Travis County Commissioners Court
January 11, 2005
Item 15
15. Consider and take appropriate action on fy 05 agreement with envision central Texas. We do have the executive director here. If you would come forward. Just in case they are --
>> judge, I did work with [inaudible - no mic] to develop that agreement. It's similar to the agreement that they have seen in the past. We had a -- added a couple of paragraphs to flesh out the job duties. And I think that you have already -- already seen that document.
>> yes.
>> so that should be ready for approval if you so choose.
>> I did ask last week for a listing of contributions of various entities. Is that ready today?
>> that was submitted that same day.
>> [indiscernible]
>> he may have. I just wanted to see it. I think that -- that my motion is to move approval of a contribution of $25,000 as requested, as earmarked during the budget process. But the second part of this is that we work over the next two weeks with envision central Texas to identify opportunities for Travis County to become more engaged and more proactive in the process.
>> okay.
>> with an eye toward designating appropriate county staff, maybe even members of the Commissioners court, to assist.
>> second.
>> after thinking last week and since we did the -- since we saw the -- the product from phase i, it did occur to me that it's a massive effort that I think we've all said is real important and I think that we show our appreciation much better, not only by making a financial contribution, but by becoming more engaged. So what I知 hoping we'll do, joe, is take a good look at maybe the committees, try to figure out where Travis County can provide the best in-kind contribution, and work with the committee co-chairs and executive director and if we reach agreement on it, then move in that direction. We -- we employ a lot of people, so my intention is photo get in the way. But to try to become a lot more engaged than we have been historically and try to help out.
>> great.
>> judge, under that motion, are we -- is it suggested in this motion that you are making that -- that disclosure I guess as far as specifics, I guess, that's what I知 trying to get after is specifics. On the implementation of some of the aspects that have been brought up with this, and I guess it's -- transportation and [indiscernible] use I guess and environmental impacts, how they relate to different parts of the county I guess. I don't know -- that would be appropriate. I guess what I知 trying to get after is that on the economic development end of a lot of these things, which also is -- is kind of in my opinion inclusive, in some of the things that we are doing, you have your transportation, whether it be growth, whether it be rail, whatever you are doing as far as transportation, land use of -- is something that we are involved in right now -- embattled in right now maybe not having enough land use authority in my opinion but of course within the boundaries of the cities, they have -- they have land use, more land use authority than the county does. And I guess as far as environment.
>> most of the work as I mentioned when I appeared last time would be handled through the committees which are kind of underlined a little bit of their directions, much of what they are going to do in the beginning is to take a good look at what already exists take a way to look at the impact, the practice.
>> an example what was I知 trying to talk about or say, looking at how we can promote and push fort economic prosperity in that area. There are certain things that can bring economic prosperity to an area. You know the proper land use, proper transportation, and also the environment, of course, it's just -- those are not the only things, but there are some of the things that can bring that about. I知 just trying to make sure that -- that what we are doing here we get more detail about it and have it put before us where -- where I as a Commissioner of precinct 1 will have a better grip on what's on the table.
>> we will -- we will be glad to give you regular communications about the status of the various committees, that's -- if that's your interest.
>> well, not only that. It's just -- the status not only that, but the copy, the direction that -- where are we going with the -- with the transportation, you know, what are we talking about when we are talking about all of the transportation things. I know per se on some of this stuff, but there are other that's do not know. My office is going to be used as a point of information for the community in my precinct, by all means I should have that information available.
>> absolutely. I would suggest if it is possible for someone within the staff, Travis County staff to be on that economic development duty, that would be even a better way to maintain communication. But we will be ghad to supply notes and reviews -- be glad to supply notes and reviews of the activities as we go forward in discussing that.
>> okay. As I stated last time you were here, I知 still going forward with the economic development intent that I知 pushing for us, not only in precinct 1, but for the region, economically and I知 going to stay on course, but I just really want this to be -- also be a part of what -- what we are trying to accomplish as far as overcoming some of the hurdles as far as being sure that we have the economic base placed together and I知 -- I知 agreeing with you on some of this, but I just want to make sure that I have a firm grip on some of the things that we are doing here. Otherwise I think it may get lost.
>> we will determine that, make sure that you are informed.
>> I don't want that to happen.
>> I singled out t.n.r., Joe, simply because I guess celine has been the contact person. But I think on a lot of this it may be other members of the county stuff. For example in the justice area, we have a criminal justice staff and economic development would make sense to me to have some folk for our budget office at least consider looking at that. A lot depends on -- what it is that we plan to accomplish, who else is involved, you see what I知 saying and how we can compliment those individual in the effort. But we would -- we would certainly want to work with you as we --
>> would you like me to work with --
>> a little bigger than one --
>> for a contact.
>> my concern is that the workload, shirlene is work quality, not envision central Texas. We also have the legislative session, I知 stretching her to do double duty on that. This is a program issue, I will bring it back so that I know what your priorities are. At this point I知 feeling kind of stretched between all of the different work loads that we have going on. I want to make sure that I fulfill what you want us to do, but also get everything done.
>> [indiscernible] here with the staff of members of the court. Our staff members, you know, can certainly be involved in -- in these kinds of, the subcommittees. And it's good work. To do and it -- it enables members of the court to remain in touch with -- with what a.c.t. Is doing and everybody else through that committee work. That's what I would envision, judge, rather than calling on other staff that is already, you know -- who already have a lot of work on their plate.
>> to me e.c.t. Has to continue, to grow and involve. The best way for us to have a seat at the table is to be a continuing member, not only in items of personnel, but also in terms of our dollars. This is not to me are we endorsing what e.c.t. Necessarily came up with. I think each of us may have our own ideas about what is in that plan, what is not in that plan, what is the measure of success. To ensure you are at the table, it means that we need to be part of the funding of this organization and the best way to -- to be there is to -- is to also sit the table. I agree with you Margaret. I don't necessarily see this as a t.n.r. Thing at all. I see it as good possibilities for members of our staff or ourselves to be involved in that's what we choose to do.
>> well, those comments that I知 hearing from the court, I have already have been -- have asked for inclusion on the economic development phase of this particular -- this particular envision central Texas thing to make sure that a lot of things that we have already put forth don't get lost in the shuffle. Of course I know that my staff personally and my office have -- have worked very diligently on the economic development process and procedures as we go and look at how we can upgrade, economic status of precinct 1. We are currently doing that now from my staff perspective. So I -- you know, I wasn't basically looking for anybody else to do this. Not on my point of view. Not saying that it still can't be spread around to the different county departments. Of course I think it can still be done. But I think you are still going to need expertise out of certain areas. I think the judge made a good illustration of that type of expertise that we are going to lend itself to what we are doing here. I don't want to -- to quors divorce myself from what he suggested as we pursue this thing because it is a big future perspective of how we are going to go and develop in the future. None of us probably won't be up here to see the end result of all of that. I think if we lay the groundwork properly ahead, he will make sure that we and the persons that are here after us are able to take advantage and do some things, very positively, as we deal with growth in this particular portion, regional -- region of the state of Texas. I firmly believe that. Again I知 going to lend myself as much as I possibly can and hopefully everybody else will, too, hopefully all of the expert that's we have in the county government can also get behind this and push for it.
>> Commissioner?
>> well, I don't know why we just have to take it as gospel that this entity will go on forever and that we need to be a part of it. I think that's yet to be seen. If I were to ask t.n.r., To ask shelen, if I were to ask members of the court, their staffs, to give me five things that -- that we have gotten from Travis County for spending $100,000 in the last two years, I think that those would be very difficult to come by. It's obvious that this court is -- is going to vote to give you an additional $25,000. And I知 -- I知 disturbed by that, because I don't think that we have objective, measurable performance measures put into this thing. I don't know what we're going to get out of $25,000. I don't think that we are going to get very much. Maybe I will be surprised. At the end of this year. I do know what is going to happen. I知 going to be asked to vote on another $25,000 next year. Because unless somebody I think has the gall to stand up and say "what are we getting out of this?" If you want economic development out of this Commissioner Davis, I知 going to tell you you flat better get your staff involved in this and I mean sit down and write down what you want to come out of this so that you can equal take -- qualitatively show at the end of the year this is what we got for our money. I tip to watch things take place in this community where if you get the right people involved in them, then it's very difficult to say no, we're not going to give you money. I still -- I mean i've been waiting all week as well to see, you know, these figures that we asked for last week. I mean, shalene is usually pretty good about getting us information that has gotten to her where she knows that the court has asked for that. , I mean, I知 still, you know, highly entertained by the thought that at last week's meeting we showed that there was going to be $140,000 asked for out of the public sector and $125,000 of that had already been asked for from capital metro. And then our -- so I don't -- do we know where --
>> well, the fact is we just began our fundraising. We have put together a guesstimate, if you will, of how that would work because we never did go after the private sector before, you know, very much. So that was just a guess of how it was split up. I would be extremely surprised if it, you know, exactly fell into those parameters. That was just a guess. To tell you the truth, Commissioner, I hope that we do better in all accounts. I mean I hope we get more public, more private, I hope we grow this budget, you know. This is a first-time out as far as the first two years that money was all spent to develop the vision. Now we're beginning the implementation and we are having to sort of start over as far as understanding how everything will fit together. So, I mean, that was just really a best guess of how it would split up. And the main point of that was not to say it was exactly this percentage or exactly that percent. But we really are attempting to broaden the base from the public sector to the private sector. That was the message that I was mainly trying to make. We hadn't done that up to now. But that is -- that is a very big priority for me. And shalene and I spoke that very day she was here. I got her that information. She acknowledged that she received it. So for whatever reason it didn't reach you.
>> did she bring it up.
>> they are making copies of it now, Gerald.
>> again, I think that it should be incumbent upon us as the Commissioners court to come up with the objective criteria that we want to see come of this. Maybe i'll be surprised. Maybe this time next year I will go wow look at what we got for $25,000.
>> I知 going to try to make that a goal for me.
>> that should be a big goal. It should be a goal from our standpoint.
>> absolutely.
>> because it is tax --, I mean, they are tax dollars. As I said, up until this year our $100,000 that we put in it had really come out of capital metro's money. But this money is going to be coming out of our general fund. And so --
>> Commissioner? Commissioner?
>> yeah.
>> I知 glad that you brought that point up. I think it's a good point. Yes, we do have to be accountable for what we do here as far as the performance and stuff and you also mentioned the fact that -- that my staff should be involved with -- with -- especially if I知 pushing for the economic development leg of this and not only that but other things, also. That's a good point. And I guess my -- my answer to that is -- is I think my staff will be involved as they have been involved --
>> I知 sorry?
>> that's all right. Go ahead and get those papers together. We need to see those copies.
>> you can just grab un.
>> pass it down.
>> okay.
>> I知 sorry, Commissioner Davis. [laughter]
>> we got --
>> can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
>> I wanted to -- [multiple voices]
>> let me finish my comment to Commissioner Daugherty. By including and asking for my involvement in the economic development committee of the -- of the envision central Texas, once I知 involved in that, then of course my staff comes with me. So of course we are going to be involved and I want to make sure that the economic development leg of this along with the other things, though, because it's all inextricably intertwined, I want to make sure that I am right there with that, too. So I am going to be involved with this. And my staff will little be --
>> Commissioner, I know how conscientious you are about economic development especially in your precinct. I've always applauded you for that. I have always tried to very much back you up with that. I mean the point that I知 making is that let's not be sold a bill of goods here, if there's something that we are going to pay for out of this caught, if we are going to use public money, let's find out what we want out of it, let's clearly put that down and let's see if we got that at the end of the year.
>> okay. I wanted to make one comment about what you just received in front of you. The first page of it shows the funders up to this point and how much they contributed over the two years. The -- there's another column where it is -- where it is my recommended, asked, basically for this year, that has not been approved by the executive committee which I have a meeting of this afternoon. But we will discuss and tweak those numbers as we go. But I wanted you to get the latest information that I had since you did request that. There are 150 or so other targets under there and there are plenty more if those don't work.
>> I think from the perspective of capital metro, I know we are very conscientious about the -- about the expenditure of taxpayers' money. But we also know that we have a larger mission. Regarding transportation needs in this community. If you look at the list of people who are contributing to this effort, seton and obviously the hospitals have some interest in what goes on regarding transportation in this community. So I think that it -- it kind of shows the interest that people have, they have different amounts of money to invest or spend, however you want to look at it. On this effort of trying to move people throughout this community. And we do take our mission very seriously, but we are also making -- we have made every effort to -- to -- to get capital metro back on track. In terms of expenditures and we certainly are not a cash cow for anybody in this community. And we very consciously invest money with that thought in mind. So we want to make sure that we take care of taxpayer interest as well.
>>
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
>>
>> it is also okay to say there are performance based as part of our contribution. Neither one is incorrect and both are correct. So I知 happy either way. I feel like there are deliveriables related to how they are going to move about and move the money over the next year and I think it's appropriate that Travis County have a seat at the table and I think it's also appropriate we just say it's part of a group gig. I don't necessarily think e.t.c. Is going to be here forever. But for next year, I think it's appropriate for us to proceed on and I知 comfortable with that.
>> and [inaudible] each one of us that we get what we need out of this effort so I intend to be involved with e.c.t. And staff and reports and whatever we can do because this mission belongs to all of us. And so we need to move people around this community as best we can. And number one is let's improve the quality of the air, please.
>> all in favor? Show Commissioners Gomez, Davis, Sonleitner and yours truly voting in favor. Voting against Commissioner Daugherty.
>> thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, January 11, 2005 7:58 AM