Travis County Commssioners Court
January 6, 2004
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 13
13. Consider and take appropriate action on budget amendments, transfers and discussion items.
>> we were anticipating the county clerk was going to be here for the discussion, but --
>> I talked to the chief deputy of the county clerk yesterday and that was the impression that they gave that they were going to be here to speak on this ten. Basically what it is is --
>> you want to call this item back up in 10 minutes?
>> we can wait if you want to.
>> I don't think it should take that long, but if waiting on somebody we ought to just go ahead and wait. Let's call 13 back up...
>>
>>
>> the county clerk is here, so let's go back to 13.
>> consider and take appropriate action on budget amendments, transfers and discussion items.
>> good morning everyone. Happy new year.
>> happy new year to you.
>> shall I start? I'm here today to get your help to correct an error. When we purchased our e-slate voting system, part of what was included in that contract is the maintenance agreement for the equipment. It takes care of our repairs and puts us under warranty and all of that. It's standard procedure for computer systems that we buy. The -- there's been a trend over the last several years that maintenance agreements have been consolidated in the its department. I thought this was included in i.t.s. We have recently discovered that the maintenance agreement amount is in fact not in their budget, so what we need to do is it has fallen between the cracks. We need to put it back in the budget. The amount for e-slate is approximately $95,000. And it is for one year's worth of maintenance. It is also already included in our reimbursement schedule for the other jurisdictions who participate in elections, so we have a way to recoup our investment in this product with what we have worked out with our contracts with the other jurisdictions, it just wasn't included in the budget.
>> dana, can you tell me what would be the -- would there be any cost sharing? I think you alluded to it. But if there is any other cost sharing as far as the amount here? It appears that the other jurisdictions will have to put on the table?
>> yes, sir, it's already included in their contract. So we already took it into consideration when we did the calculations. It's just that between my budget and i.t.s.'s budget, it ended up in neither place.
>> and these particular e-slate systems, this maintenance agreement, does that cover just the existing ones or would it also cover any additional ones that you may incur -- bring on board later on?
>> it is for the current fleet.
>> it's for the current stock that we have.
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
>> and this maintenance agreement basically just covers the hardware features of the -- there's no software or anything else that's involved, just the hardware?
>> I believe it's the whole package.
>> it isn't just for the hardware. The software -- it's rolled into the whole contractual cost. That was already taken care of in the contractual cost for the e-slate. That was rolled into the overall price and it was just the maintenance agreement is just for the hardware that was separate. So it was set up separately in yearly installments.
>> thank you, deanna.
>> so if an actual voting machine goes down or anything like that, the agreement -- are there replacement mechanisms?
>> repair and replace immediately.
>> immediately, okay. That's what I wanted to know because it could possibly happen. It could happen.
>> absolutely.
>> I'm just trying to look for those proactive measures that --
>> it protects us.
>> the type of assurance that we won't be left on the shortened of this.
>> right, with a bunch of equipment that we can't use. It protects us against that.
>> there's not a warranty in place on the election agreement?
>> it's part of our contract, okay. It was included in all the discussions and negotiations. The part -- the error that's the part right now is that it was not funded in either i.t.s. Or the county clerk budget.
>> I understand that that's clearly covered in the backup. But as to this equipment, it's about a year old.
>> close to that.
>> and typically there is a warranty for some period like an automobile.
>> I see what you're saying. It was for the first year. Yes, we've lapsed in that.
>> any more discussion?
>> let me ask: so who really -- where did it fall through the crack? Did it fall through the crack from the clerk, from i.t.s. Or from pbo?
>> it wasn't i.t.s. Because they weren't involved in all in the e-slate discussions or the contract or anything like that. Basically it's shared between pbo and the county clerk because pbo doesn't go into every department's contract to check and see what's coming up, there's just too many of them and we're not involved in the contractual process in that way, but I did know about the e-slate contract because it was such a big thing. And I didn't add it in and there have been several steps along the way, the county clerk didn't request it to be added in. We haven't taken a proactive step to add it in. It was a combination of both departments, I think, that it was just an oversight. None of us saw it.
>> and it's not anything that would have ever been questioned had it been in the budget process? It would have been a routine, yeah, it's in there --
>> we would have put it in the target budget.
>> it's just -- stuff happened.
>> regrettably:
>> we need this.
>> yes, sir.
>> well, I think the point is that if in fact there's any question from a departmental perspective as to whether they ought to request, say, a maintenance agreement, then they ought to validate with its that it's either in its or the department needs to request it. And I think that's a step that actually did not get completed. And we did miss it.
>> we all made some assumptions.
>> there's stuff you can do and it's not something that every year you're going to say oh, we're going to have this thing here. It happens.
>> move that.
>> second with that.
>> any more discussion?
>> yes, one more question. In response time, is there any written document that it would be done in a certain amount of hours or something like that?
>> yes, sir. It's a part of our contract. And the way it works, there are actually multiple levels to it. There are -- we've already received a training package that tells us on site right at the moment there are things things that we can do to either repair or replace at that time. And then by the end of the day if we have a piece that we need to take out of inventory, then we include that in a package that we send back over to them and they have dead clienz that -- deadlines that they have to respond to.
>> okay. I have no problem with it.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you very much.
>> thank you for the help.
Last Modified: TUesday, January 6, 2004 6:25 PM