Travis County Commssioners Court
November 19, 2002
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Item 1
1. Approve proclamation commending paul franks for his many years of service
to Travis County and its residents. Mr. Franks is here?
>> with his wife sandy.
>> please come forward. Bring the madam. Is that the madam
or your daughter? [ laughter ]
>> judge, don't go there. Don't go there. [ laughter ]
>> others from t.n.r. Please come forward. It reads whereas
mr. Paul frank, program manager of road maintenance for the trmtion and natural
resources department -- transportation and natural resources department is
retiring on November 30th, 2002, whereas mr. Franks has served Travis County
road maintenance and satellite services for 27 years, and began his career
with the county as the equipment operator for precinct 1, and served 14 years
at this precinct during his tenure at precinct 1 he quickly assumed increasingly
responsible position, including foreman for right-of-way maintenance at precinct
1, whereas after the county consolidated all road maintenance activity into
one department in 1988, mr. Franks relocated to precinct 3 and performed as
a field section supervisor for precinct 3. From 1990 through 1993 he served
as a section manager for divisional operations in precinct 2 and 3. Since
1993, he has served as the program manager for all operations within the road
maintenance division. Serving all four precincts and looks like he got served
everywhere except precinct 4. We may ask you to go there between now and November
30th [ laughter ], that will give you full coverage there. Whereas mr. Franks
has developed numerous contacts with constituents and agencies throughout
the county, particularly the many rural residents in precinct 1 view mr. Franks
as their personal contact point of where they requested services from the
division. Whereas with personal review of the contract vendor serving the
county as paving contractors, equipment providers and material vendors, many
considered mr. Frank as the final voice of when doing business with the county
and would seek his advice on how to satisfy their customers and I'm sure joe
and dawn are happy to hear about that. My office didn't drafted this, you
all, although it kind of flows like one that we would do. [ laughter ] whereas
mr. Franks has closely worked with many of the incorporated townships within
the county, it's efforts expedited their work within the jurisdictions as
part of the interlocal agreements between the counties and townships such
as the cities of manor, Lakeway, Pflugerville, Mustang Ridge to name a few,
this work provided services to these residents that may not have been possible
without joint effort and the essential coordination of the joint effort provided
by mr. Franks. Whereas mr. Franks retirement from the division will remove
a talented and irreplaceable human resource, but the division will also lose
the laughter that generally could be counted on after a joke or a mistake
from a subordinate and the taste of his coffee that was made from what many
thought was cedar bark. [ laughter ] mr. Franks could always be counted upon
to solve complex problems, and he never lost his cool in a crisis. Now therefore
be it resolved that we the Travis County commissioners court do here by extend
special thanks to paul franks for his years of dedicated service to Travis
County, and extend wishes to him, best wishes to him in all future endeavors.
I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> I had forgotten that I had been all of those places and
did all of those things. But I do thank you.
>> let's hear from don and joe and give you the opportunity
to go last just in case you need to -- some pay-back. [ laughter ]
>> as you all know or may not know, you all on the court
know, paul has been my right hand, he has been my right and left hand in administration
of road and bridge and also my liaison between the you think -- the unincorporated
and incorporated areas of Travis County. He's didn't an excel leapt job. Looks
like I'm fixing to have to go to work now that he's leaving. I still have
all of his numbers so I should be able to still contact him for pertinent
information for him. Which will be all of the time. [ laughter ] since he's
now a constituent. So -- but seriously, paul is going to be greatly missed.
He's been a great asset to the organization. He's always looked forward. He's
been a forward thinker and he's helped develop a lot of things that we have
in road and bridge, we are going to miss him greatly.
>> I would just like to add that paul has been here about
the same length of time that I have. And has gone through a tremendous amount
of change in his career. He was here prior to the formation of the [inaudible]
worked under several commissioners. And I understand that he's going to write
a book [laughter] no. Maybe not. But we will miss him because he is able to
evolve what you see today at t.n.r., As a good measure because of his expertise.
And his history, his -- his ability to keep things moving along. And we will
miss him a lot. Paul, thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> I believe the city manager of like way also has -- of
Lakeway also has a -- [inaudible]
>> okay.
>> hey paul, big day, huh?
>> this is a surprise.
>> I appreciate the court and joe gieselman's allowing me
to come down and make a presentation on behalf of the stea of Lakeway. --
the city of Lakeway. It's been my personal pleasure to work with paul franks
for a number of years, ever since the interlocal has been put in place that
allowed the Travis County to do road improvements on behalf of the city of
Lakeway within the incorporated city limits of Lakeway. I have gone through
a number of paving programs on annual basis both from providing our information
through the contracting process and ultimately to the execution of the projects
themselves. It's been a great benefit to the city of Lakeway. We thank Travis
County and we of course -- I can't tell you how much i've appreciated personally
the patience and attention that paul franks has given me and -- and as a result
of this, and the recognition of the city council at our meeting yesterday,
the council passed this -- this resolution if you would permit me, I would
like to read. It's city the Lakeway resolution number 2002-11-18-2, honoring
paul franks. Whereas the city of lake we and Travis County have a long history
of successful cooperation in accomplishing joint projects of major benefit
to our constituent taxpayers, and whereas the city of Lakeway continues to
benefit from an interlocal agreement with Travis County, whereas the county
add straits and manages -- administrates and manages annual road improvement
projects within the city and whereas it has been the great fortune of the
city of Lakeway to have mr. Paul franks of traction, transportation and natural
resources, directly manage these road improvement projects and whereas the
city of Lakeway and me, its city manager, dave benson, want to recognize mr.
Paul franks for his outstanding service to the city, such service bringing
great credit not only to him personally, but also to Travis County. Now therefore
be it resolved on the event of his retirement from employment with Travis
County, the city of Lakeway sends congratulatory greetings as well as its
best wishes to mr. Paul franks regarding his future efforts. Passed and approved
the 18th day of November, signed by charles a. Edwards, mayor of the city
of Lakeway. I would like to present this to paul franks with my thanks and
great appreciation, best of luck. [ applause ]
>> what can I say? [ laughter ] I feel like I'm at the academy
awards and there's all of these people that I need to thank. But truly they
are probably all standing behind me in this current court. Like joe said a
while ago, I guess that we have seen a lot of changes in our tenure of the
county and I will go on record here with any future candidate that may run
against any one of you all that wants to know, which is better the old precinct
system or what we have evolved to. This is much better. Our department is
-- can do so much more that be what we used to could, there's so much more
cooperation and all of these accolades that everybody is giving me could only
have been done had it not been for the people that have been stand -- that
are standing behind me and the court that's we have worked for. To everybody
I say thank you and I appreciate the recognition.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, paul.
>> ms. Franks, you will have -- you will have paul on your
hands 24 hours a day now any words? [ laughter ] for -- many, many years ago
when I was precinct 1 county commissioner, I did have an opportunity to work
with paul, you could always depend on him to get the job done. He will be
missed. Anything else from the court?
>> just on behalf of precinct 2, when the public calls in
or they call directly to t.n.r., They don't see the many layers of people
that it goes through. But we couldn't have done it without you and gretchen
is going to have to put somebody else on speed dial in terms of trying to
get this stuff. But I look at all of the other folks, you're right, it is
a team effort. The brain trust and knowledge trust of what we have now in
modern day t.n.r. Is incredible. I am lamenting the days when it's going to
be don's turn or to retire or larry's turn to retire or daniel's turn to retire,
whomever, because we have built up such an expertise in that department. Just
on behalf of all of the residents of precinct 2, thank you, baugh you solve
so many problems for us.
>> well, we will have to ask that you take your first retirement
paycheck and get yourself a frame to put this in. Either that or go down to
Lakeway and see if they have a spare one down there. [ laughter ] they gave
you a beautiful one there.
>> > paul, thanks so much for everything. You've really been
an inspiration to me. Looking at some of the major projects that have been
going on in precinct 1. You have been right out there. We've had different
events, thinking about the [inaudible] road bridge project, tuscany way, just
many other projects that occurred in precinct 1 and you have been been right
out there with the persons that we have dealt with this process and you are
going to be sorely missed. I would like to tell you thanks so much for your
service with contract. Stay busy. Stay busy.
>> I would like to add my thanks as well, even though you
didn't work in precinct 4. But still I think that you were working for the
whole county when we went to the unit road system and I know it was a big
change and, you know, people don't like change. But that's how we evolve into
present day from the past. And so I'm very glad that -- that the new system
has worked well for everyone in the county. It took a lot of pay sheps, I'm
sure, it -- patience and it took a lot of working through barriers, but we
have been able to do that. And I think you're right, the system does work
better this way. For all of the people of Travis County. And -- and I think
it's more equal as well.
>> yeah.
>> because -- because all of us get a chance to look at the
needs all over the county. And not just in our own back yard. So I'm really
appreciative that you are part of the team that made it work. And so all you
have, thanks very much. And have fun.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. [ applause
] with commissioner Moore absent.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM