Travis County Commissioners Court
January 24, 2006
Item 21
21. Consider and take appropriate action on contract renewal, contract no. Ps050209re, colette holt & associates, for hub program consulting services through may 31, 2006.
>> something morning, judge, Commissioners, sue grimes, Travis County purchasing agent.
>> cyd, I just have I think that you probably answered this pretty quickly, I wanted to make sure I understood what happened with this. I do know that we appropriated what, $25,000 for the contract with -- with colette and do I understand that the reason that -- that to date that they have only done $825 worth of work is because they have just gotten other things that -- that they had to do that they didn't get to do this work? I mean, I don't have a problem. We had the more than set aside -- we had the money set aside, but I was a little -- I guess I知 a little surprised that -- is there anything that we needed to have in the year since we appropriated the money for it and now we don't have that -- that --
>> no.
>> that has -- that work obviously hasn't been done.
>> well, remember, colette is one of the leading attorneys on these issues in the country and she's involved in a lot of federal cases and those sort of things. So she's asked for an tension of time, she's a lawyer. Also, she works also with the city of Austin, we have been working with them continually on some of these focus groups. Some of the information she's been working on and they are still working on it, haven't delivered that information to us. Basically, it was just a matter of her having other things to do. And so she asked for the extension and -- and several months ago we were -- we were just sort of getting around to coming back to it. Past the holidays, we said okay we really need you to finish this work for us. Especially the contractual clauses that -- that I think we need to -- to make, you know, put some teeth into our contracts. So -- so it's just -- it was just a matter of her workload, sylvia and them continue to work, do things work with the city on the program, but she just has -- you know, has --
>> [indiscernible]
>> so I guess then -- then you know I would like to -- the assurance that if we are going to extend it, then let's get what we need out of it. And -- and maybe she can tell us, I mean I do think that I have the time. Kind of makes it sound like when you read it, that you all kind of got pushed back here because there were other things that got in front of me. I mean, I -- I respect that she is, you know, one of the leading authorities in this. I don't have a problem with that. But I would like the message sent that -- that if you want to do the work for us, then tell us -- I mean, maybe it's next year that you know she probably doesn't have a crystal ball, but I would like for her to understand if we are going to do it, let's put it on there, get it done and follow through with it.
>> I -- I have some of the same concerns that you just expressed, however, I did get a chance to talk with purchasing on yesterday to get a lot of things kind of ironed out, that's why I didn't have no problem with it go on consent because of the conversation that I had with purchasing. But it's something that I think that all probably needs to be brought up. I guess in may, sometime in may, sooner or later colette is going to have to come back to make I guess a brief presentation to the court on some of the things on where she is and stuff like that. On the particular -- on the particular portion of what we are trying to accomplish to ensure that the -- that the hub participation in Travis County is where it should be. Now, I -- I知 assuming that -- that that will be in concert with whatever the disparity study is for -- as far as the city is concerned and others that may have been involved with that. All is going to basically work in conjunction. I understand that we have worked as far as proceeding with this, with the focus group type of approach. But I guess the bottom line and -- in all of this, when really at the end of the day, stuff like that, is when we really look at the minority participation as far as our -- as our hub program, with Travis County, and -- is that we can get something from this whereby we will look at -- I think that you did bring this point up, cyd -- this contractual language. So I知 looking forward to seeing if that is the case because we have been struggling, in my opinion, for a long time with trying to increase -- to increase the goal of -- as far as the achieving those goals, I think to ensure that the hub participation is where it should be. So I知 still looking forward to making sure that happens with our small business community and stuff like that. And the other vendors out there wanting to do business with Travis County. So that's basically where I知 coming from.
>> yeah, some of the information on the focus group have talked about and are working on some of the things that we have already started to do and had been doing. So we -- even though colette has not fulfilled the terms, some of the information and initiatives that we initially spoke with her about we have been implementing. We continue and -- and I talked to john a little bit about the performance issue and it's just -- we just wanted to do the work. At this point.
>> well, we do have milestones in attachment a.
>> yes.
>> attachment a will be incorporated into the contract.
>> I think -- I think she should know that the court is getting a bit anxious about completing of this work. Because a lot of things are riding on it. Communicate to her that we need her to stick to the -- to the milestones in attachment a. I know we haven't paid because she hasn't billed us, done the work, that's fair. But at the same time the work needs to get done, we would like for her to do it for us.
>> we will push her to be back here in may to address the court.
>> but there's a -- two or three things are supposed to happen by February 28th. Others by March 31st. So I don't know that I would wait until the may deadline. I think that soon after February 28th, we should know whether she's done those two things.
>> okay. We will need to bring those clauses to our county attorney and y'all to approve them. So we can do that. We can come back and bring, you know, updates before may.
>> I think that's pretty -- pretty aggressive as far as what -- what -- where we need to be, I think the judge hit the nail right on the head. But still I know she's dealing with those other entities. But again we need to embrace what we can get out of this thing now and so anyway those are just some of the things that we need to talk about yesterday. I知 looking forward to moving forward with this. Ago yes, sirrively. Aggressively with that hub participation level and the milestone that the judge mentioned and everything else.
>> judge, I would move approval of -- I think we have said -- I think she hears, she probably will hear us about -- about what we have done. That's the only deal. If you are going to do it, let's do it. I move approval.
>> second.
>> I知 taping this and I知 going to send it to her. [laughter] just kidding.
>> okay. [laughter]
>> you don't need to do it because it will be up on the web and you can watch, you can see the transcript and she can click it on her home computer and watch it tomorrow if she wants to.
>> I will let her know that we --
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. With the attachment and a diplomatic phone call conveying our concerns.
>> thank you all.
>> thanks, guys.
>> appreciate it.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 9:19 AM