Travis County Commissioners Court
November 30, 2004
Items 18 & 31
Number 18 is to consider and take appropriate action on county participation
in various regional planning processes.
>> I took the list that we provided to the court last Tuesday,
there were some 20 different regional planning efforts. What I tried to do
is give some sense of priority on what are the most important of those 20.
I listed six, and I listed six because there will be actions required of the
Commissioners court within the next year. Actually sooner. Let me go ahead
and articulate what those six are.
>> did you give us new backup, joe? All I have is rollover
from last week.
>> I think our problem may be that item number 31 is the
same item, so check your packet on 31.
>> maybe it's 31. Just a second.
>> I missed that until just now.
>> never mind.
>> that was not a trick pulled by the -- the judge's office.
>> that's okay. I got it.
>> all right. The six -- for the purpose of the viewing audience,
let me go ahead and articulate what the six are. The first one is the flood
damage evaluation project that the county --
>> let me call up 31. Consider and take appropriate action
on strategic planning initiative for f.y. '05. I changed the wording a little
bit and meant really to drop 18. Sorry about that. We're discussing both of
them, 18 and 31.
>> all right. The six priority regional planning efforts
I identified as the following. One is the regional -- the flood damage evaluation
project that Travis County is doing with the lcra on onion creek. I also identified
its parallel study, it's called the flood damage evaluation project highland
lakes. I identified both of those for different reasons. One, we expect that
the corps of engineers in the next year, actually very soon, will identify
the areas that they will be requesting county financial participation for
flood control measures. For onion creek that would include a buyout program
for timber creek subdivision. When that request is made, we will be asked
to participate 35% in a grant application to the federal government. And we
will be needed to be prepared to put that in our 2005 bond election which
is kicking off so that's why that is on there so we're prepared to evaluate
that and make some decision on that in the coming year.
>> joe, I don't mean to interrupt you, but since we're on
this subject of flooding, as you know, a little strip of subdivision in walnut
creek neighborhood association, they are experiencing a lot of flooding. In
fact these recent floods, my understanding after sending persons out there
to give a report from your shop, there was a situation where folks maybe have
lost 10-foot of property from erosion. Is there any way possible that that
particular along with the city of Austin participation be looked into dealing
with the army corps of engineers, not knowing what their schedule is, but
I definitely don't want to see walnut creek just prior to getting to 290 and
then going south is left out of this process because it's a serious problem
in that area and I know that the city of Austin has jurisdiction probably
there and I know the county does. I don't know exactly the stretch of amount
of jurisdictional boundaries for the county nor the city of Austin, but I
think there needs to be something, attention brought to that because we are
getting a lot of inquiries and justifiably so. But justifiably I知 just sitting
here thinking as these things are being isolated and earmarked, what funding
in the upcoming bond election, I just think that needs to be taken into consideration
also. Storm water management just says it's for onion creek and also in the
other parts of the county that's mentioned here.
>> I just want to make one comment with regard to that. This
-- we are discussing this for funding in the upcoming bond election. At this
point in time, because it comes on the tail end of a -- almost a three year
study of onion creek so there is a fairly prolonged process that the corps
of engineers goes through before they even identify target areas and also
projects. They have got to submit an application to congress. So I知 not saying
that that's -- walnut creek is not worth evaluation, but it's probably a three-
to five-year time line to get it to where this particular study is currently.
So the answer to your question is yes, we can evaluate that for the initiation
of such a study, be it with the city and the corps of engineers, but to get
the actual capital funding is probably a ways down the road.
>> I know that we -- the [inaudible] money that was just
made available, that's just to that area, the $100,000. And of course I understand
it's going to take more than that to deal with the problem that they are having
or have experienced. So I知 just trying to put this in a position where it
can get the proper attention. There is a serious flooding problem and when
there are rain events that happen, of course major rain events or flooding
events, there's a serious problem. I just don't want this particular segment
of that watershed ignored where we don't do anything, and I think we need
to catapult ourselves to a position where we need to go forward. And I know
there's some things that are being done. You and I and a few other people,
I think the judge has let the community know that we are looking into this,
but I don't want it all to appear that it's not getting attention. So I知
bringing these points up to you now to make sure that that is put in an agendaized
situation where we can look forward to dealing with the army corps of engineers
and other things like that with a proper study that's necessary. Thank you.
>>
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>>
>> but it is something that we will probably be doing innovative
stuff with that are probably beyond our current regulations. So that's why
this one is also a priority. We are watching for the first time into an area
that we had not gone heretofore and it will be something that we will want
continuous direction from the Commissioners court on. We'll certainly get
a lot of feedback from all the stakeholders, be they from the development
industry or from the neighborhood. This is also a priority. You will really
begin to feel involvement probably the first of the year when the committee's
findings will be brought back to the Commissioners court, and at that point
the staff and the lcra will be asked to put the regulatory code together to
reflect what that revision is. Ultimately the court will adopt whatever regulations
the county is anticipating. The next priority is campo. Three of you sit on
campo, so you're fairly familiar with the agenda that's coming up, but you
have an update of the long range transportation plan that we expect to hit
the deck about April. We will want to first bring this to Commissioners court
so you are familiar with what the county is proposing to change in that transportation
plan. And also to get some flavor for what other agencies are planning to
change in that plan because that will be thoroughly debated at campo. And
whatever that forum decide, campo will adopt. Subsequently all of those local
governments that are signatory members of campo will be asked to adopt that
plan. So it's game time, it's time for everybody to understand the changes
and to get involved in that process. That is why that one is a priority.
>> this is the first time that we are seeing the entirety
of travis-williamson county -- [inaudible - no mic]. Regional in scope. We
will have to learn a whole new set of roads that we have been planning for.
>> next you have the central Texas regional mobility authority.
I put that on the priority list in part because you have appointments that
are coming up very soon, like next week. That the term of office for the three
appointees expire on December 10th. The law has been changed with regard to
the reappointments, so you'll need to be briefed on what your options are
for reappointment. At some point you will need to reconsider the appointments
that you made. And in that you are appointing people who will be directing
the rma for the next two to six years, so it's significant. Most of the housekeeping
chores of the rma are done. They've got their staff, they've got they're operating
procedures, so they're a going concern. They are now getting down to the meat
of the business, which is adopting policies that affect your constituents
from 12 policies to what additional projects may be picked up by the rma to
the execution of the one project they have underway, so real things will begin
to happen in your -- and your appointments will have significant direction
on where that goes. And then finally the clean air coalition. We committed
in the adoption of the early action compact to implement selected pollution
control measures that need to be in place and effective by 2007. 2007 is our
deadline for coming into compliance with the clean air act, the air quality
standards. Some of those actions will be significant on our part. The first
will be the low income assistance program to compliment the vehicle and emissions
program that the state will implement. They have already adopted rules. They
will proceed to implement their vehicle maintenance and inspection program
this coming year. Those who fail that test and are of the low income status
will need some kind of assistance to get their vehicles up to standard. This
is our job to put that program in motion, and so that will be a priority.
You also have the commission tceq adopted a provision for the local governments
to regulate the idling of diesel vehicles, but in the adoption of that rule
they made it conditioned upon the local governments adopting a program to
enforce the rule. So that will be coming back to the court. Again, we'll have
to find a means to implement a state rule. And then we have other programs,
for instance, our ozone action day action program. This really applies to
county employees, what do we do with our workforce when we have an ozone action
day. We ought to have a program in place that reduces the commutes, that provides
alternative transportation, that does things that in small measure reduces
the pollutant load during those action days.
>> but we're serious about the air quality measures. One
is that implementation really depends to a great extend on Travis County and
the city of Austin, right?
>> all the signatory parties. That would include Williamson
county, Round Rock, to some extent hays county, san marcos. We all signed
on the dotted line. We all signed up to different measures. We have have our
own list of to-do's, but so do all of the other local governments.
>> but to make it really effective, we really need participation
Travis County-wide.
>> absolutely.
>> and though the mayor and I are active on the coalition
and did a good job of representing our respective governmental entities, at
some point we need a working group to get out there and deal with the details.
And I know we have Travis County personnel involved.
>> yes, we do.
>> but are we working with the city of Austin to try to get
that done?
>> we work not only with the city of Austin, but all of the
other local governments who have contributed staff to the coalition. We also
work through the clean air force. The clean air force is a separate nonprofit
organization whose role is primarily public education and outreach, so we
don't rely exclusively on regulatory actions, we also rely on the clean air
force for education, which is very important when you're trying to make changes
in behavior.
>> I知 trying to hint that we're almost to the point where
we've got the state support, strategy has been adopted, parties have signed
on the appropriate lines, but if -- but it's grunt work time. And you've got
to have personnel at the city of Austin, Travis County as well as the other
cities in Travis County sign on supporting and implementing it. And in the
heavy duty diesel idling enforcement program, that's a.p.d. And the city of
Austin, right? And in the other cities my guess is there's not a whole lot
of it going on, but I guess we want those cities to know about it and be supportive
and unincorporated areas it's Travis County and the sheriff's office. Where
I知 headed is it seems to me that at some point we have to figure out who
needs to be involved at Travis County and other places, and put in place a
strategy to try to achieve -- to try to effect that involvement.
>> yes. I think we had planned to bring an item to court
on December 14th so you can get a full briefing on where we are with our part
and where other agencies are as well so that merely a priority area and it
will be a deeper briefing than what I知 giving to you today.
>> and a whole lot more work needs to be done and education
and outreach also.
>> absolutely.
>> no matter how many times we discuss all of this, and even
with the reporting by the media, a lot of residents still don't know about
these measures. And we're kind of to the point where these are in place and
if we can augment the public outreach and education effort, then I think that
time has come.
>> judge, you're right about that. We hope to still ask questions
about programming and when it is going to happen and blah, blah, blah, and
we can get a lot of that also. It is something to be followed up on. I知 sorry,
go ahead, Commissioner.
>> this is the highlighted part of this. We're really about
to get to where the rubber meets the road. Do you know what? I was at the
city of Austin last week, and it's amazing about what people want to verbalize
and what is reality. And I will tell you that if we are going to be participants
in this, and we should be, we voted for it, we are never going to get to a
spot where the state is going to be comfortable or the feds are going to be
comfortable unless we do something drastic. You cannot do auto emission programs
-- given that most of our emission problems, as everybody will tell you, it's
auto emissions. So what do you do with that? You've got to put some programs
in that I think are going to be pretty difficult to do, so if we're going
to do it, we need to belly-up to the bar and do it. And that is not trying
to appeal to people's civic mindedness and find an alternative way to get
to work. I've said it before. We may even start with the Commissioners court
and start with your staff and finding out exactly what people are going to
do. I've got my staff out here waving her arms that she is one that can ride
the bus. And when you see the ozone action day dates that are free on the
bus, I mean, what does it really take to get people to do what we need to
do? And I would caution not taking this thing that lightly because if we do,
we're not going to notice, I think, any great benefits out of this. But I
think that we are beyond the point of where we put it in writing, we put it
on television, we put it on channel 17, we put it everywhere you can find
it in this community and people look at it. And if you ask them, they say
oh, yeah, we need on do that. But if you ask them what they're willing to
do, no one is willing to do it. So I look forward to the day that we are going
to do what we continue to say we're going to do. I will guarantee I will do
it out of my office. I don't think that it will be any better received in
my office than it will in anybody else's office, and that is that we're going
to find the days of the week that you have to get to work other than your
automobile. And that's going to be really tough for a lot of people in this
county.
>> there's another wonderful huge way where we can all step
up to the plate with the measure that will have the biggest impact, and that
is going to be that there is going to be the initiation of an vehicle inspection
and maintenance program. That's going to be day in and day out. We're unfortunately
in the same category as a lot of other cities of when you go in and get your
car inspected every year, and if you're a polluter, you will have to get it
fixed. That will be the measure that has the greatest impact. And every single
one of us that has a vehicle is going to participate with that. And it's one
of those things that's where we will have the greatest impact in terms of
all those things we turned in to the state is the vehicle inspection program.
>> Karen, I don't agree that's where we will have the biggest
impact because most of our cars are not the problem, the cars. Most of the
cars in this community are not the problem cars. If you took out all of the
problem cars, you still have the -- 95% of the people who drive their cars
don't have issues. What you've really got to do if people are really serious
about this, they have to find a way to leave their cars at home. I do think
that the automobiles have gotten so much cleaner in the last 10 years or in
the last five to eight years, so that's helping us, but trust me, don't believe
that just because we believe that one or two percent of the vehicles are off
the roads that do have the problems that that is going to take care of our
problem. I don't think that that -- I don't think that's the case. I think
we've got to really -- if we're going to get serious about this, we'll have
to get serious with our folks and say we're going to put you in a spot that
we're going to force you to do this. I don't think you'll get people to do
it just out of let me do it because I want to be a good person.
>> so part of planning is an implementation strategy. That's
what this item is about, right?
>> yes.
>> Commissioner Davis?
>> thank you, judge. Joe, what kind of help has been made
or will be made in getting the message out to this community educationwise
as far as what this particular program entails? Has there been any attempt
from the major news media to say Travis County, we have these air quality
standards we must meet, blah, blah, blah? I知 asking that because I do not
want to see Travis County ushered into a situation whereby we have to do mandated
stuff by the federal government, which is up in dallas county, harris county,
I think el paso counties and other counties in the state of Texas where there
are certain federal mandates that are very, very stringent and very harsh
on communities that did not comply. And I think it's more important. These
are the results that will happen if you do not comply in what we're trying
to do here as far as getting your air emissions and reducing your air emissions
where they're acceptable. My question to you, joe, is will there be a major
attempt to let this information get out to the major news networks, whatever
the channels are on television there, to echo just that sentiment? Is there
something that we need to do in that regard? Because again, I知 getting questioned
and a lot of other folks are getting questioned because there is maybe still
some ambiguity on what we're doing here.
>> let me say a couple of things. There has been quite a
bit of news coverage on this issue of air quality. If your question is what
is in the future, I think probably the best way to answer that is to have
this briefing on the 14th of December where we can just lay out all the various
things that are going on, including any initiatives on education and that
way you can really get into the full scope of what's going on. This item developed
into a larger discussion on air quality than I知 prepared to give you at this
moment.
>> I didn't want to go there, but I just saw a time frame
as far as looking at how we will--
>> we're ready to brief the court on the 14th in the full
gamut of the air quality program. We will do like briefings on the other items
that are in bowled. That's not to suggest that the other items are not important.
We will keep you informed on those other regional efforts. On an ad hoc basis
when we believe there is something that is coming up that's going to affect
the county or that it's an important event, so that we want to keep you in
the loop on all these efforts. There are just some that are going to get your
attention more frequently than others, and those are the ones in bowled.
>> thank you, joe.
>> (indiscernible).
>> I think all of these could have counterparts at the city
of Austin.
>> and on the air quality?
>> we have a taskforce made up of various staff members from
all the agencies, and they work just like charlene is working from tnr, they
have people assigned from their staffs.
>> judge, did we get confirmation of where the commuter rail
district money is stashed and is it in there?
>> we did not. . That is still on our list of things to do.
>> an e-mail?
>> the thanksgiving holiday took care of that. [ laughter
]
>> anything else on this item? Now, we do have in the plan
for envision central Texas. I will add to that implementation of strategy.
I chatted with the directors about 10 days ago and I told her what we had
discussed during the budget process. And that is as soon as she has got her
feet wet in the new position that we kneed an update -- needed an update and
a discussion about the next step for envision central Texas. And so in my
view, since now to the end of the year is a kind of slow period, the update
I think would take 30 minutes or less unless we have a whole lot of questions,
then I知 wanting to get her down here say Tuesday a week and let's discuss
that. And I do think it's important. There's a new chairman and new executive
director, but I also think there's a new energy, and the question really is
do we move to the implementation stage now or not? Have we earmarked the contribution
that they've asked for. I know some members of the court have serious questions
about whether to take that next step. I think we ought to put it out there
and basically decide one way or the other. Hopefully the executive director
has chatted with the other partners before coming to us. If not, then we'll
just be first. Does that make sense?
>> judge, I think my biggest question is the same question
that we had the first two times that we chose to invest in envision central
Texas, what's the deliverable? What's the deliverable? And I can accept the
idea of you're part of a regional planning process. Okay. If that's all it
is, say it. But if there's a specific deliverable which we actually did get
from this and information basis and gis stuff, I mean, there was a physical
deliver rabl the last time, so I just need to know which is it, we're part
of a group gig 'em or there's something specific and hard that we can point
to that this is what we got out of it. Thank you.
>> now, joe and I assisted with a promise to the court last
week, did discuss what we think our action strategy should be. And joe will
now give that to us.
>> starting with the clean air briefing on December 14th,
I think our next debriefing will be on the southwest Travis County growth
dialogue. That will be right probably at the first of the year. I think on
the others, the campo will be somewhat in the same timetable. I think you
should be prepared to get some briefings from the tnr if not in December,
certainly in January and February and March. April is the adoption date for
campo, so we'll use that quarter for making sure that we're fully understanding
of what's going on in the transportation realm. On the other, the flood control
efforts, I think that's just going to be whenever the timing is right. When
the corps of engineers and that study effort get to the point where it's time
to act, I think weeks in advance of that we'll have a briefing on the court,
okay, this is what's going on, these are the findings, these are what our
findings are in this whole effort. What I want to make sure we don't do is
take up your time when it's not quite ready or when there's really no action
on your part. I want to keep you informed, but I also -- when we come to court,
expect to take your time as a precedence to a decision that you will have
to make. So that's why I wanted to make sure that these one in bold you're
briefed on as we move into the action phase.
>> gentleman, somewhere along the line we're going to have
to place in the pipeline these evaluation procedures and everything else that
we need to go through to check that the flooding problem in the walnut creek
watershed, somewhere in this process, not saying that it has to be -- these
other things have been ongoing, but somewhere we'll have to start putting
this down and looking at it, maybe talking with the city of Austin and whoever
else that we need to partner with to get the relief there. Somewhere it has
to be placed in the pipeline.
>> let me suggest we do -- the staffs do some background
research, and we will place an item on the agenda to get direction on moving
forward into that level of effort. Because you're talking about another level
of effort on the staff to launch another program. So at some point i've got
to look at what all the staffs are doing and making sure that we can fit everything
that you're asking us to do.
>> right. Okay. That's what i'd prefer, the court can act
on it as far as a direction. I want to make sure that we get that in in a
timely manner. Thank you.
>> the things that have been highlighted basically are off
and running. And so we need updates and agenda items on those items fairly
soon.
>> yeah.
>> and for the ones that have been been highlighted, we will
deal with as needed.
>> that's right.
>> the only differences I think is on envision central Texas,
and I would use this kind of area to at least get updated and get some idea
of where that effort seems to be headed. We don't need to take action --
>> you say that to be done in December?
>> that's my preference. I think the executive director has
been on board now, what, two months, three months? Plus there's a new chair.
And last time we chatted at length was like late summer when I think the executive
director had been selected, but hadn't commenced comment employment. To this
has been two or three months since that time.
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> do you want to suggest a date when they're comfortable
coming?
>> the timing has got to be right because if you don't have
the partners on board, you don't have funding. I don't want to say that was
the only thing we discussed 10 days or two weeks ago, but that did come up.
And I said during our budget process we earmarked the money, but conditioned
upon that we were on board for the next step. But if she's not ready, then
so be it. Anything further on these items, 18 and 31? Thank you for putting
this together for our attention, joe.
>> thank you, joe.
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.
Last Modified:
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 2:47 PM