Travis County Commssioners Court
April 1, 2003
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Item 31
Number 31 is approve 12 month extension modification number 1 to contracts for newspaper advertising. And a list of newspapers, without reading the number. At is Austin chronicle, t is tien viet magazine. C is hill country news. D is the villager. E is westlake pick ca iewn. F is oak hill gazette. G is la prensa newspaper. H is el munso newspaper. Okay. Is el munto a word,Margaret?
>> no.
>> and I is arriba art and business news.
>> [inaudible - no mic]. [ laughter ]
>> that is a nown.
>> my high school spanish is not kicking in.
>> no, it's okay, but the spelling. [ laughter ]
>> does it take care of the problem that was involved the last time?
>> yeah. Y'all were going to ask me to provide y'all with a list of the newspapers and where they were physically located and their circulation. And we've provided that information to you.
>> this is one of those things, because one of the -- the fiscal printing place of the hill country news is technically in Cedar Park. Appeared my concern here is -- and my concern here is these other things do a really good job of, you know, handling certain kinds of areas. And i'll I’m real concerned that if we don't do the hill country news, we'll have a gap here in terms of a part of Travis County that is not going to be covered because of the circulation of some of these other things. The villager does a great job, the picayune and those folks in oak hill, but those folks are not the 183 corridor, and hill country news does cover that corridor and north Lake Travis in terms of the piece of Lake Travis that is in Travis County.
>> but it's not up to us to cover every pocket in the county. It's for us to cover the Travis County businesses. That's why I supported it the first time and support it here after. The shortness, though, let's just pull out the hill country news, and I move that we approve all the others.
>> second.
>> any discussion on that? All in favor? Show Commissioners Gomez, Davis, Sonleitner, Biscoe voting in favor. Commissioner Daugherty abstaining.
>> yes.
>> and now hill country news for the reason I stated a minute ago, I move that we do not contract with hill country news under this program.
>> second.
>> any more discussion? All in favor?
>> I move that we not contract.
>> right. Not contract with hill country. Voting for it is Commissioner Davis, Gomez and yours truly voting in favor of the motion. And voting against is Commissioner Sonleitner, Commissioner Daugherty.
>> can I ask a secondary question because of the result of this vote? And that is is it -- would this court entertain us adding another newspaper within Travis County that will get the word out related to hub that is going to take care of northwest Travis County, because I’m a little concerned that the ones that are listed here now, the chronicle does not get out into those areas in terms of distribution, the villager doesn't, westlake picayune, south shores, not north shores rkz oak hill not. I’m just concerned that there is a gap here. And if it needs to be Travis County, I would just love to see us get something in Travis County to help out the northwest section related to this program. It's very important.
>> and I would remind the county judge with than appropriate -- it is an important agenda item and we ought to do just that.
>> the log is located in Travis County, it's on the north shores of Travis County. I would start thrvment.
>> actually, the westlake picayune is part of four newspapers in north Austin, so they are advertised through -- when we advertise in the westlake picayune it goes in the north Lake Travis log.
>> probably the Lake Travis view.
>> that's it.
>> so this one does cover it?
>> it will be in those newspapers.
>> then I withdraw.
>> let me ask this. I was a little surprised at the explanation of exactly what advertising we do. That was last week. And if -- whether it's coming back or not, I think we ought to look at what exactly it is we're doing. I had something else in mind. Now, not that something's wrong with it. It just wasn't what I expected.
>> and I appreciate you communicating to me what your intent is. And then that way I can carry out your intent.
>> it isn't necessarily my intent, it's the court's intent. And my surprise was I expected another answer, but I would have an appropriate item on the agenda next week, and in between now and then, if you would tell me whatever advertising we do with these, i'll have my intention reduced to writing.
>> what advertising we do with these?
>> right.
>> what exactly --
>> the little piece that you mentioned surprised me. I thought we were doing something else. Not that it's wrong, business is business, but at the same time, I think the question is what benefit does the county get? And I had in mind really a look at more substance than --
>> what we were doing is we were reat a timing one ad.
>> I have an item on next week. Commissioner Daugherty?
>> and it's my full intentions is to take out an ad myself in the hill country news. I mean, so-- I suppose I can do that, but since precinct 3 covers a lot of that area --
>> that was my sensitivity to it.
>> and I guess the -- it's not like you need to know that, but I would have intentions of doing that.
>> yeah.
>> it seems like on that -- [ laughter ]
>> the court wouldn't pay for it.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 8, 2003 1:25 PM