Travis County Commssioners Court
January 27, 2004
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Item 26
Now we indicated our intention to call up item 26 at 11:00. We missed that. But let's call it up now. We have representatives here from the Texas association of counties. 26. Receive presentation from the Texas association of counties regarding available services. If I were a betting person, two members of the court have indicated their intention to leave at 11:45. I am not sure that we will reach any other items this morning. On the social services item, any idea --
>> this one shouldn't take very long.
>> 15 to 20 minutes, right?
>> yes, 15 to 20 minutes.
>> we have a little bit of time. We may get to it --
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. Thank you for letting me visit with you a this morning.
>> good morning.
>> as y'all know, we have come a long way since we first started 0 years ago. We started with a two-person operation, working out of a mobile home. Our main goal then was to be the one voice for county government to try to help stop some of those unfunded mandates from the legislature. One thing that you might not be aware of is that our legislative department is currently working on their behalf to keep tabs on the legislative department and to work together with the county to try to stop some of those unfunded mandates. Also, we have also grown as the county needs have grown throughout the state. We are very involved with the education of county officials. We serve like the umbrella organization to -- to get together classes that -- that get credited for continuing education for all county officials. One thing that -- that we have started new is our leadership foundation. That -- that is to recognize innovation in county government. As a matter of fact Travis County got recognized this year for the jury [indiscernible] systems and the pointed attorney manage system. Tac is also very involved with e county, trying to work with our extra small counties and smaller counties to get them to use more automation. We also have an agency, we don't want to do it alone. We have an agency or a department called the county information resource agency, those are our computer guys. They go out there in west Texas and to go the smaller counties like lubbock county and help them to get updated and make sure that they have updated automation. So we have grown as counties have grown. With their needs, we have grown. Just recently we opened up our new building over on 12 and san antonio. I invite you to come visit. We have open door policy. Just come by, everybody is very -- we have an open door policy. Nobody has ever requested appointments.
>> what time is the coffee hot?
>> coffee hot? All day, but we have in it the lobby starting at 8:00. Starting at 8:00. All day out there.
>> and -- and we do have to have some private businesses that we rented on the first level, we have a -- a subway and a new gourmet coffee available. They just started not too long ago.
>> excuse me.
>> you have moved up.
>> we have. Next thing that I want to speak about -- in -- not want to mention, one thing that I want to mention also that our mission is to provide services to all counties and assist all county officials. But we also -- back in the 70s, the counties were having trouble obtaining workers' compensation coverage. Theyame to tac to see what we could do about it. In the early '70's we started our first I guess we got into the insurance business, but it's a self insurance. We started with the workers' compensation, later on in the '80's counties were having difficulty obtaining liability insurance, we started our risk management pool. Later on, most recent, in the 90s, with health insurance. We started our employee benefits pool. All of those pools, as a matter of fact that's the area that I working with more. I -- I work with the workers' compensation self insurance pool and the property and casualty self insurance pool and this past year we did very well. We were -- we kept like a 98% retention on our -- on both of those pools. And most of -- we have like 200 counties that participate in the workers' comp pool. That's not our main mission. Our main mission is still to be the one voice for county government and go work at the legislature and help county goes to -- to -- counties to stop those unfunded mandates. One thing that I would like to know, how can tac improve and what services can we bring to the county? And would like to have some feedback from y'all to see if y'all -- what he we could bring to y'all. We are open for suggestions, you all can come by and let us know, you know?
>> let me ask you this question real quick like. Some of the unfunded mandates that counties will experience from legislation dictated by the state legislature,, you know, I guess county-wide throughout the great state of Texas, do you all keep a running tally of the amount of money that's actually accrued as far as identifying and -- identifying where those unfunded mandates, money, financing --
>> I would have --
>> do you have any type of information --
>> we do have a department that keeps all types of statistics. I'm not specifically sure if they keep that information. But I could -- that would be a good idea.
>> yes. I think so. Especially if it's -- if it's county-wide throughout the state. They coming in with all of this stuff in every county, would have to probably deal with it one way or the other. It's -- to actually trace that amount of money as far as unfunded mandates that the states are passing down to the counties.
>> yes, I will definitely, I will look into it, Commissioner. I can definitely get back with you on it and make a recommendation if they are not doing it.
>> I don't know if they are or not. But it appears that there are things that we do see that -- that, you know, we have to deal with. So coming one the budget cycle and making adjustments accordingly.
>> yes, sir. Especially this past session.
>> right.
>> okay. Thanks.
>> you're welcome.
>> I just would like to acknowledge when we were part of the health and employee benefits pool, I sat on that board and I just want to commend tac, the amount of training that they gave the individual board members to serve on that is amazing, cindy purington from the county also went with me on a couple of locations to get the training. I just want to say it is still with me today and -- in terms of being able to go through that information. Like the hospital report that we just kind of went through, know the kinds of questions to ask, to kind of dig below it. But tac does not just put you on a board and say good luck. They really put a lot of time and attention into training folks. It was wonderful experience. I --, you know, I really it helped me be a better Commissioner.
>> thank you, thank you, i'll mention it to our director over there. He would really appreciate that. [multiple voices] we are continuing to do that.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> one training that we are having, we mailed this out to the sheriff's department to communicate, interpersonal communications, it's not to -- no cost to attend the program. We are having one here in Travis County. In March the 3rd and 4th 4th. The deputies attending get 16 hours of credit for attending. It's one of the core courses to get their jailer certification. So hopefully we will see a lot of people from Travis County. We usually do. We usually have a lot of participation from Travis County in our trainings. We will have some more coming up in the areas of loss control further down during the summer. I'm sure we will be sending out fliers with that. That pretty much suchs up my presentation. Like I said, I'm victor [indiscernible] junior, I'm your service representative from tac.
>> I like the bumper stickers, that's something new.
>> discover county government.
>> the calendar.
>> I think they were given out at county government week not too long ago.
>> we like that thank you very much.
>> we should direct our questions to you as our field rep?
>> yes. I can -- I can definitely help you, unless you have a specific department, they are all very friendly and very knowledgeable. But if you don't know who on to call, I can kind out who.
>> the question that I directed to you just then, you could get me the answer?
>> excuse me.
>> the question that I asked you earlier, can I get me that answer.
>> yes I am going to give you that answer. I can definitely find out all of the answers for something like that.
>> thank you.
>> you're welcome.
>> thank you very much for coming by. Appreciate it.
Last Modified: TUesday, January 28, 2004 6:44 AM