Travis County Commssioners Court
July 29, 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 6
Judge, do we have somebody else here on item 6-a?
>> 6-a is to approve resolution recognizing Travis County law library for 20 years of outstanding service to Travis County judges and attorneys and litigants. And b is to accept award of $250 from the american association of law libraries for design of proceed sure titled name change for an adult in Travis County. And shall we read the proclamation?
>> sure.
>> resolution? It reads, whereas service, dedication and leadership should always be recognized; whereas the year 2003 marks the 20th year of outstanding service by the Travis County law library to the judges, attorneys and litigants of Travis County, and I'm sure the other residents of Travis County who have access to this library, right? Whereas the library is dedicated to providing prompt, courteous and reliable customer service, whereas the Travis County law library has implemented innovative new services for self-represented litigants. Whereas the american association of law libraries has recognized Travis County law library for its creation of materials to help pro se litigants and whereas the Travis County law library is the best little law library in Texas. Now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court of the state of Texas gratefully recognizes the contributions of the Travis County law library to the citizens and employees of Travis County and wishes the library staff continued success. And move approval.
>> second.
>> okay.
>> morning, judge and Commissioners. I'm director and manager of communication resources, law library is part of our group. I'd just like to say that the law library is legislatively ban -- mandated operation that provides access to will you lau for any and all litigants in Travis County. And we have a measurable positive affect on our community. Through the statistics that we keep, we're 20 years old and I am extremely proud the law library has won an award. And I know there are a couple other folks who would like to say a few words.
>> well, I just want to remind our fellow citizens that Travis County does offer a law library, one here in the granger building on 11th street and guadalupe and then one at the historical courthouse. Those are open to the public from 8:00 to 5:00 o'clock. You can go and research from divorce to adoption to all kind of legal materials that you would like to do research. It's absolutely free to the public. We have staff also that are able to assist the public in their research and we have a part-time attorney that will help the public also with some minor legal counsel in terms of name changes or adoption or where you go to get an attorney, those sorts of things. I think we have a variety of people that walk into our law libraries with a variety of questions, and a lot of times don't even know where to start. And so we do have -- and I think judge livingston is going to talk to you about the success of the pro se program. So I wanted to let the citizens know, the public know, and also I think we're here to celebrate 20 years of that service, and we have grown in staffing, we have grown in the services that we provide and the materials available.
>> good morning. I'm pleased to be here as one of -- and bring thanks and greetings from across the street from the district judges. I want to thank you for this the support you've given to this program and the law library over the past 20 years, but especially I want to highlight the more recent work of the law library with regard to the service to the public offered through the law library's reference attorney program. You know these people as well as I do and so I know they're going to be introduced individually later, but I want to mielt the work that mr. Bowfier and ms. Rush and particularly the reference attorneys have -- and the commitment that each of them have given not only to the work that the public sees, but only behind the scenes work that nobody sees. They've shown up to numerous committee meetings. We've gone back and forth overdrafts and draft and amendments to drafts, and we've ultimately produced what I'm very proud of as a product that I think we can all put forth to the public and to Texas in terms of getting through the legal system with regard to certain family law type issues, particularly the name change forms that we've created as well as the divorce forms for our citizens. So I thought I might just kind of backup a minute and tell you and remind you about some of the problems we're seeing and how I think we resolved some of them. From the court's perspective, our uncontested docket in particular, that is the hour in the morning and the hour in the afternoon when folks who have uncontested problems have come. And that is often name changes and divorces and other matters like that. We were clogging up our dongts with folks trying to do it themselves. They think it's cheap and easy, they think they can handle it themselves, and many of them can. But they can't do it without help and information and without the correct paperwork. And they were presenting to the judges on a regular basis incorrect paperwork and creating many, problems. And a divorce case, just to highlight one problem, we would get these divorce decrees that weren't adequate and they would say, for example, nothing about child support action even though they agreed there might have been child support. That's an unenforceable order that would create a problem for a child trying to survive and a parent trying to take care of that child in that parents' household. We're now able to save hours and hours and hours of court time having to sit there on the bench and try to write those out for them by working with them on front end before they ever come to the bench and making sure that the paperwork is correct and all of it they need is in the file and it makes for a much more efficient system. We now have enforceable orders and it's because of the hard work of the reference attorneys and the folks in the records management division. We solved a problem to put it simply. And it's one that will ultimately benefit every litigant in Travis County, but also the public as a whole. People are paying child support and kids are eating and everybody in this community benefits. We have frankly been very innovative and creative in Travis County and it's the work of these folks here in front of you this morning that are responsible for that as well as some that aren't here today or others that help make up the components of our committee work. We have been innovative and the law library has been recognized, but we've also been recognized by others in this state who are trying to duplicate this model. I've given a number of speeches, I'm going to give one on Saturday that the state bar of Texas is putting on to talk about this very issue. We are now -- our forms are on the cd that I'm holding that I'm going to use in part of my presentation to that group on Saturday and it includes forms from el paso, san antonio and Travis County and fort bend cs, we are sort of the four counties in the state that are leading the way in this kind of an innovation and this kind of delivery model for the delivery of legal services to the citizens of Texas. So we're being innovative and creative and solving the problem and getting the word out. We're telling people go to our website and use our forms and ask us for questions and we'll help you do it right in your county and perhaps all 254 counties in Texas, we'll be able to help their litigants the way we help ours here in Travis County. I hope when the time comes that we come back begging for money that you will give it to us so we can expand this program. We're not here to talk about that today, but just to preview that, please favorably consider that when the time comes. I want to add my congratulations and the congratulations for all the district judges on a job well done by all these fine individuals and thank you for all your support.
>> thank all of you.
>> I think they deserve a hand. [ applause ]
>> I think it may be appropriate if y'all were introduced to all of the staff of the law library. And the manager of the law library is lisa rush.
>> I am lisa rush. I would like to introduce my staff. Here we have dolores harris. We have our two reference attorneys, Karen miller and (indiscernible) and a great reference librarian. [inaudible - no mic].
>> I may need a copy of your cd because I know people asked me last night for this assistance for how to prepare for a divorce.
>> well, that you can actually get from the website. It has the forms on it, which I'm happy to share with you, but it also has information on how to set up a program like this one in your county. So it's directed to a little bit of a different audience, but if you give them the law library phone number, we'll take care of it.
>> what's the website for those computer literate?
>> Travis County law library.org.
>> that's simple.
>> it is.
>> I probably should add that i'll tell you that the judges are just tickled pink. In my courtroom in uncontested docket, I don't see a litigant that hasn't already had their paperwork reviewed by the reference lawyers. It just is an enormous benefit to the way we do business across the street and we are eternally grateful.
>> a great benefit to citizens. I think with a little investment they get a lot of things, especially not having to go through a divorce attorney.
>> just in terms of educating folks, we are mandated to have a law library. How does funding for this occur? Is there a filing fee associated with it, and in terms of what we do here in Travis County, does that fee cover operations or is this supplemental dollars?
>> it covers -- it is a fee-based program through court filing fees, and it covers the cost completely for the entire law library, for all of the reference materials as well as for all of the staff, all of the forms. And it has been that way for many years now. There was a time several years ago that there was supplemental funding provided from Commissioners court for which we've always been appreciative, but in the last several years it has not been required. On one other note, more and more of the information is being provided online as well. Books are required still, but many of -- many of the people who access the law library now get it through computer rather than through books.
>> appreciate it. Thank y'all.
>> very good.
>> all in favor of the motion covering 6-a? That passes by unanimous vote. Now, 6-b, which I read, is $250, does that go to the law library fund or the general fund?
>> well, judge, we're not entirely certain as to where this money should go. We just wanted it noted that it is here.
>> I think it should go to the law library, the funds to aid with the publication of materials.
>> I would like for it to go to the law library fund.
>> that would be wonderful.
>> do awards fall into ending fund balance? Can we appropriate it to next year? [ laughter ]
>> the organization that had given the money was putting a strong encouragement that it continue to go into this type of work.
>> my question was can we do it this fiscal year or do we have to wait until October 1?
>> I agree with that.
>> yes, I believe it is. It's in the letter. Yes.
>> strongly encouraging it. [ laughter ] [overlapping speakers].
>> you should see the beautiful plaque.
>> very nice.
>> congratulations to you all. Thea reflects very well on all of you.
>> who is that -- it's from the american association of law libraries? There is such a group.
>> there is. [ laughter ]
>> we accept the contribution of $250, and that if legal we dedicate it to the law library fund.
>> second.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Good to meet y'all. I thought y'all were six happy litigants. [ laughter ]
>> we do have evaluations from happy litigants if you would like to see them, we can make those available to you. The feedback has been tremendous from the public.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> judge, I might want to add one caveat that luj livingston and I would agree with, the Travis County bar association, that these are folks that are normally the working poor and folks who either couldn't get into legal aid or don't have the money to be able to afford an attorney. We would certainly always recommend getting an attorney, but having these two attorneys, part-time attorneys working over there, i've watched them and they are good. They're talented people and people who can't afford an attorney or if you want to be able to bypass that effort, this is a marvelous opportunity that those of us who don't have time and effort to be able to put in pro bone know, they're there for us.
>> the public needs to know that y'all are very good lawyers and I will spread the word.
>> and also, unfortunately, fortunately or unfortunately, we have many victims of domestic violence who literally walk out of their homes with the clothes on their back, and this is a wonderful wonderful place to start to try to get their legal situation back in order. Appreciate y'all.
>> thanks.
>> thank you very much.
Last Modified:
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 12:31 PM