Travis County Commissioners Court
August 9, 2005
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next, four or five citizens have signed in. This item is supposed to give residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda. But I do notice a couple of exceptions requested today. Jimmy castro is first. Bridgette shea is second.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, commission and staff. I am here to speak on my own behalf, also as a former board member of the Austin council of pta's. I知 here to remind everyone that Monday, August 16th marked the first day of school for the 78,000 students of the Austin independent school district. All of the preparations underway for the anticipation of the Austin independent school district's first day of school on Tuesday August the 16th. There's been in-service training for the 5,400 teachers and especially the 500 new teachers at the Austin independent school district. The office employees have been helping with preregistration. The classified workers have been making sure all of the school facilities and buses are ready to roll. And the teachers have been working on all of the decorations in the classrooms in which the teachers paid for with their own money. All drivers need to remember the speed in the school zones is 20 miles per hour. And failure to observe the school zone speed may result up to a $250 fine. All drivers need to remember, the school bus law which states, to stop while school buses are loading and unloading students and failure to observe the school bus law may result up to a $1,000 fine. Among the most obvious, but often forgotten items on the back to school list is making sure that your child's immunizations are up to date. The Austin-Travis County health and human services combined with the Texas department of health is offering the shots for tots program. Keep in mind school children will not be allowed back to school if they have not had their shots. Finally, another annual event is the Austin independent school district's Marching band jamboree set for September 13th at 7:00 p.m. At the burger center. One of the participating schools will include the anderson high school Marching band and drill team. Families are encouraged to join all the band parents in attending this Austin independent school district event. Which will include some of the top-rated bands state-wide. Thank you, judge, Commissioners.
>> thank you, jimmy.
>> thank you, mr. Castro. Brigid shea is next. After ms. Shea, susan moffett.
>> thank you, judge and Commissioners, I appreciate having the opportunity to speak on this item now. I知 actually here representing 15 different leaders of environmental organizations. And I知 going to add another four groups to the bottom of this list verbally. And environmental defense, public citizen, the state chapter of the sierra club and the Austin eco network should all be added to the bottom of that letter. We are really here urging you to get your house in order on the relocation of these 290 landfills. We insist that you provide this community with a genuine contract to relocate the b.f.i. Landfill and rid the northeast neighbors of this environmental blight. We believe the contract that you are scheduled to take up today accomplishes none of that. Despite the brief time that's been available to review the document, we isions were still being released at 5:20 in the afternoon. We have identified numeralrous series problems. We insist that you provide a meaningful public process and postpone any action on the document until citizens have had enough time to review it. We also ask that you address the following concerns before taking any action on it. There is no enforceable provision in the agreement for b.f.i. To actually close by 2015 and the county is giving up its right to oppose b.f.i.'s expansion application. The agreement gives b.f.i. An effective 20-year capacity for new garbage by endorsing a 75-foot expansion which would allow b.f.i. To pile up garbage higher than mount bonnell. Mount bonnell is 785 feet. The mountain of trash would be 795 feet. The agreement puts the Travis County taxpayers at risk for having to pay for b.f.i.'s entire new dump site, no matter how large or expensive, or the contract is void. The county should not give up its right to seek enforcement of the terms of the contract in state district court as is required in the current draft. I find myself asking who wrote this document? Who would write terms in a contract that would put the county at such a disadvantage? The contract is not proper -- does not properly address how the county is going to remedy the continuing problems of drainage and suffer buffers, excessive gases, bad odors, et cetera, et cetera. Recycling requirements and waste diversion programs are ignored in the contract. If they are having a problem with capacity, recycling should be mandatory. That automatically extends the life of the dump. In addition to these flaws, few of the protected measures identified by the county's solid waste tax force in June of 2002 have been included in the proposed b.f.i. Contract. We urge you to delay approving the August 5th, 2005 proposed contract, the version that we saw as of Friday, until there's been adequate public review and comment and until the concerns we have identified have been addressed. The list of signatures is on the bottom. I just want to say, in closing, I think that it's -- I think that it's appalling management of this that citizens have had to come down over and over and over again to this court on this issue, have had to hire outside lawyers to review these documents, and identify issues that have left the county tremendously exposed. I don't understand what's going on here, but I think it's time the county get its house in order, manage this process and effectively relocate these landfills. Thank you very much.
>> thank you, ms. Shea. Would you please give me in writing three things. What language you would recommend in paragraph 3, if our -- if our contract, which our lawyers drafted, is not sufficient. And in the last paragraph, your idea of what you believe public review and comment should be. Specifically. And the other thing would be maybe we are receiving bad legal advice, but if you would point to us the authority that Travis County has to relocate these landfills. I would be happy to receive that. Thank you.
>> ms. Moffett.
>> good morning, my name is susan moffett. Thank you for hearing me. I cannot come back at 1:30, I知 also here to express my concerns about the b.f.i. Contract. My concerns are both procedural and substantive. In the process again information was still being released after 5:00 on Friday. This is Tuesday morning. That has given people one business day to frantically vet this. I don't think that's really adequate time for the public to make an intelligent review and commentary. I doubt honestly it's time for the commission to make it on such a -- a complex document that is going to have such far-reaching consequences. As far as substance goes, my major concerns were already outlined by ms. Shea, I will try not to belabor them. But I am very concerned that there is no enforceable provision apparent in the agreement to actually close the landfill by 2015. And that the county appears to be giving up its right to oppose b.f.i.'s expansion application. During that time, of course, they can add to the garbage pile, making an enormous mount bonnell size stack. And I share the concern that this is a matter that neighbors in the northeast have tried to bring to your attention for years. It's a serious health risk, it's a serious quality of life risk. And I would really urge you to -- to respond by delaying as Commissioner Davis has asked this public hearing for at least a week so that people do have adequate time to review the document and really know what we're talking about before we make such a big decision. I know that you all work very hard on behalf of the county and I appreciate that. But I really think that we will have a much stronger document moving forward if you do give that week delay to let people really understand what is at stake here. Thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> ms. Moffett, do you object to our discussing the item this afternoon and then taking action a week from today.
>> I don't think the discussion 7 be productive, bus I don't think the members of the public have had time to a note that the draft is out here and, b, really review them in a way that would allow them to intelligently address concerns. That's my objection to hearing it this afternoon.
>> are you aware that we had a public meeting in early June at the precinct 1 road office and another public meeting in July.
>> right, but the revisions to this document --
>> at the expo center, the -- many of these provisions resulted from comments received at those public meetings?
>> I understand that. But a legal document is a binding document, I知 very concerned about voting on legal language which sometimes doesn't always reflect what people thought it did. I think it would be wise to give some time to that.
>> the bottom line, you need to also know that at this public meeting that we had June 4th at the satellite 1 building, that was not one person there that supported the expansion of the landfill. Not a one.
>> right.
>> supported it [ applause ]
>> I致e never heard of one who supports it, either.
>> ms. Moffett, would you entertain, I should have probably asked brigid this as well, would you all join me in going into tceq and asking for there to be identification of a landfill site somewhere in precinct 3? I would like -- I would -- I would like -- I would like to have somebody join me in going and seeing if we could identify a landfill site in precinct 3 because quite honestly, I am tired of having it thrown up in my face that garbage only goes in eastern Travis County. And I have said it before, I will say it in front of tceq, if we can find a place in precinct 3, I would -- I would as the precinct 3 Commissioner, I would go to precinct 3 residents, say you know what, if you take your garbage out on Tuesdays and Fridays, you need to expect to put it somewhere. And I will tell you that I will do that. Now, I need some of the people from the environmental community to go with me because those are important, I think important people to go. But I知 telling you that I知 willing to do that. And brigid, I don't mind calling you and asking you if you'll go with me to ask that.
>> Commissioner, I --
>> brigid I知 sorry I have been told by legal that we are not allowed to discuss this during citizens communication.
>> I知 sorry.
>> which is why it's important to have it on the agenda for discussion, I知 sorry.
>> I want to say I would be happy to go on a town hall meeting in his precinct where he offers to his constituents to look at a dump out there. I think it would be a very interesting discussion. The bottom line is it's not our job, it's the job of b.f.i. And waste management to find their own place. I don't know why the citizens are being ask to take on the burden of doing that.
>> alida winchester is next. And she will be followed by pamela roberts.
>> [indiscernible]
>> yes? Anybody else here for citizens communication, whether you signed in or not? Okay. Good morning.
>> good morning. My name is avalita winchester, I知 here to represent caritas of Austin, essentially I知 here to thank you and the Texas association of community action agencies and the hunters for the hungry for the assistance that you provide us in terms of food. When I started working at caritas and I heard the name hunters for the hungry, I did a double take and said the who for what? Since then I have come to have a deep appreciation for the assistance they provide to us. Caritas has a community kitchen that provided 93,000 lunches last year. This year we are probably -- we will probably reach almost the 100,000 mark: each year the hunters for the hungry provides us with approximately one ton of venison that we put into our soup that goes to the clients. The clients love it, it's a tremendous assistance to us in that so much of our food is donated, so much of what we provide we cannot afford to buy. So we wanted to thank you profusely for allowing us to continue to have that partnership with you, taca and hunters for the hungry.
>> did I hear you say a million pounds? A million pounds of --
>> we get a ton, yes.
>> wow.
>> and that provides us with approximately a third, it covers approximately a third of those meals that we provide. And in excess of 37,000 lunches. So it's a tremendous assistance to us.
>> thank you.
>> good morning, him name is pam robbers, I知 the manager for the hunger relief programs at the Texas association of community action agencies. As ms. Winchester mentioned, we run a program called the hunters for the hungry. It's a state-wide wild game donation program. And last hunting season the Texas hunters, meat processors and supporting such as Travis County, broke records as far as the donated meat. We were able to reach over 171,000 pounds of meat that were donated in Texas to help feed hungry families and individuals. And as I frequently mentioned, if we tripled this, it wouldn't be enough. I ask myself the question, why is involvement and commitment such as Travis County's so importantly and timely? One reason is that in Travis County alone, it's estimated that there's 41,000 children every day who face food insecurity. If the family has to buy meat, meat is one of the most expensive food items that the family could purchase. But the second reason that it's so important is -- is the problem with the overpopulation of deer in this area. The extensive deer population not only threatens national resources but threatens the herds themselves as well as other wild game or wildlife in the area. So by working together with hunters for the hungry, caritas of Austin, meat processors, such as bobby hudson that works with this particular program, Travis County not only a -- not only accomplishes or helping to alleviate hunger in this area, but also achieves good stewardship of the environment. So we are here to take the opportunity to thank Travis County Commissioners court and Travis County parks and natural resources division, for their continued support over the years. We would like to take the opportunity to present you with a plaque and if we may present a few photographs. Would that be possible, judge Biscoe? Would you be willing to join us?
>> okay. Is that okay?
>> we know your agenda is full, we will be quick.
>> on by behalf of hunters for the hungry, caritas of Austin, the people of Travis County, please accept this token of our appreciation.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 9, 2005 8:51 PM