Travis County Commssioners Court
August 19, 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 40
Number 40, consider the starflight independent review panel's report and take appropriate action.
>> carol, do you want to walk us through and richard harrington and [inaudible] from the city of Austin.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. I'm carol coburn, current acting criminal justice coordinator and I have richard harrington, who is executive director of Austin-Travis County e.m.s., And to my left, sheila gladstone who is the chair of the starflight independent panel. And --
>> good morning.
>> and also mr. Willie culbertson, who is starflight's director of operation. And we're here today to recommend to the court to approve the findings and recommendations made by starflight's independent review panel. There are certain aspects to be amended, but we are wanting to move forward with this approval so we can add these to the e.m.s. Interlocal revisions that is under development right now.
>> one of the biggest things is kind of a timing issue. We got this report and we're now at a point where a lot of the issues raised related to the organizational chart, one's authority, empowerment, questions that have been raised. There needs to be some kind of direction from this Commissioners court, I believe, that says please take these results and incorporate them in as we move through the writing of the new interlocal with the city of Austin, which is being done in conjunction with input from the emergency services. This is the first opportunity for us to incorporate what they found and recommended in terms of strengthening our interlocal that we actually give instructions for that to occur as opposed to somehow it just magically winds up there. But it really needs -- I think being suggested it is a policy direction coming from the Commissioners court to go ahead and formally roll this into that document as we proceed. And carol, to focus people's attention, in attachment c, she has done about a page and a half summary about taking what ms. Gladstone's committee has pulled together in terms of the recommendations. And the kinds of things that then become issue points as we move through the interlocal. Gerald, jump in if there is anything else you want to adhere.
>> is there a recommendation from the subcommittee of the Commissioners court?
>> it's our recommendation that we proceed forward as official policy directions from the Commissioners court that the starflight independent review panel's key findings and recommendations be rolled into and formally adopted in the new Travis County interlocal with the city of Austin related to the e.m.s. System. The full contract, the full interlocal will be brought back to Commissioners court for approval, but they be authorized to incorporate these findings that are necessary as the interlocal is being written.
>> I guess on the first one there's no change from the previous, correct? I'm reading through it and I really don't see a change.
>> on the [inaudible]?
>> yes. The recommendations to the organizational chart, the first one. That seems to --
>> that seems to be the same.
>> this is [inaudible]. These are -- these recommendations are not different from the recommendations that were prepared in April.
>> okay.
>> this is just we're revisiting issue now because of timing. This is not a change from that one. This is a change from what's currently in place.
>> well, the one that I remember specifically was that first one as to how it was organized. And that that -- what I'm reading tells me there's not a change on that particular one.
>> are you reading the very first one, create a new organizational chart?
>> and the key recommendations tied to that chart, one, two, three doesn't appear to be changed.
>> right. A lot of these recommendations were in place practically, but just were not written down. That's one of the main things, we want to get them written down in the interlocal or at least the context in there and it just has never been written down before.
>> okay. And so what that does, it just kind of grounds me a little bit on what is Travis County -- what we're responsible for.
>> that's correct. I believe it will do that. And there are very few amendments. Most of it is just restating things, the concept remains the same. Some -- in looking at the recommendations really have either already been done or are not necessary. In particular, on this attachment c, on 2, recommendations on implementation and additional written clarification, number 3, the corrections to be made to the operations justifications, which is really our operations manual that starflight goes by that the f.a.a. Has approved. A lot of these, the last one, the last bullet has already been done, and the first two on interpretation from our director of aviation operations, mr. Culbertson, those really do not need to be changed, you know, once we looked at them and discussed what they meant in terms of the starflight program itself. Those have already been approved by the f.a.a.
>> I will add, Commissioner Gomez, that that refers to -- the full report [inaudible] but we have a lot of feedback from the employees that we need to have some consistency of what the rules are so that if there ever is a conflict in the future, there is something written down. So it really was a codification, if you will, of what's already in practice to some extent.
>> so do you think everybody is clear now that we've gone through this exercise, that everyone is clear on both sides, city side and county, about how it's supposed to work?
>> I think once we get this approval from the court, then some of who needs to be -- this needs to be clarified to farther detail. At that point we're planning some meetings now to do that, and, you know, everyone will be involved in that and sign off out. But on the basic key concepts, there is no conflict on the basic recommendations. We do need to work on some more of the details.
>> okay. And there will be training? There will be training provided to everyone so we're all on the same page?
>> yes.
>> as we go through this process and if there is room for disagreement, and which normally there is, that will be flushed out. The thing I never want to see happen again as long as I'm here is a shutdown of the operation of starflight.
>> exactly.
>> I think that was one of the most traumatic things in the minds of the person that live and reside within the region that we serve is something that I really don't ever want to have to go through again is for this operation to shut down the way it did. So when you go through this process, the recommendations, I would like to make sure that the service to this community is the utmost priority as far as you providing a service to this county and the region that we serve. It happened. It's behind us now. But as far as being proactive in your recommendations and things of that nature, I want to make sure that is addressed to how can we avoid this from ever happening, a shutdown of a service that is critical to this community. And Travis County side, [inaudible] of course we have staff there that we oversee on the Travis County side. However, we have the city of Austin also that's involved in this. And so the program manager and the director of operations and all the whole nine yards of you, I feel that you are going to have to be cognizant of the fact that it's unacceptable, in my mind, for that to ever happen again and you come before the Commissioners court the way it up and down out and the way it happened. -- the way it panned out. I want you all to grab ahold of that because public safety and the safety of this community is the ultimate goal in the service of starflight and any other emergency service that we embark upon is to ensure that doesn't happen. It doesn't make any sense to shut down in operation eye totally agree with you. I don't want to see it -- [multiple voices]
>> and I think you are raising some excellent points and I think one of the problems is the different people could read the interlocal and come to absolutely opposite conclusions as to what did it say. And that's the whole point here. Is there to be absolute clarity. Even on an organizational chart, there is actually a org chart submitted to the f.a.a. That eliminated the Commissioners court. It's like we need to not have 49 versions of what the lines of authority are. And I appreciate the panel, they put a lot of thought and effort going, you know, we have no vested interest, we're going to look at it and give you some recommendations on how to improve and bolster and strengthen the partnership that you all have. And so that's the point here is to build upon the partnership to eliminate places where there is confusion and that we aren't going to go where this program went before. And I think we said this during the starflight situation, they were tired of hearing, well, it's city, it's county. They are starflight. They are city and county. It's a blended program, and we need to figure out ways to codify that partnership so that people do not misinterpret what the lines of authority are, what the control and responsibility are, what casey's role in all of this is as our program manager, who I have to keep reminding folks is a Travis County reimbursed employee. Most of his salary is paid for by Travis County. He just gets a check by a different entity. But he is a Travis County employee.
>> what you need from us basically is to reaffirm our agreement with the recommendations from the review panel's report and authorize you and others to negotiate the city-county interlocal to incorporate those into the agreement.
>> yes, sir.
>> and we will have an opportunity to review the specifics later on. Where there is a need for greater specificity, you all will try to work on that basically.
>> yes, sir.
>> Commissioner Sonleitner's motion was to do just that.
>> I will second. Let me just real briefly say to kind of capsule this, this is just a part of what wee node to move forward for the interlocal agreement. What we basically tried to do with this thing is to identify, take a little of the ambiguity out because that's real what I this thing is. And let me say, this is not an easy animal to get your hands on. I mean, you know, you do have two different entities that you are dealing with here. You have the city of Austin and you have Travis County. And, you know, we may not like it, but there are some basic differences that we have to deal with. I do think that hindsight is always 20-20. I'm sure if we had to do it over again that a few months ago we might have dealt differently with something, but we did have a problem. We feel like that we have dealt with that problem and have moved forward. But this is the first -- or this is one of the steps that we need to get this interlocal agreement done. Commissioner Sonleitner and I are working with that. We have brought the e.s.d.s into this, which was a major point of concern for some of the folks that have to deal with the interlocal agreement. So I think that once we get this into the interlocal agreement, we're waiting and other cities waiting to get it back to us so we can move forward, so I second your motion.
>> any more discussion? Ms. Gladstone, we appreciate your work and the other panel members.
>> thank you.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all very much.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you very much.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 7:52 PM