I just got a call from Pct4 and they sent this to me. Listen to Treys show in the morning around 7ish to hear from the commissioner himself on this matter.
Mr. Fischer,
Thank you for taking my call. Here is the information Commissioner Adkisson received from Ms. Bueche, Bexar County Facility Director. I hope this helps to dispel some of the rumors that you and I discussed. As I said during the phone call we will keep you in the loop as to the date and time of the meeting the Commissioner and County staff will be having. When a date, time and location have been selected you are most welcome to attend if you like.
Thank you again for allowing Commissioner Adkisson and his staff to look into this issue and hopefully work out a solution that works for everyone.
Sincerely,
Mario Llano
Chief of Staff
Commissioner Adkisson Pct.4
335-2614
It is true that the group has not provided insurance nor payment since the agreement was established in 1991, both of which are required.
Both the DA and the Risk Manager believe that continuing the agreement is too great a risk for the County, even with insurance.
Additionally, there are two other quarter midget groups who have complained that they want a chance to "bid" to use the track, and that the County has shown favoritism by allowing only the Lone Star Quarter Midget group to use the track exclusively for decades without opening it to competition.
The track was apparently built by A.J. Ploch and the group used it unofficially for a couple of decades until Bob Lee decided an official agreement was needed. The assistant DA at that time was Kelsey who believed then as she does now that the lease was done outside what would have been fair competition, and also that the risk to the County was too great. Consequently, the annual fee and insurance became requirements. The group has never complied.
The immediate past -president was not cooperative in resolving the issues and the group also had internal problems with her. They have taken control away from her and elected a new President.
Kelsey and I met with the new President yesterday after consulting with the County Risk Manager. It seems that nationwide Counties are ending agreements with Quarter Midget racing groups because of the liability problems.
Therefore, we suggested that Kelsey might work with Joe Newton to potentially find a piece of property that has been acquired due to non-payment of property taxes and assist the Lone Star group with their going through the process of acquiring land that they would own themselves.
Kelsey said she would know something for them by early next week.
Additionally, their track is currently in disrepair. They want to continue using it as-is, but we are concerned that children traveling at least 40 mph on a poor quality track sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
The new President is the one who said that the track needs to be totally roved, and re-built, not us. He has solicited in-kind donations that he says would have a value of approximately $45,000. Our recommendation is that they take advantage of those donations to construct a new track on property that they own. This would remove the County from the risk it now has.
Jerry Smith and I made an effort to change the situation about 1-1/2 years ago with their immediate past-President, but she failed to comply with any of the things she agreed to do and which are required in the agreement.
The next step was that we would go to Commissioners Court seeking authority to work through an orderly transition and ultimately termination of the agreement.
Linda Billa Burke also phones me a couple of days ago to defend the group. After she heard the situation she understood and actually agreed that the liability issue for the County was too great. One of her employees is part of the Quarter Midget group and asked that she intervene on their behalf.
We have submitted and Agenda Coordination Form for the November 15 Court requesting authority from Commissioners Court to proceed with the transition and termination. The President and his Son both indicated that they believe am orderly transition could be possible within a few months to a year. We told them we would be happy to work with them to make sure it would be done in a way that is coordinated and does not put them in a big bind.
Please let me know your thoughts on this.
Thank you
Betty Bueche