Travis County Commissioners Court
May 3, 2005
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication, to give residents of Travis County Travis County for any item not on the agenda. Number one is jimmy castro. [indiscernible] bishoff next, followed by jennifer gale.
>> good morning.
>> good morning. Thank you, judge. Good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners and staff. My name is jimmy castro here to speak on my own behalf. I've also served as a volunteer with the greater Austin chamber of commerce. I would like to remind everyone to take the time to vote in a very important election. The Austin community college annexation election Saturday may the 7th. The city of Austin includes parts of three school districts that are not in the a.c.c.'s taxing district. Eanes, Pflugerville and Round Rock. All registered voters in the a.c.c. Taxing district in areas to be annexed are eligible to vote. Annexation requires a majority vote of all qualified voters and [indiscernible] taxing district. This would add city property in those school districts to a.c.c.'s tax base. Lowering tuition rates for areas to be annexed will help improve access to higher education for thousands. A.c.c.'s future growth and continued success depends on increasing the tax base. A.c.c. And district tuition is less than half the out of district rate. At a.c.c. Currently in district students pay $39 per credit hour. Compared with $97 per hour for a student from outside the district. For an example, an in-district student would pay $159 for typical three credit hour course with no lab fees, compared with $333 an out of district student would pay for the same course. A difference of $174. In exchange for helping support a.c.c., those taxpayers will be eligible to pay in district tuition rates. The annexation would increase net revenue to the a.c.c. District by $6 million annually. Typically, a.c.c. Would use additional tax revenue to maintain the reasonable balance between tuition, fees and taxes. Finally, let's do the right thing, bypassing the Austin community college annexation proposition for Austin's future. So every young adult and adult can read, learn and dream bus a city with dreams is a city with the future. Thank you judge, Commissioners.
>> thank you very much, mr. Castro. Mr. Bishoff.
>> [indiscernible] I知 a former tenant at the farmers market. I have been to the court before, about a being in February. Back in February. I知 coming back to ask in light of what happened last week if the court would maybe allow me to speak with someone about some of the issues that came up there. I thought perhaps there was an opportunity to speak as an individual to members of court, which I thought I saw last week. I知 also here concerning the moneys that we had lost. Our equipment had been confiscated and sold. And the Commissioners court through some hilly had addressed the letter to mr. Rylander back in February 11th about six weeks ago or so. And the second item of a four item letter says that paragraph 7 c, I would like to read this, please, of the agreement requires you to furnish monthly to the owner a detailed statement of all receipts and disreimbursements for each month. The county is especially interested in the last six months, that would be something end of '04, early '05. The county is especially interested in the last six months. There is a great deal of confusion regarding john miller's lease and its closeout, including the same of some equipment to danny rice, that's been about six weeks. We have heard nothing on this issue. So -- so that's what I知 here about. I would like to find out how we can go about getting that to happen. There was a -- my question is the fact that -- there was only about 17 days that was not paid in that rent. And for that 17 days, john miller was charged $7,000. And what I mean by that is December 1st, he signed a lease and paid a $1,500 deposit. That $1,500 deposit could have covered December's rent. In fact he was told by mr. Rylander that he would use it towards the rent so that the county wouldn't have a real problem with it and he would apply it and that he was still waiting for the rent to be paid. If that was the case, the $1,500 covered December as I said, from January 1st to January 17th when he was locked out, he was charged $7,000 out of my $10,000 sale. For the equipment that he sold. Then he offered me the $3,000 leftover as the owner. So there's a pretty big issue to us of the I don't know how to handle it.
>> well, it may help us I guess to get specific questions from you. We can certainly try to get the answers. Isn't that about the best way to proceed?
>> I advised mr. Bishoff that you all wouldn't be able to discuss this today, but if you wanted to communicate and deal directly with perhaps Commissioner Sonleitner or I have been having conversations with his lawyer, we can get the questions out on the table and have someone report back to him. That most likely person should have been his lawyer. But we will be happy to handle this offline out of this me. If you -- you all aren't scheduled to discuss this issue today.
>> what if you give us written questions and we'll do our best to get the answers for you?
>> i'll do those, i'll bring those to here or --
>> either you can send those questions to Commissioner Sonleitner or get your lawyer to send them to john hilly.
>> okay.
>> either one will work.
>> okay. I知 no longer working with that attorney right now, so -- but I can go back to him.
>> better yet, if you will send Commissioner Sonleitner and john hilly a set of those questions or just -- one copy then that person will send the other person a copy of it. So we would appreciate that. We will see if we can get some progress on it for you. Thank you.
>> thanks, david.
>> jennifer gale is next.
>> I would like to wish that gentleman the best of luck. Hi, Travis County Commissioners court.
>> good morning.
>> I知 jennifer gale. Feliz cinco de mayo. A big celebration coming up this weekend. Also election weekend. I would like to reiterate the sentiments of jimmy castro by saying vote yes or vote your mind on the a.c.c. Initiative to bring them into our taxing district, to bring down not only the taxes but to allow those children a more affordable education. I知 not here just to tell you about my platform of no kill on our pets. Our loved ones -- so our loved ones don't find themselves at the wrong end of a short legal. Or my platform for gays and lesbians for health and well-being, or that I知 going to represent both conservatives and liberals and that I知 going to hire mayor pro tem goodman to work in my office along with her aid jerry rustoven. I知 sorry, I didn't recognize the court. My Commissioner Ron Davis, Karen Sonleitner, Gerald daughterty, Margaret Gomez, judge Sam Biscoe thank you for allowing me to speak. I知 here to talk about the corruption in the police department among our commanders and our police chief in the city of Austin that would allow rookie officers -- that would allow officer amy donovan to die. A more experienced officer, that never would have happened. Or commander shauna jacobson. She would still be alive had I been elected. Because she would not have been driven into that railing with her husband, kurt jacobson. The -- I知 indicting the Austin police association for continuing to -- to endorse our -- our chamber of commerce candidates, so anyone that the four or police have endorsed, I don't want -- I知 asking people not to vote for. Our newspaper is not giving me an interview. That's why you don't see me in the newspaper. I may receive $85,000 from for making a runoff. As part of my promotion of myself so that I can win a runoff, I知 going to use that money to start a petition to create an Austin-owned newspaper. Owned by the people of Austin and Travis County so that we have a paper that won't be corrupted by outside influences. There's also corruption in our city clerk's office that's not recognizing the fact that councilman betty dunkerly's petition is invalid. It has 195 addresses missing, 22 no voter registration and 18 no dates. She only had 300 -- 303 good signatures. She needed 294. That's clearly well below the amount of valid signatures. And that's [indiscernible] of the city of Austin legal department, also an indictment of the city of Austin legal department. [buzzer sounding] I want to ask everyone to vote this weekend. You only get one chance every three years. This is your chance. Good luck, Travis County. Thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Gale. Anybody else for citizens communication to address the court on any matter not on the agenda?
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, May 4, 2005 10:33 AM