Travis County Commissioners Court
August 22, 2006
Item 36
Number 36 is to receive for filing with the Travis County Commissioners court a petition for the creation of the east travis gateway library district and instruct staff to review the petition and all related issues and take appropriate action. Morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. Dan smith with the office of county judge, and here today with me is mr. Bill hill hill hilgers, who is one of the plights on this request. Over the last three weeks we have been anticipating receiving this application for the creation of the east Travis County library district. The purpose of this item is to receive the application and for you to instruct staff to review the petition and related matters. We've received this application at about 3:00 p.m. On Thursday of last week. I reviewed the application with the county attorney's office and according to section 326.023 of the local government code, the application should include the name of the proposed district, description of the proposed district by either meets or bonds, a map or plat for other sufficient legal description, names of the five persons who are willing to serve as the initial board of trustees, the rate of the sales or use tax that would be imposed by the district, and then check reflect the costs of conducting the application. This meets all the requirements except for the check.
>> that's why mr. Hilgers is is here.
>> that's right. He may be delivering it in person. [ laughter ] I know y'all have seen a lot of these newly created governmental jurisdictions. I'm just a messenger.
>> y'all know that the hilgers have been working on this for a long, long time and have been dedicated to library services in elroy for many, many years. I know they've been workogthis process for a long, long time.
>> can somebody help me out with the date? Because we've had to turn down the road district now the galleria area that things from a couple of weeks ago were insufficient in time to be able to get on the November ballot. Can somebody educate me as to how this can still get on a November ballot in.
>> under the statute, the election -- tamara armstrong, assistant county attorney. Under the applicable statute, the election must be ordered next Tuesday, and that will be in time for the November ballot.
>> and what are the prerequisites for us ordering the election?
>> you have to find the petition conforms with statutory requirements and that you have the money needed to conduct the election.
>> okay.
>> the one thing that I think may be confusing Commissioner Sonleitner is there is no advertised notice requirement that was in the road district issues as there is some n. Some one. The statute is district.
>> is it because of the vote?
>> no. [overlapping speakers]
>> we're using the library district statute and there is no public notice requirement at all.
>> and unlike the fire district election, we don't have to have any kind of a finding of sufficiency of funds to be able to support this district because it's a sales tax issue as opposed to a property tax issue.
>> the only money you need to make sure is have you the cost of the leksz up front -- elections up front before you order it.
>> the petition is required to have how many signatures?
>> five percent of the number of voters in the territory who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election.
>> and we think that's how many?
>> we don't know. That's up to the voter registrar to determine. Once she receives this this afternoon, then she will determine that based on the population of the newly proposed district.
>> so they will certify that for us next Tuesday.
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>> I've had an unusual experience with this process, I would like to think that I'm still learning. I've had a lot of good experience with people in this county you ought to know about, county attorney, john hilly, theresa armstrong, elections division gale fisher, with the voter registration division dolores lopez and his assistant [indiscernible], transportation natural resources division, with gayla [indiscernible], all of these people have bent over backwards to be helpful and every now and then I would like -- and I like to see government work at its best, I have seen that in this case, there's a lot on the line here, 20 years here of free service to the community and a public library, I'm very grateful for the fact that we have gotten to this point. At this stage because we [indiscernible] at this point. Our library staff is all volunteer. My wife has been a librarian all this time without any compensation, now 84, is not able to continue. People on the board are not able to continue. So this is a gift to this new library district of about a half million dollar facility that is state of the art, perfectly operational and ready to go. So we need it. This is the kind of thing that I like to see government at the grass roots do best, non-partisan, no political bias one way or the other. A total benefit to the community, I wanted to make that comment about what I think is an extraordinary good job. People in your jurisdiction.
>> that's grit to hear.
>> yeah.
>> thank you.
>> bill, do you think we might be able to vote over there, have a voting location over there where this library district is going to be.
>> you have had it for many years --
>> do we vote at the library there now.
>> we can vote over there.
>> great.
>> for the record now, Commissioner Gomez will make sure that we are objective in our review of this and evaluation before we take action next Tuesday, mr. Hilgers. [laughter]
>> that's right.
>> thanks for the compliments, though.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, dan.
>> move that we receive the petition and that we instruct staff, request staff to review the petition and all related issues and requirements in preparation for a -- for an August 29th agenda posting and appropriate action by this court.
>> second.
>> will that take care of it, tamara and john? Okay. Discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all.
>> good to see you mr. Hilgers, good to see you again.
>> appreciate all of your hard work.
>> thanks you.
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:
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 7:33 PM