Town Hall Presentation: Stopping BESS, the SB 3 Amendment, Property Taxes and the Police Station

Slide 1: Precinct 2 Town Hall — Rich Paces

PRECINCT 2 TOWN HALL
Rich Paces
Kerr County Commissioner · Precinct 2
Service Before Self · Christian Conservative · Professional Engineer
Tonight: BESS & Chapter 391 · SB 3 Amendment · Budget · Police Station · Your Questions

Slide 2: Tonight’s Agenda

• Stop BESS in the Hill Country — Chapter 391 & the Mason County lesson
• Proposed SB 3 amendment — reliability, location, ratepayers
• Budget & property-tax consistency (brief)
• Police station — what’s happening / what’s not
• Open Q&A — ask anything

Slide 3: Service Before Self

• Your Precinct 2 Commissioner — here to update you, listen, and answer
• Christian conservative · Professional Engineer · Center Point VFD volunteer
• Self-funded campaign — I answer to citizens, not donors
• Continuity: finish flood warning, finish the BESS fight, protect taxpayers

Slide 4: Why BESS Matters in the Hill Country

• Large battery storage raises fire, toxic smoke, water, and property risks
• Drought country + limited water = hard firefighting reality
• Rural counties should not absorb industrial risk without strong standards
• Property rights and first-responder readiness come first

Slide 5: Why Chapter 391 Exists

• I serve as President of the Chapter 391 Sub-Regional Planning Commission
• Regional strategy across Kerr, Kendall, and Gillespie Counties
• One county alone is too easy for developers to pick off
• We coordinate planning, pushback, and local readiness — together
• Most voters have never heard of 391 — tonight you’ll know why it matters

Slide 6: The Mason County Lesson

• Regis Mason BESS (~10 MW) built about 60 feet from a family home
• Reporting: blocked home sale, construction vibration/damage claims, ongoing cooling noise
• A tall fence did not fix a bad setback
• Harm can start at siting — not only after a fire
• Important: that neighbor case is NOT the larger Bat Cave site — facts matter

Slide 7: Finish the Fight

• Oppose poorly sited BESS in the Hill Country
• Demand documentation, safety, and local readiness
• Protect neighbors before containers are humming behind a fence
• Kerr County families deserve better planning — and commissioners who finish the job

Slide 8: The Bigger Problem: Planning Gap

• 1999: Legislature passed SB 7 — competitive electric market
• Jan 1, 2002: retail customer choice opened across much of ERCOT
• Competition has benefits — but a gap remains
• Developers largely choose technology and location
• Texas law does not clearly require a project-by-project public-interest finding before final market clearance

Slide 9: Proposed SB 3 Amendment

• HCESRPC working group proposal — working draft for legislative review
• Mandatory PUCT Large Resource Reliability, Location & Public Interest Finding
• Covers large generation and electric energy storage (EESF / BESS)
• Before final ERCOT clearance or state support — evaluate the real system impacts
• Developer pays for the independent analysis — not Texas ratepayers

Slide 10: What the Finding Would Review

• Location & proximity to demand
• Deliverability & transmission needs
• Reliability contribution / critical-period performance
• Total system cost & ratepayer transmission impact
• Cybersecurity, remote operation, foreign-adversary supply chain
• Emergency preparedness & BESS safety risks

Slide 11: The Goal

• Not simply more capacity
• The right capacity, in the right locations
• With the right reliability value
• Appropriate security and safety protections
• At a total system cost Texans can defend
• Packet already shared with Rep. Virdell, Rep. Troxclair, and Sen. Campbell

Slide 12: Budget & Property Taxes (Brief)

• Fiscal conservative — keep county property taxes as low as possible
• Consistent tax restraint across my years on Commissioners Court
• Engineer’s approach: fix what’s needed, avoid waste, no unnecessary debt
• AG Barn path: repairs/plans already advanced; finish needed work without the old oversized bond approach

Slide 13: Police Station — Clearing the Rumors

• People are already talking — and some of it isn’t accurate
• Tonight: separate rumor from fact
• Public safety matters — and so does protecting taxpayers
• Ask me the hard questions in Q&A

Slide 14: Your Questions — Open Q&A

Ask anything — local issues, BESS, budget, flood recovery, Court business.
I’ll stay as long as you have questions.

Slide 15: Thank You — Stay Engaged

• Website: richpaces.com · Issues, Newsroom, Flood Restoration
• Call / text: (830) 343-9107
• Self-funded: not asking for money — signs & word-of-mouth welcome
• November 2026 — continuity, courage, and a commissioner who shows up