Travis County Commssioners Court
May 25, 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.
Executive Session
Now let's call back to order the voting session of the Travis County Commissioners court. Over the lunch hour we did receive from the county attorney a request that we postpone for one week numbers 47 and 48.
>> okay.
>> first --
>> June 1st.
>> now, this morning, we were told that we need legal advice on the matter involving the senior olympics. And that is item no. 37. 37. Consider and take appropriate action on request from Travis County senior olympics to waive vehicle charge by the Travis County sheriff's office. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. Also 41 a through 41 d we need to discuss in executive session with legal counsel. 41. Consider and take appropriate action on the following for the Travis County hospital district: a. A process for the selection of members of the board of managers; b. Standards of independence from conflicts of interest for the board of managers; c. Designation of county officers, employees, and/or agents to perform services for the district; d. Process for determining policy for calculating amount of payment for salaries and expenses of county officers, employees, and/or agents who perform services for the district; that's 41 a through 41 d, all of those we will discussion under the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act.
>> I thought they said [indiscernible] [multiple voices]
>> well, it's really a catch all that we would come back and take action if there's anything there on h. I really just put it on myself just in case there's something not covered by the others, a through g.
>> all right.
>> if we come up with something, the question is whether legally it's permissible under this heading.
>> under the heading, all right. 42. Consider and take appropriate action regarding the opportunity to purchase real estate in south central Austin. That's the real property exception to the open meetings act. That's also the consultation with attorney just in case. 43. Consider opportunity to purchase real estate in central Austin, and take appropriate action. That will be under both the consultation with attorney and real property exceptions to the open meetings act. 44. Receive briefing from county attorney and authorize county attorney to accept, reject or counter settlement offer, and take appropriate action in sally decker v. Travis County and stephen l. Williams, in his official capacity. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 45. Receive briefing from county attorney and discuss mediation and settlement proposal in pending litigation with philip rosenbaum v. Travis County (cause no. Gn 200494, 353rd judicial district court of Travis County) and property at 3705 westlake drive, and take appropriate action that will be the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings, act. Our final executive session discussion will be item no. 46. Receive briefing from county attorney and take appropriate action regarding project # 01b01-01-3ca, anderson mill road; parcel #13 and 13t; bruce d. And sarah m. Harrison that will be the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act, also. We will discuss these items in executive session but will return to open court before taking any action.
>> judge, I missed it on the elevator going down. Did Commissioner Gomez talk you into announcing 41 h.
>> no, sir.
>> it would be helpful. If you don't want to hear advice on that, then -- then there are a couple of other things that would not fit under a through d. If you want to keep it short, then don't do it.
>> we will also -- get legal advice in executive session on h, that our county judge was visionary enough to put down just in case [laughter] and that is other appropriate directives and actions necessary for the creation of a Travis County hospital district. And that will be under the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act.
>> thank you.
we have just returned from executive session where we discussed the following items: the Travis County hospital district, 41-a, I move that we ask the internal committee to come back with a draft direction process for Travis County. Can we do that by next week? Let's get an update by next week and try to have it then. And if not, we'll take another week, but what I have in mind for us is just a draft of that process. We may want to look at how we select the rma board members and see if we can take some of that information and use it and supplement that to the extent necessary to get this accomplished. And maybe if we do our part, the city of Austin and the advisory committee we talked about this morning, that will help solve that. That sound like a good idea? Good enough to get a second in.
>> oh, sure, second. [ laughter ]
>> any more discussion of that? Anything on that item?
>> your honor, I understand the name of the committee that i've been chairing has been changed, and we appreciate that.
>> much better name.
>> I was telling somebody earlier we hoped to get the rockettes in the name somewhere, but we didn't get that. I'm here representing that group, whatever its name is, to thank you for the work that you're doing and to pledge cooperation and assistance as you requested in working through the myriad of transition issues. We're here for you if you want us to be and just let us know.
>> we appreciate that also thank you for your work in co-chairing that committee along with mr. Lieberman, that was difficult work and took a lot of hours. I know your law firm probably is more appreciative of you know that you -- now that you have been around more than you were previously.
>> [ inaudible ].
>> and I want to make sure we don't forget neal kocurek. I wish he would have seen this work come to fruition.
>> (indiscernible).
>> thank you.
>> thank you. Look forward to working with you.
>> all in favor of the motion? That passes unanimously. We're working on that and we hope to get the information from them? I understand that they have mentioned a rough draft and he will share with the city and county and the advisory committee members.
>> Commissioner, that's correct. We're going to take a shot at it. We know that pride of authorship is something we start with. I believe it's the first?
>> I think we'll either have it late this week or the first of next week.
>> so we'll have it back on the court's agenda next Tuesday in case we're ready?
>> are you ready or not?
>> that item is going to be a rather intense -- we will have to get talked through. I'm assuming with this transition group that you all are putting together. But there's no way that we could not report every Tuesday and we'll just do it if that's what you all would like.
>> we would like to postpone it on the agenda for another week. It's difficult if we don't have it posted. There's a whole lot of things we would like to do if they are ready for action. So I guess it's better for us to have it posted -- [overlapping speakers].
>> maybe get some feedback at least.
>> okay.
>> I think we're trying to get some information from harris county, dallas county, tear rant county, bexar county, what are their standards of independence. I think we used that same thing for the rma in looking at what they had on there.
>> certainly on c and d, we didn't do much discussion of them. We'll have it back on next week in the event there's something more specific to look at. Or two weeks.
>> we'll bring it back whenever we have something else on that. That may be something further down the road.
>> remind me of c and d, john?
>> designation of county officers, employees and agents to perform services for the district and d is salary structure.
>> those will be put back on when appropriate. Anything under h? Sort of a catchall as we can easily do?
>> nothing is required that I can think of right now.
>> we did put the charge back on for next week and we approved the name change from steering committee to transition advisory committee. You're moving on up.
>> that, we are.
>> thank you.
>> now, the executive session items, 42, the one that we discussed first, we did generally ask staff to do different things more in the direction -- in the staff directions point of view, and we'll have it back on next week. Anything more than that for the south central?
>> I think there were a contract --
>> there were -- [overlapping speakers].
>> I'm getting to that, but there was a services contract, an appropriate services contract that needs to be drafted and brought forward. Contract services.
>> we can do that without any direction from the court. We'll be happy to do that.
>> and then, I think there needs to be -- I would move that we give specific direction to pbo to assist in a financial due diligence as we've done many times before with great success in terms of process and analysis, pay back, all the usual kind of things in terms of related to this specific property. So specifically give instructions to pbo to assist.
>> and they'll do a financial analysis?
>> uh-huh.
>> any more discussion of that motion? All in favor? Show Commissioners Sonleitner, Gomez, Daugherty and yours truly voting in favor. Voting against --
>> no, not voting against. Judge, I would like to abstain.
>> abstaining Commissioner Davis.
>> the information that I requested, I would like to see that information first, so that's the reason for any abstention.
>> 43 involves the central Austin property. I move that we basically authorize approval of the purchase contract after the changes that have been made that we discussed in court and in executive session, and we authorize the county judge to execute that on behalf of the Travis County Commissioner's court. Authorize approval of the budget transfer for earnest money in the amount of $75,000.
>> second.
>> and I think on the other 25,000, after due diligence is done to our satisfaction and issues, if any, have been resolved, then we will deposit an additional $25,000. And I think that gets us done on that.
>> uh-huh.
>> the others I think we can -- we will have this on the court's agenda next week in the event that there is action that we need to take. Any more discussion of that motion? All in favor? Show Commissioners Gomez, Sonleitner, yours truly voting in favor. Voting against Commissioner Daugherty and Commissioner Davis. Number 44, we didn't discuss. We will have that back on next week. We did ask questions that need to be looked into a little bit and so next week we can have some discussion and take some action. Number 45, we discussed any action necessary on that today. We are waiting for a settlement agreement to be signed by mr. Rosen balm and his attorney.
>> yeah, I think we just needed to refresh the court as to the deal that was struck a long time ago. And hopefully mr. Rosen balm will take a look at it and be happy and have it back on next week to actually sign off on.
>> okay.
>> and 46, we did discuss an appropriate motion on that one. Would you like to make it?
>> I would. We would reject the counteroffer on this particular parcel and initiate condemnation proceeding.
>> second.
>> any more discussion of that motion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. And if I could just maybe circulate this order, the attorney -- the counteroffer that the attorney general has prepared for us. The order that the county attorney has prepared for us. And we did not discuss 47 and 48. The final item that we did discuss in executive session involved the special olympics. That was item number 37. In view of the fact that they have made us a little bit less than $2,000 and there was a little confusion on their part on the timetable to choose either option one or two, and the fact that this is a nonprofit agency that has programs for Travis County seniors and in view of the fact that I hope we have a long-term relationship with them, I move approval of the waiver and request that $550, which is only for the vehicle charge.
>> I second that.
>> seconded by Commissioner Davis. Any more discussion?
>> judge, on just a clarification of the motion. This is not any kind of a precedent setting situation. It is based on -- (indiscernible).
>> that's correct. And what I would personally do is try to work with this group if they are here next year and let them know in advance and to reserve deputies and constables, so they have to get something like this done and they will have a better shot at having a reduced price. Any more discussion? All in favor of the motion? Show Commissioners Davis and yours truly voting in favor. Against, Daugherty, Sonleitner and Gomez. There being no further business, move adjournment.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
Last Modified: Friday, May 26, 2004 7:00 PM