Travis County Commissioners Court
April 14, 2009,
Item 3
>> item no.
3.
3.
approve proclamation recognizing April 12 through April 18, 2009 as "environmental crime awareness week" in Travis County.
>> guys, do you all want to come up for this?
whereas environmental crimes are violations of federal, state and local environmental laws and whereas environmental crime is a detriment to property values and community welfare and can damage wildlife and human health and welfare, y'all come up and take a seat, shiest bunch of environmental enforcers that I have ever seen.
whereas local governments and private property owners spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to remedy the real and potential effects of environmental crimes and whereas national environmental crime prevention week promotes awareness and education among citizens and law enforcement personnel to enhance and increase the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes and whereas the sources and effectiveness of criminal environmental enforcement is dependent upon the ongoing committed support of the public at large, elected officials, management, staff, and field investigators, some of which are here, now therefore be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court in conjunction with national environmental crime prevention week do hereby proclaim the week of April 12th through April 18th, 2009, as environmental crime awareness week in Travis County and way to the general public and -- way to the general public and enforcement personnel the seriousness, the need for increased awareness of the signs of environmental criminal activity and the need to report such activity to the property authorities.
i move approval of the proclamation.
>> I would very much like to hear y'all speak on this, too.
in my eight years in the Travis County attorney's office, I ran across the environmental crime unit folks and continuing legal education conferences with some of our folks who were speakers at those.
our group in many ways sets the standards and we have done a lot to promote environmental enforcement in other communities that didn't find it possible until they heard about our model and some of the other models across the united states.
so -- so take it away, guys.
>> two members of our --
>> neil, tell us who you are.
>> I'm neil
>> [indiscernible], Travis County attorney's office.
i want to acknowledge two members of the team who are unable to attend today, sergeant jonathan gray from parks and wildlife and patty robertson, assistant district attorney who are vital members of our team.
we do operate as a team.
we are part of the Texas environmental task force.
and all of our major cases are brought as a team.
part of our goal is not just to deter environmental crime, but also to educate other counties around the area.
we have a very special position in the state of Texas because state-wide venue on environmental crimes that are found in the water code and the Texas health and safety code can be brought here in Travis County.
so we not only deal with Travis County cases but cases across the state of Texas.
although we are in the beginnings of our program, we feel like we have made substantial progress and we're going to continue to do so.
>> any other comments?
>> again, the shiest bunch of enforcers.
>> they should introduce themselves, starting with doug and going down.
>> I'm doug mcdougal an investigator with the Travis County attorney's office.
>> dennis rotte.
>> mickey roberts, capital area council of governments.
>> > my name is mike glen, an attorney with the environmental crimes unit of the Texas commission on environmental quality.
>> sydney parker, detective for the Travis County sheriff's office.
>> and --
>> these people do a fine job.
i'm neil kocerek with the Travis County attorney's office, they do a fine job, work together as a team very well, we do appreciate them and all of the work they do.
>> thanks so much for all y'all are doing.
if anyone has any questions about environmental crime, illegal dumping any point sources charge who should they call.
>> give out the hotline.
>> they should -- I work with the regional environmental task force at capcog, illegal jumping, 1877 no dump.
that's a hot line that serves in our -- in our 10 county area for -- for reporting environmental crime.
>> and does that also work for -- for a water pollution or air pollution crimes or is there a separate --
>> you can use the hotline to call on any of the environmental crimes.
>> one stop shop.
>> we get into the people who need to investigate it.
>> thank you so much.
>> years ago when this came up, before the court, before a budget setting type of deal, we wanted to make sure that we had some staffing in place to cover such activities as you are covering today.
i know kevin morris I guess was involved in that at some level along with some others.
i -- I guess everybody is really not here I guess as far as dealing with Travis County.
as far as some of these deals.
i can remember a special site that folks would go and illegal dump, we were thinking about putting a camera there to either deal with things so we could actually see the illegal dumping that goes on, goes on all over the county.
i'm just wondering if there are other team members in this thing other than just what's here today.
>> yes, sir, definitely.
>> I wanted to make sure -- the position head of enforcement is kevin morris.
>> right.
i wanted to make sure everybody gets that recognition because it's -- it's a broad net of -- of folks involved with Travis County.
and as the Commissioner said, a good model that other people can follow.
again I just quantity to thank you all for -- want to thank you all for doing what you are doing.
>> all in favor of the motion?
that passes by unanimous vote.
keep up the good work.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>>
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:20 PM