. However, the program was delayed by a month across the county due to equipment vandalism. Thieves stole a highly specific 24-toggle gate controller from a chip spreader, which required a 4-to-5-week lead time to replace.

Audience Q&A:

Q: When did counties lose the authority to control these large-lot developments?
A: About 20 years ago. Lobbyists in Austin convinced state legislators to take structural approval authorities away from county commissioners.

Q: What about the repairs needed after the sewer project came through?
A: Those are on the schedule to be addressed within the next 1 to 2 years, and the county accepts the responsibility to fix them.

Q: Did you catch the people who vandalized the chip spreader?
A: Suspects were checked out, but without clear night-vision camera video, it's incredibly hard to prove. However, we did catch a different individual stealing gravel from the El Paso road stockpile during the day with a pickup truck; he was forced to pay restitution and now has a criminal record.

Q: What are they doing with the gravel pile down by the low-water crossing right now?
A: The recent flood deposited a massive amount of gravel on a landowner's property. The county, alongside state agencies (TPWD, TDEM), secured permission to sift and remove it. It's being stored and is available for local use—like building the new fire station—but it cannot be placed anywhere back within the floodplain. There's a signup list for interested residents.

3. Flood Warning System

The Infrastructure: The county passed $1.25 million in state funding to the Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA) to manage. The structural backbone is live, operating 46 rain gauges and 9 river gauges.

The River Hub: Residents living near the water can visit riverhub.ugra.org via laptop or iPad (mobile optimization is in progress) to view real-time precipitation and river heights coupled with National Weather Service data and AI forecasting predictive models.

Sirens: Six 50-foot redundant sirens (solar + battery backup + AC power) are active in West Kerr County near popular camp areas. Two more are caught up in right-of-way issues. Paces estimates the county will eventually need around 20 sirens total. They use silent electronic health checks daily and a brief audible test on the first Wednesday of every month.

Audience Q&A:

Q: Is there any way to look at funding from foundations? I heard $36 million was being donated.
A: That sounds like bad or inaccurate information. The Community Foundation gave a presentation to commissioners showing they've awarded $82 million out of $150 million total, but they do not typically grant money directly to the City of Kerrville or Kerr County governments.

Q: When people hear sirens, they often make the mistake of getting in their cars to flee, which can lead to drowning. How are we stopping people from dying in their vehicles?
A: We have to get more public education out. During flash floods, getting into a vehicle is usually a fatal mistake, especially on roads like Highway 39 that run parallel to the river. The message must be clear: turn around, don't drown, leave the car, and simply walk up a hill to safety.

Q: Will Precinct 2 get sirens soon?
A: I have explicitly requested sirens for the vicinity of the Center Point fire station, the Crossing Street bridge, and China Street near the low-water bridge. It all hinges on securing state funding.

4. Election Integrity & Hand Counting

Electronic Vulnerabilities: Paces voiced strong distrust in electronic voting machines, quoting a 2021 report from Princeton/University of Michigan scientist Dr. Alex Halderman regarding Georgia's systems. Halderman successfully demonstrated in a January 2024 court appearance how a Dominion machine could have its votes flipped in under a minute.

Lack of Vendor Transparency: Kerr County approved a $350,000 master services agreement with Hart InterCivic for digital scanners and marking devices to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA). However, the state's independent expert report from October 2025 revealed that inspectors are not allowed to view the vendor's source code or look inside the motherboards for hidden modems, meaning counties are forced to purely "trust" the vendor.

The Primary Runoff Hand Count: Despite rumors that a local hand count would cost taxpayers $400,000, the incremental cost of hand-counting the primary runoff election day votes was under $2,000. Seventy-two trained volunteers processed 2,692 paper ballots using the self-correcting "Chapter 65" method between 3:32 PM and 8:39 PM. A state representative from the Secretary of State's office attended and was highly complimentary of the accuracy, planning to use Kerr County's templates for other Texas counties. Paces personally backed the cost financially, but notes that all valid hand-count expenses are legally reimbursed by the state or covered by the political party—not local property taxpayers.

5. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

The Issue: Private energy developers are installing massive fields of lithium-ion battery containers directly adjacent to electric substations. Because lithium-ion batteries are highly unstable, they run the risk of experiencing uncontrollable "thermal runaway" fires. Fire fighting protocols dictate letting them burn out naturally because no amount of local water/foam can extinguish them. Runoff releases toxic gases (methane, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen cyanide) into nearby groundwater tables and aquifers.

Grid Concerns & Foreign Adversaries: Over 90% of grid-scale battery components are manufactured in China. Paces cited significant cybersecurity/backdoor vulnerabilities, noting the U.S. Department of Defense bans BESS installations on military bases. Furthermore, ERCOT data shows BESS storage capacity is projected to surge by 197% by 2030, while reliable thermal power generation (natural gas/coal) will only increase by 10%.

Mountain Home Project: A developer named Esvolta (operating under the shell name Slower 2) purchased 17 acres right off I-10 next to the LCRA substation in Mountain Home. A major BESS fire there could close down I-10 for days, disrupting 25,000 vehicles daily and completely destroying adjacent residential property values.

County Defenses: Unincorporated county land requires zero local development approvals for BESS sites. To fight back, the county implemented a $55,000 permit fee schedule and hired premier safety expert Dr. Robert Steele (author of the UL 9540 standard). The goal is to use technical documentation reviews to continuously delay and stall developers until projects become financially non-viable.

Audience Q&A:

Q: What happened to the BESS developer that was sniffing around Center Point a year ago?
A: They seem to have completely lost interest and moved on. They realized we formed a Chapter 391 Sub-Regional Planning Commission alongside Kendall and Gillespie counties. Developers do not like communities that coordinate and push back.

Q: Are you aware that Esvolta hired a major lobbying firm called Pine Cove Strategies operated by the Bush family?
A: Yes, that's how these companies operate. I have personally refused to meet with their lobbyists one-on-one behind closed doors, unlike some other local officials. If they want to talk, it must be in a recorded, public meeting. My answer to them will remain an absolute "no".

Q: Does LCRA legally have to let these BESS companies connect to their substations?
A: Yes, under current deregulated state grid rules, they are legally obligated to connect them.

6. High-Voltage Transmission Lines (Howard-Solstice)

The Plan: The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has proposed the "Howard Solstice" project: 370 miles of massive 765kV transmission infrastructure connecting Bexar County to Pecos County. It features 77 potential routing paths, 19 of which clip the Southwest corner of Kerr County.

The Problem: The massive towers range from 130 to 250 feet tall and require an aggressive 200-foot-wide right-of-way easement taken from local landowners via eminent domain. None of this electricity drops off to help local residents; it is entirely meant to power Permian Basin oil/gas data centers.

The Cost: Estimates range from a state-projected $33 billion up to an expert-projected $80 billion. This is funded entirely by a guaranteed rate of return passed down directly to Texas rate-payers, resulting in an estimated 28% increase ($100 to $200 more per year) on average household electric bills.

Opposition: Four Kerr County commissioners signed a formal structural protest order against the lines. County Judge Kelly explicitly chose to abstain from the vote.

Audience Q&A:

Q: If a BESS facility explodes or catches fire right next to an LCRA substation, will it take our local grid down down here?
A: Absolutely. If they cannot immediately reroute the power, the surrounding area will lose electricity. What makes it worse is that large high-voltage substation transformers currently face an 18-month manufacturing lead time to replace if destroyed.

7. Community Initiative: Flat Rock Park Memorial Cross

The Project: Following a unanimous vote by the Commissioners Court, a memorial cross was successfully installed at Flat Rock Park. It was fabricated and donated by Michael Collins (who made the Center Point VFD cross).

Zero Taxpayer Cost: The entire installation was completed using fully donated community labor, rebar, and heavy machinery from companies like the H3 Company, Bad Company Excavating, and Pro Rental.

Ceremony Event: A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for July 4th at 10:00 AM at Flat Rock Park, following an 8:00 AM prayer and song service at the Center Point VFD. Food will be provided after both events.