Travis County Commissioners Court
June 7, 2005
Item 34
Number 34-a, discuss and receive report from citizen bond accountability committee regarding the f.y. 2005 proposed bond program, and 34-b, consider and take appropriate action on amendment to charter.
>> good morning, carol joseph, t.n.r. And here to make the report for the bond -- citizens bond committee is chairman moya and co-chairman lorenz.
>> thank you very much.
>> good morning.
>> judge Biscoe, Commissioner Davis, Sonleitner, Daugherty and Gomez. I知 assuming all of you have received the packet on the jail bond. Hopefully you had a chance to review it. I apologize getting it to you late. By the time carol and I got through with it it was late Friday afternoon. I will just highlight some of the things that we're doing and answer any questions y'all might have. First of all, first of all, as you know, this committee is working really hard and you'll have done an outstanding job of apoint ago cross-section of the community to work on this deal because I was listening to the Commissioner and jail standards, and your job is more than jails and this bond issue is more than jails, it's also parks and it's drainage problems and roads, public safety. You have a lot of things to consider. And it's going to be difficult for this committee to accomplish the charter, and we may have to come to you with several choices because our charter and our charge was that we try to come up with a bond issue that did not exceed $100 million. We want to try to do that, and in fairness to the committee, I must tell you that the requests we've gotten from all the different groups that are eligible for bond money, the totals add up to a little over $450 million. So we do the best we can and then we'll shoot it over to you guys and you all have to bite the bullet on it because we're going to do the best we can. We realize that all the requests we've received are valid requests, things that should be completed in your five-year bond program that you are trying to accomplish and we will work to try to reach that. We've had a lot of meetings. The committee has been very good. During the month of may we met every Tuesday instead of every other Tuesday and we meet tonight and that will be six Tuesdays that we've met. And we're doing that in an effort to meet the deadlines we must meet for you to set your dates and do what you have to do. The [inaudible] will start next we're. We're going to try to have as many of our committee members at those meetings and listen to what the public has to say. We're not getting a lot of correspondence from the public yet. I don't think they really are aware that we're out there yet, but they will be when the projects start coming up. Now, we're going to try to have to start [inaudible] tonight. The transportation committee seems to have the biggest job. And they have agreed to meet longer than the rest of us. They are going to start meeting at 5:00 on Tuesdays instead of 6:00. And meet -- we try to adjourn by 8:00, if we can. So that committee has a real big job ahead of them because they have to deal with the transportation projects and drainage projects and your parks and open space. So they have a big, big job, and -- but they are willing to meet the challenge and mr. Coleman assured me they will start [inaudible] programs tonight to give us some idea where we're at. I can't say enough about the staff. They've been very helpful and answer a lot of our questions and we had a lot of them and a lot of our folks it's the first involvement with the county bond issue and they had a lot of questions, and the staff has been very patient to answer all of our questions. And we appreciate their veil but because they just hang in there even when we're having committee meetings, we don't particularly want to meet with staff, they wait in the corner in case we have a question and we'll ask them and they go back to their corner. But in the report we have subcommittee reports that some are lengthy, some are not. They will give you an idea what the committee has done so far. I will -- I知 not going to read them to you unless you ask me to or if you have any questions on any of them, we'll try to answer them. I would like to tell you that the committee, the makeup of the committee so you will know who is where. I知 sure you already know, but parks and open space, dan acres, precinct 1 is the chair. And perry lore repbz and rod rena are on that committee. The road and capacity drainage, leo coleman is the chairman and with him is david hardwick, leonard hubbard. In the jail, steve martin is the chair and the members charles aiken, dr. Charles aiken, jim Davis and myself. So what we do generally at the meeting, we meet as a group initially and then we break up into committee for as much time as possible and then we regroup and see what each committee has done and we set our agenda for the next meeting. I heard a lot of discussion about the jail and I want to you know that the jail people have been very helpful. Michael in particular in giving us the information we need. It's a tough issue. I haven't been to a new jail yet, I mean to del valle, but I知 going next Saturday and so is dr. Akins. Steve martin our chairman has gone and I might add these a very capable, qualified person to be on this committee because he's kind of a expert in jails. So we're moving along. We're doing all we can. I don't know if dr. Aiken wants to add anything to my discussions. If not, we'll answer any questions you might have.
>> the only thing I would like to add, mr. Chair, is to reit ate what you said relative to the staff cooperation. We've had excellent cooperation. The staff is providing opportunities for the field trips to the various parks and various locations across the county so that we could see some of the situations and how, of course, we will be impacted by it. And there are several already have had the tour of the jail, so to speak. A former Commissioner and I will be going along with some others this next time around. We find that it's a very serious challenge we have to think in terms of how important this proposed bond package surely could be to the entire county. And, of course, we are taking it seriously as well. And so it's been a learning opportunity for me again and I知 appreciative to the Commissioners for allowing me to serve.
>> really all I can say is ditto. We've -- the staff has been so responsive. Any trip, any time, any way to accommodate our schedule. Recently we went out to hamilton pool road and for the first time I looked at the county's facility out there, we looked at the parks, went down and looked in those caves and it's really an amazing thing. I think probably we would be lucky if 10% of our citizens had any idea what we got going out there. I知 excited to be part of this. We're -- as we get closer to the end, I think we'll have real specific concrete recommendation, but right now it's really just a learning experience for all of us. Like I say, we have no lack of input from the staff and their ability to answer questions in good faith and we really appreciate that.
>> there is a recommended amendment to the charter.
>> yes, sir.
>> and the committee has seen that language?
>> they probably didn't get it all in timely. One of the recommendations came about because several of the committees have been -- committee members have been lobbied by individuals and they had asked us what can we do about that. And so the end result was we got with the county attorney's office and amended the charter to enable them to be able to say no to the individual lobbying, to individuals that would benefit financially or in any way by any of the projects. They are certainly welcome to attend the meetings and discuss or make their presentations known to the committee or subcommittee of the group, but not to --
>> we need to give the committee an opportunity to review the language before we act on it.
>> I think our intent is that. I've had a couple of phone calls from people that really have direct interest, want to take you to lunch, make a presentation, want to get you one on one. If that's somebody you know is a friend, you say I can't possibly do that. It's nice and simple to be able to say it's been recommended to us that we not get involved and that sort of thing, thank you very much. If that's the notion and that's the spirit, the spent of that language -- intent of that language, I don't feel the need to review it. Tonight might be a good night to do it.
>> we have a meeting at this time. -- we have a meeting tonight. If there's a change in the charter, wrong, I think we both have to agree to it s that the deal?
>> you don't have to agree to it, but I would hate to impose a new standard on you after you all have been volunteering and meeting for weeks. Let me finish.
>> sorry.
>> it's such a simple matter, just a short paragraph, but I think the whole committee ought to see it. What we are saying is we want to try to help you and here's the way we do it.
>> I think that's fine.
>> it kind of bothers me if there are -- how many members on the committee?
>> 14.
>> 14. We have three here. But it's simple for you all to look at it and if it raises issues for somebody, I think we ought to know about.
>> i'll agree. We meet tonight. We can present it to our group tonight and if they approve, we'll let you know by your next meeting.
>> the two people who are not here who are my appointees are the ones who brought this to may attention and wanted to have clarity so they could basically say I知 sorry we can't do that. It's not so much this is a new standard, it's a higher standard but one that we thought we had already laid out, bit it seems like we need to be more specific because we already have in this section establish a democratic, inclusive process to studying abond program that ensures the confidence and trust of the Travis County voters. And we're being a tad more explicit because here's the language for anybody that is listening. It is a fundamental expectation of the Commissioners court in relation to the committee that the elements of this charter should only be implemented by the committee or its appointed subcommittees in a public forum. This effort should be at stated meeting times, properly called, and at which all members of the committee or subcommittee are given an opportunity to attend. Private meetings with parties who may financially benefit from the design, construction or implementation of a candidate bond project is prohibited.
>> I think that's great language and I don't have any doubt there will be -- they will approve it, but I think it's fair to take it to all of them and we'll get it back to you. We've had several people that talked to me about it and i've had a few calls. I automatically just told them we're having a public hearing, you can attend one of those. It's a lot easier to say it if we have tonight the charter.
>> ought to know about it up front and if we approve it ought to know about it then. It's not the long, it's the process. Let's have it back on at the first legal opportunity.
>> and you can take it up tonight?
>> I think we can, yeah.
>> judge --
>> whether you can take it up tonight depends on the agenda.
>> correct. If we can -- if we can't do it legally, we won't, but we'll certainly discuss it.
>> judge, can I make a comment? I mean if you need to cover, well, then, fine. I think all of you have the integrity, and if somebody -- you know, it's the same for us. I mean when somebody wants to take me to lunch, I know that they are in the business. But there are a lot of times that's where I am the most educated because I can ask questions. And I will tell my brother that I can go to lunch would you and that doesn't mean that you are going to get any business, that doesn't mean you are going to get anything from me, but quite honestly, I mean to me, I have learned probably more by going to meetings with people that are experts in certain fields or areas. So I just want you to know that it's not going to be overly bothersome to me if somebody were to say, you know, so and so took one of the bond committee phoebgs, had drinks with them or whatever because that's kind of how the word works. I expect to you have the integrity to go I went, I listened, I know that they are in the business and that they wanted -- they would like to have the opportunity when time comes to be considered, but if this is cover that you need, I don't have a problem with that.
>> Gerald, I have to disagree because there is a perception here that --
>> this will be back on at the appropriate time after the committee has an opportunity to look at it.
>> I知 just telling you perception is incredibly important mirror. That somebody had private time with somebody and it is not appropriate. This is the third time around for the bond committee and it's the first time that this has come up. And it is inappropriate because you and I have to turn in personal financial statements, we turn in c and e reports, it's expected that's how people educate us. These are citizens who have signed up and the perception looks like somebody is trying to get favorite -- favorite treatment. Preferred treatment. And it's inappropriate.
>> there are a lot of ways to deal with this issue and I can hardly wait until it's back on the agenda. [laughter]
>> I would just like to make this comment. I'd like to thank the bond committee for the work that you are doing because you really don't have to do this. But because you are a volunteer, hopefully you can bring back the type of recommendation that we the Commissioners court can look at when we take action. And sometimes we raise it, sometimes we lower it as far as what you come back with, but it's the ultimate decision of the Travis County Commissioners court as far as what we like to see passed on to the voters for them to vote on in November of this year. So I just thank you for your hard work.
>> you're welcome.
>> and continue to do what you are doing.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much. [applause]
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 7:12 AM