Travis County Commissioners Court
July 6, 2004
Item 19
Number 19 is consider and take appropriate action regarding health and human services and veterans services' recommendation regarding social services contract with the push up foundation, arc of the capital area and casa of Travis County, incorporated.
>> judge, Commissioners, my name is frank holder, assistant purchasing agent. This is an item where there's a reallocation of funding and we are asking the court to approve this. What is happening here is there are three contracts that are jointly funned by the city of Austin -- funded by the city of Austin and Travis County. There's been an agreement reached between the county and the city of Austin so that one of these contracts will be fully funded by the city of Austin, the other two contracts fully funded by Travis County. The -- both entities will share about $44,000 in costs each and there's roughly $200 difference between the two in the county's favor.
>> [inaudible].
>> that will be the arc of capital area and casa.
>> no, no, no, those are going to county. She asked the opposite question. Which ones are city.
>> I'm sorry. Push up is the city.
>> why is this a good deal for Travis County?
>> efficiency. Instead of the two government agencies funding this and one is waiting on the other to fund, just have an agency fund the entire contract. Things can be done quicker.
>> and if we can just change the language so we can be real clear, Travis County will purchase services from the arc and casa.
>> judge, the other thing we are asking of the Commissioners court is to allow the purchasing agent to sign the three modifications that will effect the transfer of funds and assumption of responsibility. It's just an administrative mod funding where the funding is and where it's coming from.
>> this is a real backward way for us to accomplish what I had hoped we could accomplish and that is with some, especially on some smaller agencies, that it ought to be all city or all county because it's a whole lot easier for the agencies to administer. I have always been proud of casa, I appreciate getting the city's money, but I have always felt that truly was a county contract because of the services, it's completely the criminal justice system. This actually allows us in a back door kind of way to accomplish that purpose, that casa really is an extension of county government and it is very appropriate that the entirety of this contract come from the county. My only question is is that the way that this has come about is that the county had some very serious concerns based on monitoring about what was going on with push up. And the city does not seem to share those same concerns and in fact doubled up on their investment. I just hope that what questions and concerns we brought to the forefront are not left out there. They were serious concerns and that's why we held up on their funding and we were not going to reup with push up because of the serious financial concerns brought out by multiple audits out there. So to some extent this gets us out of dealing with an agency that was given multiple times to get it right, couldn't, and it allows us back door to reinvest county dollars for purchase of service at casa and the arc of central Texas which is an absolutely fabulous organization. Does a great job.
>> for my vote, I had never concluded I would vote against any further contracting with the push up foundation. I was aware of issues and I thought city and county staff were working with push up representatives to work through those issues. I think push up provides a service that's unique in our community and we need that. And the city's ability, I guess, to work with them and work through whatever issues are or were helps us and also helps the push up foundation. The other thing is that the city had contracted with push up in a manner that involves facilities that did not involve Travis County, so I mean if it's logical for the city to do it from the city perspective, that's fine with me. But I had never concluded that the county should not contract with push up. I had concluded that we ought to continue to work with them on improving some of the things that they were doing, and I think the same can be said for some of the other agencies that we contract with. Ms. Cox, did we give you an opportunity to have your say today?
>> yes, I appreciate that. I guess my concern is it makes it very difficult for me to get federal funding when i'm, you know, casa doesn't get a lot of funding from the county and the city. And because the county has funded me one-third and the city had been funding me two-thirds, my concern is six months from now when the new grants are out, you know, will I have lost funding, you know, in any way or will I be -- both the arc and casa I think are trying to bend over backwards to help out a situation here, and we just don't want our clients to lose anything in the process because the city and county money that I get, I can -- that can be 20% on a match grant, you know, with the federal -- with the federal entity. And so both of us don't want to lose anything in the long run. And I just needed to be reassured that I'm not -- I'm not putting my kids on the line here by doing something different.
>> what's staff's understanding as to funding allocation to the three groups? Ms. Cox is asking about the amount of funds to contract for services in the future, whether this pore tends basically a reduction or same amount or what.
>> sherri phlegm, interim executive manager for health and human services. We were discussing just before this item was called, Commissioners and judge, that the county is going to be taking over fully funding this contract. And I think her concerns are that she -- it puts her in a position to not be able to demonstrate tremendous community support when previously she was able to say she receives x number of dollars from the city of Austin, x number of dollars from Travis County, and so her concern is her ability to leverage federal dollars because now she is going to only be able to show that she is receiving funding from Travis County. And what city staff and myself have asked is that if she were able to quantify that in some way, then maybe we could revisit this at some point in the future if we see that this has an adverse effect to the agency's ability to leverage federal dollars.
>> well, but has that been -- was that one of the reasons that we did the purchasing of services from both all along or is this something that's come stphup.
>> no, and to be quite honest it is more the fear I will lose funding in the long run because the county is right now stepping up to take more for the next six months, but at the end of this grant period, you know, will I lose something because the city no longer has a place for casa and the arc and will the county be able to continue funding, you know, at a greater amount. At this least and greater if possible.
>> isn't this hold harmless that the entirety of the contract, not only finishing out this fiscal year, but when we reup in January, the first fiscal year of casa and the arc will be picked up by Travis County and the full fiscal year for push up will be picked up by the city? So it's hold harmless?
>> that's correct, Commissioner.
>> plus, we never know what the future holds for contract services. But assuming we still need the services, I see no reason why we couldn't contract with casa to keep providing them if performance measures are being set, et cetera.
>> and which they are. There are no -- no audit problems and no service problems. To be honest, you all serve less than -- or give me enough to serve about 40 children and we served 1,140 in the last 12 months. So the money is --
>> the city of Austin and outside the city in Travis County?
>> I'm sorry?
>> throughout Travis County and the city of Austin.
>> our children reside throughout Travis County, so ...
>> and in terms of demonstrating to the feds, the city is the county. The city is part of Travis County, so you are showing that you are completely being supported by each and every taxpayer within Travis County without exception.
>> okay. I thank you. And I appreciate what you are doing. I just needed to be reassured.
>> your concern is the level of funding by Travis County, not the federal government. Or is it both?
>> I'm sorry, would you say that again?
>> the concern you express deals more with the level of funding for contract services from Travis County --
>> I would say that Travis County is probably one of your lighter-funded entities. I don't know what the other ones get, but I think that we're probably less funded than most. And so my concern is just not losing any ground, you know, we're serving more and more children every year. I just wanted to be sure that we wouldn't be -- you know, next year when you are looking at all the agencies and you see where the funding was before, that because we're all county funded now that wouldn't affect us in the overall review.
>> not talking about cutting social services [inaudible].
>> I was just going to add that my understanding is we're actually increasing funding to casa by $13,000. Is that correct?
>> I don't have the number here so --
>> that's what my records show, we're increasing the amount to them in '04 by $13,000.
>> it's staying the same. You are just picking up the city's portion. There's no additional.
>> okay.
>> well, what did happen? I mean if we didn't elect to do this and kept -- I can see where Karen -- if I'm in Karen's shoes, make me nervous as heck. To do what's fixing to be done. You know, obviously the social services in the community, I think, are generally advantaged to have -- I mean for no other reason just because it's on paper that both entities, you know, put money in it. I mean because sometimes, you know, you are a lot likely to get money from one source than you are another source, for whatever reasons. I mean, you know, it's real easy to say we don't want to cut social services and you don't cut social services as long as you are willing to tax everybody. I mean nobody wants to cut social services, but, you know, it gets to a point where do you want to fund the sheur's department or fund this or that. So I can see, Karen, why you would be nervous with this. I wouldn't want you to walk away thinking, okay, I have a guarantee that I'm going get all the dollars that I need from one entity. I mean I don't want to hear that from me. I'm not looking to cut your funding, but I don't -- I can't give you, you know, I would think a guarantee that that is the case. So I mean I would share your opinion that it makes -- it would make me nervous to think that it's going all the one. But I mean that's --
>> there are no guarantees with anybody. United way is cutting. A year ago it was the city of Austin who cut every single one of their social service agency contracts by 5% and we didn't. So there are no guarantees on any funding. But quite frankly I put my money on the county being there as opposed to the serious situation that is still over there at the city of Austin related to a deficit going into their preliminary budget and we have a balanced budget going into our preliminary budget. I would rather be at the county right now.
>> we're the good guys, ms. Cox. [laughter]
>> never said you weren't. Thank you.
>> anything further on this item?
>> I would move approval and if it's all right, judge, to ask that the purchasing agent be allowed to sign the mod that makes all of this happen.
>> second.
>> that's fine with me. Any discussion of the motion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Friday, October 28, 2005 9:42 AM