Travis County Commssioners Court
March 18, 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.
Item 14
14 is to review and take appropriate action on key questions for the independent review panel to conduct an analysis of the starflight program's organizational structure and protocol for use of the starflight aircraft and request for up to $9,500 to cover expenses incurred and services provided by the review panel. So this is really a two-part item, the first part dealing with the appropriate question, the second part basically a budget of up to $9,500 to cover expenses and services.
>> judge and commissioners, once again, I'm carol colburn, acting justice of public safety executive manager, and we are very happy that we do have the independent review panel meeting today, actually, probably right above us on the third floor, to look at the organizational structure of the starflight program. And we wanted to get approval on the key questions that we're going to ask for recommendations on from the panel. We will be receiving a report from them some time in April. As well we've provided for you in backup the protocols for the use of starflight aircraft, which is one of the issues that we are requesting the panel to look at and make religious, and we also wanted owe woapted to get the court to do the same, to look at that. And give us your approval on that. And also the request to cover expenses for a couple of the panel members.
>> and you've got internal funds, there, carol.
>> yes, we do.
>> let me ask you a question. Why do we have to go out of town to get persons to come in to be a part of the review panel?
>> actually, I might get raichd harrington to answer that.
>> i'd noiklike to know that. I would think that someone would be relatively closer than these persons we're looking at. Can you answer that question for me?
>> i'll answer that. I'm richard harrington, executive director of Austin-Travis County e.m.s. There's only one person from out of town. And when we look at the scope of this, one of the things we were looking for was to make sure we had a current -- somebody who has been a director of operations who has a lot of flight experience that's truly not represented nor does he or she have any ties to the local air medical community, which quite frankly is a very close knit community within central Texas. The gentleman we brought in from rochester new york is the president of the national association of e.m.s. Pilots.
>> president of what now.
>> of the national association of medical emergency pilots. He's spent a lot of time in washington lobbying for the aviation issues as how they relate to the e.m.s. Field. We felt he would be a have member, objective member of this. He is not charging us anything for his time. In fact, he's taking vacation time to be here, he's just asked us to reimburse him for his airfare, hotel and his per diem charges, the meals.
>> so that's the knot to exceed amount.
>> the largest not to exceed amount is tied to there is an outside employment lawyer by the name of sheila gladstone that has been brought in to chair this group. And that not to exceed amount on the city's side -- the city entered into a contract with her not to exceed 15,000. That was two and a half months ago and we really didn't know what the scope of the panel was going to be. The questions you have in front of you and the ones the city has proposed, the scope has narrowed significantly than what was originally envisioned back in January.
>> okay.
>> and do we have somebody here tending to the f.a.a. Interest?
>> it is mr. Campbell that richard was referring to. And richard and I briefed the panel yesterday morning, and I have to say that they're excellent, including mr. Campbell. They just disoad in on the crux of the issues and mr. Campbell has his f.a.a. Regulations book with him and he is really an expert in that area. So I'm very glad we have him on the panel.
>> we're actually -- there's actually two aviation experts on the panel. There's lieutenant butler from the -- a commander in the army national guard. He's very, very -- I had a meeting with him yesterday also. I was very impressed with the depth knowledge he has about f.a.a. Requirements and f.a.a. Mandate structures.
>> and I think a lot of the questions here were worded in a way that it is not personality driven by any stretch of the imagination, it is a title, it is a chart, because it doesn't matter, as we've all discussed, who is in the slot. The same questions will come up if we don't make it clear as to what the organizational structure is, have clarity on the organization, lines of authority, because these questions will keep coming up and keep coming up and keep coming up unless we get clarity. And we're really looking for best practices in terms of is this something that works elsewhere and to get some opinions about this from other organizations. And that's where mr. Campbell will be very valuable.
>> and the reason I'm concerned about if is because Travis County still has the certificate, correct?
>> correct.
>> so it is still medical. And so those are the two things that I want to get clarified and have foremost in my mind.
>> and the report I guess will be due back in April and the recommendations along with the findings of this particular panel will come before the commissioners court about that time?
>> yes, sir, recommendations to the court.
>> okay. And along with the organizational structure in place and stuff like that?
>> yes, sir. That will be part of the recommendations.
>> okay.
>> and the city council as well.
>> yes, also to the city council. And I would like to introduce to my left casey ping, who is a starflight program manager, as well as willie col berson, who is the drerkt of starflight operations. They were both kind enough to help put together the backup to this agenda item, especially the part on the flight approval process. And this is just one of the issues that we're having the panel look at. And we also wanted to present it to the commissioners court as well so y'all could see how it's done and get a nod of approval on that as well.
>> so this will come back in April also?
>> the panel is looking at this as well. It will be part of the recommendations.
>> it will be part for the panel to review?
>> yes, sir, it is.
>> is there a key provided that would show what does pr mean, what is law, what is operation?
>> the pr's are basically the public relations flight. That's also landing zone safety flights where we go out and work with one of the local fire departments within our service area and provide a class on how to set up the landing zone, what to expect the aircraft to do and how to operate safely around the aircraft. So those are lumped into pr. The law is basically those are missions in which we support law enforcement for missing children is technically a law event. Law enforcement is responsible for the investigation, so we may go out and support the law enforcement in looking for lost people. So it's really a support mission, but we could get you a further brack down.
>> just a key to describe what each one of those missions is. Operations?
>> operations are flights in which they're directly to support the operation. In other words, we need to move the aircraft from brackenridge to the hanger to do maintenance. So that would be an operational flight. Or from the hanger back to the hospital. It would be things that are supporting the system, supporting the operation.
>> and if there are any recommended changes in protocol, that's something that will come back to us to decide on at a later date.
>> these questions are as a sort of guide. If during their discussions others surface, they'll simply address them and put them in the report, I take it?
>> yes, sir.
>> in the meeting with them, they consider themselves truly an independent panel to the extent that they -- in the briefing yesterday, they don't want staff involved. They want the panel to be able to speak sfre-freely and bring in whoever they need to interview. I know they went to the hanger yesterday and interviewed the full flight crew.
>> move approval of the key questions and backup.
>> second.
>> authorize the sum of up to $9,500 may be spent from salary savings and the [ inaudible ].
>> could I ask a question? Is the 95, is that the county's? Because we were talking about 15,000, so the city is picking up --
>> yes, sir, that would be the county's half. And richard and i, we've discuss it had. We don't think it's going to go up that half because the scope has narrowed so much, but that is what the contract states.
>> we will pay up to. We will pay half of it.
>> so it could be 19,000 because 9500 represents half of it.
>> that's correct.
>> so if it's 14,000, ours is seven grand?
>> yes.
>> any more discussion? Our agreement with the city has been to pay 50% of cost.
>> that's correct.
>> up to $9,500. They'll do the same.
>> yes, sir.
>> actually, I think the plan is to pay the full amount and ask for reimbursement on half of it, whatever half it will be.
>> it will be reimbursed by the city.
>> I advise the city to get their money as soon as they can. [ laughter ] all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank y'all very much.
>> thank you.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM