Travis County Commissioners Court
March 29, 2005
Item 27
27 a is introduction of secretary of state roger williams. And 27 b is to receive presentation and take appropriate action on the help america vote act, including implementation, funding, assistance available from Travis County clerk and related issues. Secretary of state williams.
>> thank you, judge.
>> good to see you.
>> doing fine. Good to see you.
>> a couple of opening comments.
>> we are going to gather our staffs here very quickly.
>> make yourself at home. This is Travis County, secretary, get comfortable.
>> the court is probably aware of the folks that are joining us today.
>> we need you on the mic, dane take. C, dana.
>> sit down, please.
>> I知 with tcu, so remember that.
>> a couple of folks that are joining today represent other offices. With the secretary today we have kim sutton, kim can you wave for the camera there you go. Hi, welcome. Also our representatives from our voter registration division, dee lopez, of course we all know dusty back over there, dusty thank you very much for being here. My own staff, the head of the elections division, gail fisher. And the sort of assistant manager of our elections division, the project manager, michael wynn. And davia processor, kim dilling, mary ferrow, michelle parker and dan roman are all of your election experts, the ones that have the specific working areas, they have joined us here today. And before I get around to introducing our new secretary of state, let me have a couple of words. First of all, I don't believe that we have ever had any secretary of state come before --
>> but they have all been invited [laughter]
>> we have a little gift for you. Two of our county employees are actually quite famous. One of them is a famous member of the famous local band and the other is a famous author of a hit song for that album. And let me be -- let me be one of the first to present you with the 20th year anniversary album of the Austin lounge lizards in keeping with the fact that Austin, Texas is known as the world capital, the music capital of the world. I didn't bring you, I did not give you a flack jacket today because these are the nicest, smartest court that you are going to find anywhere in the state of Texas. So starting from my left, able counsel is representing our Commissioners court. Commissioner precinct 1 Ron Davis, Commissioner precinct 2 Karen Sonleitner, county judge samuel t. Biscoe, Commissioner of precinct 3, Gerald daughterty and precinct 4 Margaret Gomez. I am happy to bruce our brand new secretary of state who hails from weatherford, Texas, at least most recently, roger williams, secretary?
>> thank you, dana. [ applause ] I知 going to hill borough today, can I take this with me.
>> they will love it there.
>> I want to thank you, dana for all that you are doing, what you were doing when your -- your election staff, you have done a fantastic job. Judge, thank you for having me. I don't plan on this being my last visit to see you all and i'll get that flack jacket when I come back, how's that sound? But it is a great honor to be here, I will be brief and I do want to visit with all of you, bring you up to speed on the help america vote act, which all of you are very aware of. This which is a big deal. And I知 in about the say last 30 days on what we have been calling the state-wide listening tour. To try to cover all of the counties that we can. We won't be able to cover all of the counties, we are coming to the major counties. Listening to hear some of your concerns that you may have about help america vote. And let us respond to give answers to that. Some of the concerns that we have, some of the ideas that we have, all of the time knowing that of course it is a federal mandate, judge. I知 not saying that any of us like federal mandates all that great, but it is a federal mandate. I have committed personally to the governor, I have committed to the feds that they will not have to worry about Texas, come January 1st, that night we go to bed January 1st, Texas will be up and running with their hava requirements. I am committed to make Texas be the leader of the hava developments as we go through this. I think that Texas will be the leader. We want Texas to be the model. And that's -- that's what we as texans are all about. We will join together to make that happen. I think that you possibly could hear some stories from other states that may not be great stories, may not be good stories, but you are not going to hear that story from Texas. So with that in mind, I want to briefly discuss and I want to say this, too, about our secretary of state's office, I come from a retailback ground, judge. This secretary of state's office has a retain mentality right now. You are our customers, we want to take care of our customers, we are going to give you service. We have to hold your hand, we may want you to hold our hand, but the end of the day you are going to be able to count on us to help get through this or anything else that you may need. As I have been going across the state and talking to folks in your position, it's come -- it's become very evident to me that the two biggest concerns that most counties have, I must say you all are different, you have taken the lead on this, we appreciate it very much, because we want to be able to use you as an example as we travel Texas. The two biggest concerns that most counties have had have been two issues. One standards issue, two a cash flow issue. I have been very concerned that -- that when -- you all bought a lot of your equipment already. But a lot of the counties, even in your situation, the feds have not yet really told us what -- what the standards are for this equipment that you have bought. The other counties will be buying. I have a real concern with that. So we have -- I don't know if you got it yet, judge, but I have asked my office to put together what we call a best practices contract or a model contract. You may have have probably already got it. In that we address these two issues of standards and cash flow. The standards issues that we are requiring, we are asking the vendor to guarantee. That when the equipment that you have already bought, that if the feds come out tomorrow and say it needs a red light on the top of it, a toggle switch on the left hand part of it, that they will guarantee it meets standards so you are not going to be coming out of pocket with that. They have agreed to do that. That's in this best practice contract that we have sent you. The observe issue is the cash flow issue which in a lot of counties they have a real problem with this. And we have talked to the vendor and again you all are a little different here, but we have talked to the vendor, the vendor have agreed that when you have -- after you have bought the equipment you are to receive an invoice from them. If you will send the invoice to my office, we will -- we will turn around and reimburse you 30 days or less. I know that's something that you all may not be used to in the past. But I can tell you right now we are set up. When you start getting your invoices, some of the invoices that you have already had, you send them to us, we will get the money turned around to you in 30 days or less. Dana I think we have already started that through the process, right.
>> it's been more than 30 days, mr. Secretary [laughter]
>> but the secretary is here today. You haven't heard anybody say this until today.
>> I know in the past it's been six month, maybe longer. I知 saying to you today, if you present something to us tomorrow, we will turn this thing around in 30 days. You have that promise from me. Kim, you are set up to handle that. I do know in the past it has not been that way with you all. It is that way with you all now. So we have -- we have handled the cash flow issue with most counties, in your case we want to get you reimbursed, the standards issue is important because we want to make sure that the equipment that you have bought is going to meet the standard when the feds come out with that issue. So with that in mind, I brought you a check, judge. [laughter]
>> oh, he did bring a check.
>> we are liking you better all the time mr. Secretary.
>> but first of all, I might ask you, first of all let me tell you what we have done here is we have brought you a check and I hope when we present this check to you we might get our picture taken together. Okay? But owe.
>> he dana don't say how long it took the check to get here. The check is here, he said.
>> the check is here.
>> not in the mail.
>> all that I知 saying is we are going to treat this like a drawing account, which you are very familiar, you are going to be able to draw down 4.552 million to help you through this process. Okay? [ applause ] and I must tell you our goal through this is at the end of the day, we want texans, we want counties to be able to focus on training and focus on implementation and purchasing of their equipment and not have to focus on cash flow. I hope at the end of the day 254 counties we will have been able to cover 254 counties without having them go into their pocket, per se, to pay for this federal mandate, which I believe is the right thing to do and will be the best thing to do in the long run, for not only voters but also for candidates that choose to run. We have got 4.5 million dollar for you, judge, to help offset your expenses, I think it will cover a lot of expenses, training, anything related you can certainly draw down on this account, we will get you paid in 30 days or less from this point forward. Any questions?
>> [laughter]
>> let me tell you one story. I知 meeting great people as we go through this process. We are in a small county, they were loaded for bear with the secretary coming. Never been there before, they knew whatever it was, from the government I知 here to help you. We go in there and we went through and explained what we were going to do, they found out that the secretary was going to help 'em. So they ordered cake in. We ate some cake. We made our presentation. We got on the road and about an hour later, kim sutton's mobile phone rang, the county clerk from this county. The conversation went like this. Kim, I appreciate you all coming so much and thank you for what you did and I know the secretary is a busy, busy man. But with the secretary -- when the secretary left today he took my pen. Can I have my pen back? I知 not taking your pen, judge. I知 just going you to leave you with 4.5 million dollar. Okay? That being said, kim, do you have our check?
>> why don't we make arrangements for a photo in front of you all, would that be all right?
>> we are also carrying with us the book of the courthouses right here that we want all of you to sign. What we are doing on the tour, asking everybody to sign it, present it to the capitol for perpetuity, 100 years from now, judge, they are wanting to know why you made this doggoned decision. Thank you. We'll get that right here. [ applause ]
>> one more thing here, I知 going to leave this with you. I will sign it, judge, you can sign it and everybody. We want to be able to go on this tour and tell them that you got involved and you are leading the way for us, because you certainly have.
>> right under yours?
>> that would be fine.
>> [indiscernible]
>> if we can all take our place post just one more moment.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you, good to see you again.
>> > thank you very much. We'll be back. Okay?
>> if we can take our fogs for one minute, the court does have one question for you, okay?
>> okay.
>> we will make sure that we have cake next time.
>> I thought [indiscernible] we'll let the Commissioners take their seat, one question for you.
>> okay.
>> mr. Secretary, now that we have the check, I waited for my question until afterwards, I appreciate the fact that you are here on a listening tour. One of the places that I know it can be very helpful to counties is there is a bill right now that's been filed over at the state legislature, it's house bill 2759. And this would up the limits on what size a voting precinct can be. We here are in a very high growth community. Other large urban counties have the same problem, but when you hit 3,000, you have mandatory splits. I just had a meeting with our folks yesterday, we have 14 or 15 mandatory splits simply because we hit 3,000. Now, a couple of those are places that we know we are going to have to build new precincts because it's a new growth area. But some of those are -- are areas that we literally have split these folks every two years. All but two of them go away if we get to 4,000. All of them go away if we get to five. We have put together some good information. Not just Travis County, but a lot of urban counties are doing a very good job of getting people to the polls prior to election day and therefore there's more capacity in the precincts to be able to handle crowds. And any kind of friend of the court in terms of you all being -- assistance here, because this is a big expense in addition to the voting equipment.
>> well, it is a big deal. And i've heard this when I go around, I知 very familiar with it. I think there's 20 or 25 counties in Texas that are in the same situation that you are, that you are growing so fast, this is legislation out there to take it from 3,000 to 5,000. Just like you said. And you know I don't -- I don't see any issues against that frankly from what I have seen right now. It streamlines, but we are watching that, we understand exactly what you are saying. We were in -- we were in -- in sugarland the other day. Fort bend. They are growing 3,000 people a month.
>> oh, yeah.
>> you know, that's a big concern that they have. Yes, we hear what you are saying. And it possibly is the way to go. The legislation, they are serious about it over there. And -- and I think that you have a department secretary that's very aware of it, understands it, we will do what we can to answer any questions that they have to tell them that possibly it might be something to strongly consider.
>> anything that you could be helpful with the governor or the governor's staff would be very much appreciated.
>> mr. Secretary, just by chance you are a republican, I mean as the [laughter] one republican on the court, I知 more than happy for you to take back to the governor that I am very much in support of this and I知 glad to hear you say that you are as well because this is something that will help us, you know, tremendously. I mean, you know, for the cost you know that we all undertake on this thing.
>> more and more counties in Texas as we as Texas becomes -- becomes new business friendly, eat. It's an issue that's basically going to be more than 20 counties. It's going to move forward, so --
>> I知 glad to see that -- I知 thoroughly convinced that the reason that we can get this money within 30 days is because you are a retail guy and from one retail guy to another one, you are right that 30 day deal --
>> us retail guys I know when the banking days are because I don't have to make a deposit that day. My mother was a democrat, my father was a republican, so --
>> I am thrilled, because this is a bigdy. Like we are a couple of blocks away, we haven't had a secretary of state here. I very much appreciate the fact that you are doing this listening tour and getting out an listening to folks and issues.
>> thank you, we will be black. I plan on staying. So if you have any question are or advice we certainly will take it, an open door at the secretary of state's office.
>> thank you very much for coming by and also for bringing the check. [ applause ] that may belong to the secretary of state.
>> I thought we ought to send him with a pen.
>> yeah.
>> do we need to take b today or -- -- okay. Thank you very much. Move that we officially receive the check.
>> seconds.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> I think we are send an pen with him.
>> thank you all.
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, March 30, 2005 12:50 PM