Travis County Commissioners Court
June 7, 2005
Item 42
42 is to consider and take appropriate action on request for Commissioner's court to approve and sign a release allowing i.b.m. To use our website developed by hamer.
>> hammer?
>> hamer enterprises as an award-winning sample in their advertising, my question about this is what is the quid pro quo? What does Travis County get in return? Return? Travis County citizens got the ability, as you remember, a year or so ago, we were with a different vendor, and if you did things on the website, it would take a minimum of 48 hours to see response to whatever you did, if you made a payment, changed your address, whatever, we went with the hamer system, that is what i.b.m. Is recognizing us for, if you make a payment downtown it shows up on the website right, if you make a payment on the website it shows right now. So citizens are currently the quid pro quo is that citizens are getting the information immediately today and that is what they're trying to tout to say that this is a product -- apparently this has not happened anywhere else because i.b.m. Has awarded hamer the beacon award for i.b.m. Business partners for this innovative idea and they're trying to give good press to Travis County to say this is something that can be done using i.b.m. Equipment, and this is I hope it's the beginning of some of the things we're going to be doing for Travis County citizens, but that would be -- to answer your question, it's the instant access to Travis County tax and voter information and that's what they're getting today. I.b.m. Just wants to tell people about this being able to do this.
>> you think we get free advertising?
>> yeah, positive advertising, yes, sir, this is going to be in government technology, several other of the government magazines, we already have people that want to come by and see what has been done, talk to us about it, I’m assuming this is going to lead to a long range type thing with i.b.m. I know they're looking at accessibility issues, we were able to do things for the blind community with our website here. They're looking to do things for the senior citizens like myself that don't know how to go in and change my pc to do different font sizes, where you can click on them and make it easier for state representatives, and they want us to be able to do that and tout it as it happened to Travis County, so I think that is the -- that is the quit proquo.
>> we believe we can legally do this without --
>> tinsly and john hilly had no problem.
>> yeah, for us to try and put any kind of advertising touting ourselves, this would be extraordinarily expensive and this gives us very nice play and I know it's, you know, government kinds of things, but this stuff is equally important in terms of amongst the peers that are looking to see who has got good ideas.
>> right.
>> so we do a release and not a contract.
>> for --
>> let me ask it in a simpler way. Is there language that describes what it is that they can and cannot do with Travis County and Travis County equipment and --
>> we're not going to be using the equipment. All they're saying is Travis County did that, isn't it great? They're just using it as an example, they're not touching anything we do. They are just saying we did this and we think it's great, when they asked me about that, they didn't feel they really needed to come to y'all because it is a statement of fact. I want to go to Commissioner's court, we're not going to go on dusty nights, let's do this thing, we took it to tinsly and to john hille and they came up with what they thought was appropriate release. We looked at all -- anything they do in the future about it, relating to this, they come back to us, we get to see the ads firsthand and whatnot, and so it was good enough for your attorneys, I suppose it's okay.
>> they're not using any of our equipment, they're saying Travis County did something innovative.
>> discussion? All in favor? Show four and a half -- I mean 5 in support.
>> thank you, sir.
>> thank you, mr. Knight. Thank you for your patience.
>> no problem.
>> just get to collect taxes and don't have to deal with what you all do every day.
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, June 8, 2005 7:12 AM