Travis County Commissioners Court
November 8, 2005
Executive Session Items
Let's go to executive session. A couple of things we wanted to discuss this morning, number 8, consider and take appropriate action on settlement of liability claim by james scott. Basically it is the county's liability for those vehicles even when the driver is off duty, and questions related there to. And the other one we indicated we would ask legal advice on was 36, which is the consider and take appropriate action on request from district clerk for exception to fy '06 budget rules for employee recognition and both of those will be under consultation with attorney. John? Number 40 is to consider and take appropriate action on office space lease proposals for counseling and education services of the do we need to do that. We will not take number 40. 41, receive briefing from county attorney and take appropriate action regarding permit amendment application of waste management of Texas for Austin community recycling and disposal facility, tceq permit number msw-249-d. That's the consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 42, consider and take appropriate action for the potential purchase of real estate in central Austin. That would be the real estate, real property and let's note the consultation with attorney exception also. 43, consider and take appropriate action on a contract to purchase land for the southwest metropolitan park and/or open space locate understand precinct 3. That's the real property and consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. 44, receive legal briefing and take appropriate action on tax rebate agreement with samsung Austin semiconductor llc, consultation with attorney. You should have backup on that item. 45, receive legal briefing and take appropriate action on tax abatement agreement with home depot, u.s.a., inc., consultation with attorney. And number 46, our last item for executive session discussion, is to consider and take appropriate action on a proposal from joseph l.lessard to perform services assigned to emergency services and criminal justice planning. Consultation with attorney exception to the open meetings act. Let's also announce personnel matters --
>> I was just going to say 44 was consultation with attorney as well, wasn't it?
>> yes, samsung? Right. I didn't say that? Consultation with attorney, number 44. 46, consultation with attorney. And personnel exception matters to the open meetings act. We will go into executive session to discuss these and get legal advice, but will return to open court before taking any action.
we have returned from executive session where we discussed the following items: 41 involving the management of Texas tomorrow that will be on the executive committee of cap to capcog. I move that the representatives from Travis County on the committee advise them of the previously taken opposition to the expansion of waste management at the current site and that we urge the executive committee to do the same to join us. Discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. 42 we did discuss, that will be back on next week. In my view no action to take today. 42.
>> 42? 42, that was a counter, hold on. There is action to take today. A two part counter. As a matter of fact. Part 1 to submit a counter offer to the owners for the purchase of the building for the price of $2.9 million.
>> second.
>> and that we have this back on the court's agenda next week. Seconded by Commissioner Sonleitner. Discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you very much there. We will save 43 until last. 44 we did give directions on that, samsung Austin semi conduct llc, also the home depot and 45, gave directions to legal counsel. In my view no action required in open court. We will have it back on next week. Just in case we need to have a follow-up discussion. And susan are you on a particular item?
>> 36.
>> [indiscernible]
>> no, we haven't gone back to that one yet.
>> okay. 46 we did ask director -- executive manager alicia perez to do certain things between now and next Tuesday. We will have this item broken down into various parts. Probably nothing else necessary today. We will have it back next week. November 15th, '05. And we also discussed item no. 8. Got legal advice. Any action required on that one?
>> judge, I would move that we settle the liability claim of mr. Scott. Bringing in the items this morning that were brought in related to some -- getting the release from detective scott for the dollar amounts that were listed there. And that we send a cordial letter to the Travis County sheriff's office, attention sheriff hamilton to ask for a reimbursement of this amount to the appropriate line items.
>> second.
>> seconded by Commissioner Gomez. Discussion? All in favor? Show Commissioners Sonleitner, Gomez and yours truly voting in favor. Voting against? Commissioner Daugherty and also Commissioner Davis. Item no. 36. Now previously we didn't take any action on that, we got a good understanding of exactly what the law is. By taking no action basically we turned down the request in my view. Anything else today on that? We did think that it's a good idea to recognize employees, especially retiring, but we still that -- that the contributions to -- collecting contributions from fellow workers and other managers at the county, yours truly included, for a worthy gift that does not use public funds is probably appropriate. Okay? And finally, on item no. 43, involving the purchase of -- of the land for southwest metropolitan park and/or open space, located in precinct 3, I move that we recess this item for Commissioners court meeting tomorrow, what if we say 1:45?
>> that's fine.
>> in the afternoon, is that okay?
>> 1:45. And -- and that is for item no. 43 only.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Melissa, you will be here?
>> 1:45.
>> > tomorrow at 1:45.
good afternoon, let's call back to order the Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 voting session of the Commissioners court. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:00 we recessed the voting session and specifically item no. 43 until 1:45 today. And 43 is to consider and take appropriate action on a contract to purchase land for the southwest metropolitan park and/or open space located in precinct 3. And because Travis County voters approved the open space and parks bond issue, on yesterday's ballot, this is ready for action. But we need to consult with legal counsel in executive session for I guess 10 minutes or so. Make sure that we understand the terms and conditions of the contract, then we will return to open court for any appropriate action. So we will convene in executive session under consultation with attorney, very, very briefly.
we have returned from executive session where where he received legal advice on item no. 43. We recessed yesterday's voting session. This matter involves two tracts of land and I move that we authorize the county judge to sign the contract on the reimers ranch property after we have addressed four issues that the attorney for the rhyme reimers called to our attention yesterday. We think this -- this morning. We think we will be able to get those done, we will authorize the county judge to sign the contract after those are addressed and if this matter needs further consideration by the Commissioners court it will be posted on the agenda next Tuesday. But if we resolve those matters as we anticipate, the county judge will sign them and await an appropriate closing on that tract of land.
>> I second that motion.
>> any discussion? All in favor. That passes by unanimous vote. The second tract of land is the hogue tract, I move that we authorize the county judge to sign the county draft which was sent to the attorney for the hogues, if that returns unchanged or without significant changes. If there are significant changes to it, then we will simply have this matter, this contract, the whole contract posted on our November 15th agenda for further discussion by the court. We don't anticipate any significant change, but if there is one, we will be ready to act next Tuesday. If not, the county judge will simply sign the contract and return it to us.
>> second that motion.
>> that will get it done, mr. Nuckols.
>> that will get it done. We should probably have this all on the agenda Tuesday anyway. I know, you know, a transaction this large, we will probably want to make sure all of your I’s are dotted, t's are crossed. There are certain ancillary documents that we need to sign. We will put all of that under one posting for Tuesday. Even if the contracts are signed before then, you know, the wording for the agenda was very broad I know, judge, you were concerned about specifying each contract, the hogue, the reimers contract, we can put that on there Tuesday, that will ratify everything.
>> large in terms of size of acres? Amount of money?
>> both.
>> and benefit to the public.
>> judge, before we vote, I would like to thank everybody that's worked so hard for this. It's -- it's a -- you know, a wonderful piece of property for Travis County to secure and without, you know, a lot of folks, I start naming names, somebody is going to get left out, it's kind of like getting left out of a wedding list. I will just look at the front row, the second row and the gentleman in the third row and thank each and every one of you for all of the work that you have done to pull this thing together because, you know, without ya, it's obvious by the numbers -- when I was really impressed with is that the numbers -- the people that voted didn't just vote in this community on parks, I mean, they came and they voted on all three of the propositions and I think that that said a lot. So thank you very much for helping pull this off.
>> I share some of the same concerns Commissioner as you just stated. I would like to again thank the community for voting in support of proposition 1, 2 and 3. Of course there was -- there was some moments where, you know, looked like maybe one of them was going to go under. All of them did come, were substantially passed and supported by all of Travis County. So again I’m very elated, very excited, I want to publicly thank the community for your support.
>> i, too, would also like to give think thanks, first off to the voters of Travis County. This is our fourth go round for many of us here related to bond authorization and this is the largest parks acquisition that we have ever had. We have been stepping this up by huge number, '97, 2001, now 2005. And right after the voters we need to say a public thank you to the reimers family. They have been amazing stewards of this land and we have this great gift because this family did take such extraordinary care of this land. It is well loved. And we want to continue that legacy of the reimers. I specifically want to single out nature conservancy. I know we have the wedding list thing going here. But nature conservancy helped out every time we hit a little speed bump. To the general pac, mike blizzard with the parks pac, stakeholder groups that stepped forward to help educate the public about what opportunity we had here, they really worked it. And the numbers reflect that. To all of the folks that e-mailed or wrote or called who were cycling enthusiasts, rock climbing enthusiasts, this seals the deal in terms of having all of those good, wonderful things happen on that property. This is a good day, it's a legacy day. And --
>> I’m very excited to be here today. Especially not too much has gone wrong and so we want to make sure that nothing does go wrong taking this action so that -- [multiple voices] [laughter]
>> but now that the voters have spoken, I kind of feel like I need to -- I don't need to knock on wood too much. But I wanted to make sure that we took this action today so that we can -- we can take action quickly. And so it was a joy meeting the reimers and a joy meeting the owner of the hogue tract as well and so all of you have made that possible. And so many thanks to the voters. Thank you so much.
>> any comments from any of you? Sort of dazed. We catch you off guard? [laughter] thanks, thanks, thanks. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> move adjourn.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 8, 2005 6:21 PM