Travis County Commssioners Court
March 4, 2003
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Executive session
22. Consider and take appropriate action on projects and amounts for funding from road and park bonds and certificates of obligation to be issued in fy'03.
>> your consultants have information about a property acquisition that you may wish to hear in executive session. That will help you come to a conclusion regarding the item under 22.
>> and related to that, have we already put on a -- a tally sheet whatever plug figure we need to put in related to the remediation that we need to do out at the closed landfill?
>> we would appreciate guidance --
>> that is an item that is not lost in our discussions, because that is --
>> we know that it's out there.
>> currently, the latest on that is I have had a conversation with david escovila, it appears that previous bond fund, ... Are eligible to tap into. I have got a call into the auditor's office right now to see what our next step is. That assumes a budget of -- of 400 to 500,000 or thereabouts off the top of my head. But it's still in progress. There is no number in this -- in the -- middle multiple.
>> there is sufficient dollars there, we have reasonable assurance that it's [multiple voices]
>> it's legally eligible. From what I have been told.
>> appreciate that.
>> we still need a follow-up discussion to determine the amount. What do we need to hear from you all today? Anything?
>> they were going to share some ideas and some thoughts and some issues in executive session. That's -- that's what -- what the suggestion was regarding a property acquisition.
>> but christian, did you also -- you know, we had a running tally of the co's along with the parks and -- and road bonds, I think about $53 million, whatever the total was, decrease 2 million, and we looked at -- at offsetting that towards the issuance and then when that debt would be retired, even if this is -- if it's approved by the court, this southwest nstuff, that would include it, that nodes to be a part of that -- needs to be a part of that process to let me know exactly where we are.
>> joe, just one second.
>> I understand.
>> you feel that it [inaudible]
>> trying to work this morning --
>> I don't know.
>> are we working until 12:30?
>> I suppose.
>> why don't we do that. Take as many executive session items as we can, and which hopeful lil be all of them. Which hopefully will be all of them. Hopefully the executive session item participants have not gone to lunch yet.
>> judge, item 14.
>> beg your pardon.
>> item no. 14.
>> we have other things first.
>> okay. I was just asking about them.
>> let's try to get -- let's try to hear from them. Xs xs xs xs xs 22, will be in executive session under the consultation with attorney and what else? It's about the real property -- the real property exception and the -- the advice of council. Exception to the open meetings act. And number 34. 34. Discuss, approve and take appropriate action regarding real estate issues for office space for various county departments. That's the real property exception to the open meetings act. 35. Receive briefing from county attorney regarding potential litigation for recovery of damages to the Travis County medical examiner's facility for Travis County's non-insured losses and consider pro-rata agreement with zurich american insurance and take appropriate action. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 36. Receive briefing from county attorney and give direction regarding Travis County subrogation claim in the matter of deke pierce and take appropriate action. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 37 probably take that this afternoon, right. 37 a and b will take a little while I believe, hold off on it. 38. Authorize county attorney to hire expert(s) in rosenbaum v Travis County, (requested by county attorney.) That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 39. Receive briefing from county attorney, designate a representative for mediation and take appropriate action in the matter of robert p. Maddox jr. V. Travis County Texas cause no. Gn-002616, in the 261st judicial district court Travis County, Texas. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 40. Receive briefing from county attorney in Travis County, et al. V. Stanley morris boring (suzanne kaiser resale deed), and take promote action. And take appropriate action. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 41. Receive briefing from county attorney in Travis County, et al. V. W.e. Geraghty (m. Mark kutscherousky resale deed), and take appropriate action.
>>
>> [audio problems, please stand by] (audio has been cut off for emergency broadcast testing).
>>
>> we just returned from executive session. I move that we recess until 1:30 this afternoon.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. With -- with commissioner daughter tee not with us.
>>
>> *** afternoon break ***
>>
>> good afternoon. We are going to call back to order the voting session of the Travis County commissioners court.
>> I got the answer for item no. 14. I got the answer for it, I would like to -- [inaudible]
>> I think we ought to take it up after executive session. We have actually quite a bit left.
>> okay.
>> including mr. -- mr. -- what time do you have to go home?
>> 4:30.
>>
>> any of these can be kept until next week?
>> I'm not going to be here next week.
>> can they be handled without you?
>> she's not going to be here, either. I could come next week. That's okay. We will do it. I'm not sure about the representation letter. But that's -- that's --
>> I don't think we need you for that, though. We need to pay claim and improve investments after executive session. We will try to get to you. If not, we will make do.
>>
>> turning to the executive session, item 43 is to conduct interviews of applicants for Travis County attorney and take appropriate action. And b we will take up in open court after the interviews in a discussion, which is authorized by a. This is posted under the personnel matters exception to the open meetings act. We will conduct these interviews in executive session. And we will return to open court before taking any action.
>>
>> we have returned from executive session where we discussioned this afternoon and this morning several items, including item 22, along with number 34. 22 involves the road and park bonds and certificates of obligation. And 34 involves a piece of real estate that the county is looking at acquiring for various county departments.
>> i'll go with recommendations that we have gotten from our real estate manager on the floar items. 34. To direct the management to continue the negotiations that we have underway and that we include this particular project in the current co issuance and we'll get back to that in terms of what more we need to do to address -- to direct the county attorney's office to begin drafting a purchasing contract and for us to move expeditiously related to an approval that is necessary for this as we can make that happen. And to authorize judge Biscoe to execute all necessary documents on behalf of the county and repost this for next week.
>> second.
>> seconded by commissioner Gomez. And if we add this item to the co issue that we have been considering, that would bring the total to --
>> $23,325,000 on the co side.
>> okay.
>> and the motion contains the authorization for appropriate county staff to secure an appraisal and get with purchasing, the county attorney's office to prepare the necessary additional documentation to support that, but time is of the essence, so we need to work to begin immediately.
>> and for them to work with pbo in terms of the transfer of money that may need to occur related to getting that dollar amount in place so that we can do the purchase order on the appraisal.
>> okay. Any more discussion of the motion?
>> are we also taking in, judge, the bond amount is what has been recommended all along by planning and budget related to what we were going to do on the 2001 issuance?
>> 325?
>> right, but there is also the bonds, and I believe that number is 35,995,000, which is consistent with what's been going on in all of our memos. Bonds and co's. And that authorizes the notice to publish related to these dollar amounts that we're locking down.
>> that's fine with me.
>> any more discussion? Fall in favor of the motion? That passes by unanimous vote. Number 35 involves the medical examiner's facility. I move that we authorize the county attorney's office to share the county's alternative proposal with the law firm that made the original offer to us and report back to us with an -- with their response next week.
>> second.
>> so we will have 35 back on the agenda on March 11th. That was seconded by commissioner Sonleitner. Any more discussion of that motion? All those in favor, signify unanimous vote. 36 is subrogation matter of deke pierce. I move that we authorize the county attorney's office to negotiate appropriate changes to the offer from mr. Pierce's attorney and report back to us. We'll have it on the agenda again next week in case we need it.
>> second.
>> any more discussion of this one? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. We will not be able to take item 37 a and b this week. It will be back on next week and hope that we'll take it early in the agenda. In the meantime, we did get information from commissioner Sonleitner which we can review, and commissioner Gomez, and do the appropriate due diligence between now and next week. So we'll be ready hopefully for a full discussion of this item plus action next week. On 39 involving the request for a representative for mediation in the matter of robert p. Maddox versus Travis County, I move that we ask dan man sewer to represent Travis County. He's so good at that. And I don't even consider the possibility that he may turn us down. Down.
>> second.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. On the next three items --
>> did we do 38, judge?
>> no, we sure did not do 38. 38, we need to hire experts in the rosenbalm versus Travis County matter.
>> authorize the county attorney to hire whatever appropriate experts are needed for that case.
>> seconded by commissioner Davis. Any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. On 41 and 42, let me read the amounts into the record and also the grantees. In number 40, for the amount of $8,800 cash in hand paid to Travis County, move that we authorize the county judge to execute the proposed tax resale deed to suzanne kaiser.
>> second.
>> let me do -- and on the second one, because we have received the amount of $8,500 in cash, we authorize the county judge to sign the proposed tax resale deed to m. Mark kutscherousky. And finally, in exchange for the amount of $5,500 that we authorize the county judge to sign the proposed resale deed to trevor schwartz, grantee. That was seconded by commissioner Gomez. Any discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thanks again to elliott beck and his division.
>> on number 43 a and b, first let's express our appreciation to the four applicants for this position and send each of them an appropriate letter of appreciation. With that I move that we appoint david escobedo as Travis County attorney.
>> second.
>> any more discussion of that motion?
>> judge, I just want to echo there in terms of what you said on it. We got a very broad range of ideas, and I thoroughly appreciate people being very giving of their time and attention. It was very evident that the people who applied for this job gave a lot of thought to it and I appreciate the time that they put into this process. It was very, very helpful.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> congratulations.
>> now the real work begins, david.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM