Travis County Commssioners Court
August 5, 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 5
Number five is to approve resolution honoring tom watson on his retirement from the transportation and natural resources department after 17 years of service to Travis County.
>> I have a proclamation here, judge, if mr. Watson and anybody else that wants to join him. Okay. That reads that whereas tom watson has been a devoted and diligent of travis dill employee of Travis County for the past 17 years and whereas tom has served in three of the four precinct yards, starting in precinct 2, moving to 3 and completing it at the satellite 4 service center. Whereas tom contributed to the great success of the county's water delivery program for 11 years as a delivery driver during a critical time when no water services were available to many constituents of Travis County. And whereas tom has served as the community service restitution crew leader and for the last three years of the satellite 4 asphalt patching crew leader. Now therefore be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court do here by thank tom watson for his many years of service to the residents of Travis County and wish him a long and happy retirement.
>> good morning and thank you. I'd like to say a few words.
>> we should have insisted on you being first. [ laughter ]
>> I don't know --
>> we know him as tommy, so I came back and I said that is right.
>> we've had lots of fun and it's been a pleasure. I've known him for 10 years and he's been worchdful to work with -- wonderful to work with. We appreciate it.
>> I'm the director of road and maintenance. I second that. Tom's been with me ever since i've been here, like I said, in the water and delivery program. And when we did away with that program, tom went to other programs. He's been capable of serving in all programs wherever we've needed him. He's been to several satellite offices, so he's done a great job for us.
>> now, mr. Watson...
>> I told you he was a constituent and now he can talk any time he wanted.
>> I wanted to give a little background of how thankful I am because when I was living in fort worth and working for trail master tanks in fort worth, the company made anger trucks for -- anchor trucks for halliburton company. Back in the '80's they had an oil crunch and they had no contracts any more. I lost my job, layoffs. Moved to Austin and I was so glad when I finally got on with the with county, a full-time job. I actually started out under a probation period in June of '85 for six months. So actually in reality i've been 18 years. But at any rate, what I was going to say is why I'm so thankful is because I didn't know anything about the county. I had no idea what a grade all was or what. The first day they said we're going to teach you how to flag. You don't know anything about anything, but we want to let you know that along the road there are ant beds, so don't set our igloo down there because it will be full of ants when it's time to eat. So then I realized that I'm in the right place. These people help you out. So I was thankful they taught me how to flag for the crew. And then I was thankful because I was sort of like a floating. I thought oh, boy, I get to learn everything. I got to learn how to do striping crew and working with the gradeall and the ditch and so forth level. So I was thankful that know I knew exactly what all -- a little bit, at least a little bit of what was going on with road and bridge. So I was thankful. And working around some of the equipment when they gave us time to play around with it, I was thankful for the gradeall, most of all, because I found out it was a lot of fun. You get up there that n. That little compartment and you can guide that gradeall up and down the road, turn the steering wheel and everything with those little joy sticks. We were in Pflugerville after a rain one night and we're clearing out the ditch line from all this nice beautiful dirt that washed in, and man, hohman, was I surprised, han, I would like to go fishing. So that was a lot of fun, especially on the gradeall. And as you've already mentioned, I spent a lot of time time with the water delivery trucks. And people knew that we would be off a few days during the christmas holidays. Everybody in the precinct 2 area wanted their tanks full of water because they would be having company. And this is another nice thing about the county. And I was the only one left delivering water, and so it was just me. I had to go into the night. It was so cold that at the spigot it was turning to ice about the time I got back. And what surprised me, and I was totally caught by surprise and here comes howard with some coffee. I was so glad to see howard with a cup of coffee. He said he felt sorry for me out in the cold air. So what I'm leading up to is I'm so proud of the employees. And not just road and bridge, but the sheriff's department. And you should be proud of them. Back when we were delivering water in comanche trail, we heard when we see a puff of smoke, we should go from the area. So the water trucks would automatically go to that area and the volunteer fire department would be there. And of all things, they had the plastic thing that formed a swimming pool, and they would unfold it and by the time we got there and started pumping water, their truck had already run out of water. So our jobs were to just keep that pool full of water. There are no fire plugs in the county. So they worked out because each truck, by the time it was getting low, there would be another water truck. We had like three or four water trucks going back and forth. So make a long story short, they could pump it out of there and put the fire out. So I was glad too participate in that. So that field hose off of that -- I hope I'm not boring anybody here. But anyway, another occasion going down comanche trail I saw a grassfire, and before it hit the house I was able to put it out with this water hose that we carry. Everybody seems to notice things and they pitch in and they help. They surprise you all the time. So you should be very proud of all the employees. And not just road and bridge, but the parks people. I worked with can you be scouts for 11 years. Margaret, you were out there at the grand opening of the weberville park. They allowed the can you be scouts to come out there once a year and the boy scouts to camp out, but nobody else was allowed in the facility to camp out. And it was always an all day Saturday event with where you competed against each other in different events. And of all things, here I am surprised again, I look around and from precinct 1 that's a guy there with a water truck because these guys needed water and that's the only way to get it. The drinking water truck showed up. And so they even provided water for all the can you be scouts. Another nice thing i've noticed about the parks people is that any time you called ahead, no matter which park it was, they would help the can you be scouts to identify different things, you know, plant, this and that. And in fact, down there at the -- in del valle at the southwest parkway park on 71, they even have a pond down there -- southeast. They even have a pound down there and they teach the children how to bait and fish. They give them an opportunity. I remember in can you be scouts that those guys had never even seen a bow and arrow before. What I'm saying is the parks are wonderful people. They really are. We've helped them, they've helped us. It seems like that we're just all one big family, I swear. Because, for example, later on being with the county I realized the sheriff said the same thing. They've come up from precinct 4 or 3 or 2, whatever, get gasoline, you know, and you're saying to yourself, well, gee, heez the sheriff and I'm just road and bridge. No, no, we're all brothers. We're all in the same brotherhood. You've helped us and we've helped you. So it was a wonderful feeling for sheriff's to say that. Because we're all in the same boat, the same family. And one of the things that i'll never forget, you know, Margaret, as your brother johnnie sitting over there, every time we got our road signs put up and our flaggers set in place and the truck would show up with hot mix and they would say let's get it on. Johnnie would always say that. Let's get it on. Time to get it on. And another example -- I think cleo is here, is he? But anyway, cleo, sometimes when you're shovelling asphalt you forget about the cars and he would always see say there's a big truck coming, everybody be aware. Everybody is look aware for each other in safety matters. Cleo was good at that. Another joy of working with the county is the fact that mario and gill, when there was a task to be done and we were shorthanded, like if somebody was on vacation or something, they always knew who to pull off another crew. So what I'm saying is that at 3:30 we could go home and say, well, we made it safe through the day, we on have our fingers and toes and we did our task for that day because those guys have the ability to pull people to help. Here again, everybody in the county helps each other. It's not just me. It's not just gill or mario. We're all pulled together. It's not just the guys behind me. We all work together. And that's why it's been such a great joy. I remember one time he said guess who is sitting at the back of the driveway? Lady bird johnson. I'm looking in the direction of where she lives. I didn't realize that the county worked on those roads like that.
>> just like all the other residents of Travis County? [ laughter ]
>> and hopefully that wasn't the road to the l.b.j. Ranch. [ laughter ]
>> we trimmed those trees as much as everywhere else. In fact, one time my wife and I went to johnson city and they have an annual event. And we sat down and one of the outside events that goes on, and here she came and sat down and we were so thrilled that there was lady bird johnson for them. Anyway, back to what I was saying, what really blew my mind, this is incredible. Somebody said from precinct 3, we're shorthanded today, can you come over here and make a delivery for us. I said sure. When I went into the office and they gave me the ticket, I said willie nelson? Willie nelson? You've got to be kidding. And they said no. We deliver water to willie nelson's house? I was blown away. So the three different times I was able to see willie nelson's house right there, just right there at his house filling up his tank with water. I couldn't believe it. That was really something. Another thing I learned is on this water delivery thing is that these little chihuahua's are very smart. They didn't have a fence and this chihuahua would come and stare at me and then come back and I would stare him down. And then he came up behind me and bit me on the leg. Those chihuahua's are smart, aren't they. I never will forget that one. When he came around the house I turned and looked at him and it was a game we played every time I went out there. Once again, I want to thank you and you guys should be proud of all the employees. They try to make it through the day as safe as possible. And when we go home, we say we did our best to keep everything safe. Everything we do is to keep it safe for all of the people that are driving on the roads no matter whether it's a pothole or whether it's line of sight, whatever we do. And that's always on our mind is to make it more safe for the constituents. And that's always been on our mind, safety and making it right, do our task and we did, and it was so nice to fill out a djr and say we did it. So once again I want to thank you and say that i've enjoyed working for the county.
>> thank you.
>> so you were not paid anything to say these good things about Travis County! [ laughter ]
>> no. I'll take all donations, though. [ laughter ]
>> we'll have you back sometime.
>> I timed my retirement because my wife, kay, retired at the same time I did from the state. So we're both in retirement and we're enjoying it.
>> we'll miss you.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. We have a beautiful proclamation for you on the way out, mr. Watson. This is about the best we can do today, though, but you do have our gratitude.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 6, 2003 4:52 PM