Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, February 1, 2011,
Item 13
Item 13.
consider and take appropriate action on application for Travis County to be selected as a justice reinvestment initiative phase ii site by the bureau of justice assistance to become eligible for technical support for a sobriety center.
good morning.
>> good morning.
I’m roger jeffreys, executive manager of justice and public safety.
I’m with kathy mccollar di, criminal justice planning.
we came to you two weeks ago to tee up a potential grant opportunity from the bureau of justice assistance -- through the urban institute.
possibly up to half a million dollars for the implementation of a sobriety center.
over the course of the week that we had to get -- we've actually had a work group looking at this since early January, but the level of detail that was required to get that money as far as documenting costs and documenting potential savings I don't think our members, our work group members were quite comfortable to sign on dotted line at that point.
in the urban institute, last week we came back to you and said why don't you just apply for technical assistance?
if your not ready for the money, we can help you get ready for the money.
there will be an opportunity perhaps in the summer to go after some money for this.
and so we spent the last week going back to our partners and getting the support for that technical assistance grant application.
we have copies.
the backup hasn't changed since last week other than the signatures we got and I think I let you know last night of the signatures we got.
everybody has signed on except for a couple of parties.
and I understand why.
one is the city of Austin.
they're supportive of the concept.
my contact in this has been mike mcdonald, who is the assistant city manager.
he felt like he needed to take this to his council to get a sign on for this particular application, but again he supports it and we will continue to pursue that with him.
also with the downtown Austin alliance, they felt like they needed to go to the board and her members before they were -- and their members before they were ready to sign.
we got signatures from all the other important players, particularly seton and st.
david's and we thank them for taking interest in this.
and we're close -- today the grant is due, so we're coming to y'all to ask for your support.
we've got copies for judge Biscoe to sign when he gets back.
and then kathy will be hitting the send button this afternoon hopefully.
and again, I apologize for this sort of unconventional process, but thank you for your patience.
>> I think it's still a very good project.
we started looking into this process some years ago when steven williams was still here and it was a good idea then.
and I think it still is.
and so -- but it is necessary to have all of those parties on board, the city of Austin, seton hospital.
and so if it takes us just a few more weeks of work, I think it's all worth it.
>> I would move approval of our taking action on this application.
>> and I also want to thank you.
this is exactly the kind of collaboration and leveraged activity that we are going to need to see moving forward since we are in some serious budget times.
to the extent that we can skip over state and look to the federal government for assistance in these pressing problems, it's very nice to have partners like seton, st.
david's potentially -- I’m hoping probably the city of Austin and the downtown Austin alliance.
>> a.p.d.
>> I want to thank y'all for the answers that you provided to me in the previous time that you've come before the court.
they were really helpful to me to make the decision I’m making today to support this.
so let's move forward and go from there.
>> thank you, sir.
appreciate it.
>> all in favor?
we'll move forward.
>> thank you.
>> unanimous support.
are we down to executive session?
we haven't taken 11?
okay.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> I think 11, I think the only one that we might not take, or depending on what the court wants to do, is the executive session item.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, February, 2011 2:19 PM
