Travis County Commissioners Court
April 10, 2007
Citizens communication
Citizens communication is next. This item gives residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes. And three residents have signed in. Gus pena, lori renterria, scott johnson.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> she has already given comments.
>> thank you, lori. Gus pena? Is he here? He may have had to leave. Scott johnson is the only remaining resident for citizen communication.
>> good morning. I'm here today for a different matter. I'm hoping that you have a large viewing audience or when it's taped and shown again that word gets out, but this Saturday I had planned to have at central Texas electric lawn mower program. I'm the project manager. We encourage people to trade in their gas powered mothers for electric models to reduce air pollution and noise pliewsmghts but due -- pollution. But due to some restraints on the product availability, we will have to reschedule the event. I'm trying to minimize people going down there Saturday expecting to trade in their mower to buy a new electric mower. So eye like to take a few moments and try to spell out the website where people can go for updates on this plash program. I do this in collaboration with the center for maximum potential building systems, which is a well-known nonprofit group nationally that works on green building, sustainability issue. The website that I'm using, which is one affiliated with their group, is cmpbs.org/electriclawn/mower. For those watching again, if you can get your pen or pencil handy and again the website is cmpbs.org/electric sleep lawnmother. We do expect to remedicine for sometime later in April. One of the Saturdays. We don't know which Saturday at this particular time. We have to quantify that the product will be available to ship in to the store that we're having, which is the south Austin home depot at woodward and south i-35. Also I'd like to say in reviewing the early action compact agreement that the county is a signatory for and looking at the enforcement of some of the strategies that the county and other jurisdictions within central Texas has agreed to, there are only six violations written last year during the ozone season for the heavy duty diesel ielgding rule, -- ielgding rule, which is a rule that says that diesels that have seven-17th or more of gross vehicle weight can be cite fire department they idle their vehicles for more than five minutes. It hens to protect the -- helps to protect the public's health. The six violations were all written in railroad and they gave -- were written in Round Rock. So other jurisdictions may not be be enforcing this ordinance. I would be happy to answer any questions.
>> scott, do you only do that, the lawn mower program, is that just done once a year?
>> I created the program 10 years ago, but now there are two groups that do the program. Mine where I raise money with public-private sector fun. And then the clean air force which Travis County is a member. Their program happening in may, the first two Saturdays of may, the fifth and the 12th. And then generally it's a seasonal event because the peak sales month for lawn mowers is right now in April and therefore if we had the event year-round you wouldn't have many sales. Some of the stores don't stock electric lawn mowers in October, November, December and January such as home depot and lowe's.
>> even if you don't have one to trade in, you can purchase it?
>> certainly. Home depot changed their supplier. They're not using black & decker any longer. What's exciting about it is the cost for the cordless model has gone from the black & decker price regular retail of 449 down to 259, 150-dollar discount. That's is regular price at home depot. We're only incentivizing and discounting if folks bring a trade in to leave with us, which is scrapped in an environmentally sensitive way. And in doing that we're leveraging what's the most important environmental benefit to the program is to scrap that old mower so people can buy the cordless model for 299 plus tax and the corded model is 199 plus tax without a trade-in.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> what about those old push mowers with the blade? Are they still around?
>> they are. There are two models carried in both home depot and lowes. They're between 100 and $120 plus tax.
>> that's a good exercise. You sure can lose some weight.
>> that's right.
>> they are a good choice in n. That the spring are better constructed now so they cut better than years ago when you might have tried it and you had to get a running start. That is a good choice.
>> it is. Thank you.
apparently mr. Reynolds was here earlier with the cadets and it may be a good thing in the future to line them up in the courtroom and that way we won't be able to overlook them. Let's just call you all up. This was on the citizen's communication this morning. I guess when I passed the table I didn't pick this one up
>> probably in the other stack. We did put that dnare pretty ear overrook.
>> I was surprised to see you walk in. I thought, well, maybe he owes me money and came to pay it.
>> they remember how to do that from the last time.
>> we appreciate their patience this morning. They have been standing around a while.
>> yes, sir, they have. But that's something that they are not used to. Good morning, Commissioners, judge. We got to see class seven before it started. I like to say rag tag bunch of individuals, but I won't. Now this is the finished project of a wñl groommed machine, consisting of these ten team members. Chief smith couldn't be here so e he says to say hello and thank you for this opportunity to speak. This is class seven. Through your support and your vision, I use that word very strongly, we have made it to class seven. And if you think about what success is, I would say how do you mention that. You mention that in lives saved or that have been touched. Each of these individuals has already participated on emergency calls and have already put out that touch that you allowed them to do with the support from the court. I think there were a few individuals what wanted to speak very briefly. I did want you to see the finished project and say thank you very much for your support as we look forward to your continued support.
>> thank you.
>> microphone on the end there will snap right off, and that way the millions of people watching us will be able to hear each speaker.
>> cad et christopher sspera sspera. I wanted to say this program has not only impacted my life in several different ways, not just large but small detailed ways, and I can see it in my own discipline every day but not only that but the people around me too. This program has inspired many of those around me to elevate the bar for their goals in their lives and go for things that they didn't think were achievable at first just by seeing what some of us here were able to do. And do with our lives and I hope Travis County continues to fund this program and make more firefighters.
>> thank you.
>> hi everybody, my name is cadel lewis and I want to thank you all for this program because it helped shape and mold me as a young man. It taught me team work for real. You know, I was one of those individuals I always felt that I can do everything on my own, but being in this type of job, it can't happen happen. It takes a full fledged team that really believes in each other and knows that I know my friend got my back and I got his back and we are going to make it through this together. And I really want to thank you because it taught me a lot. I mean, discipline, I remember when I came in I had a hard time shaving because I really didn't know how. And chief, he was like come here, young man, let me show it here. It was really crazy. I was used to having hair on my face, you know, my pants was baggy. A lot and I want gram because it really helps. The , chief is clean cleanly shaven today.
>> what the cadet, his nickname is xl, his said his pants were baggy, I said you can do that when you're away from the office, but while you're at the office the uniform needs to fit like a uniform. He showed that to the class one day with this little bit of hair on his chin. I said, you need to be clean shaven to participate in this class. His words to me were, chief, I have never had to shave. I went, here, come here young man, let me show you how to do this. Not only do we teach firefighting skills, we teach life skills.
>> christopher mofer, I too want to take the time to thank you guys for this program. Like them, I think all of us were a shell when we came in here of the men and women that we are now, and elaborating a little bit more on what I have gained from this unique program that I would also like to thank you guys for is this environment with which I'm in, we are from all different backgrounds and it's allowed me to learn more about the community with which I hope to serve and that this community and this program has made possible for me. So I just want to thank you guys for that. Pushing myself along with my cadet mates to a common good which is serving this community. So thank you.
>> thank you all.
>> good morning, my name is ver on onican eddy. I want to say that I feel privileged to be standing before you all today. This program is a very good program. Six months of dedication with a great team. You come in and you don't know these people and then you spend six months of your life with them , and they are a second family to you and they have your back. And there are moments as a female that you believe that you cannot do it but with the encouragement of my group that I have standing here with me, they help me push through it and I am so proud to be a part of this team and hopefully a team in the actual field that is just as great as this team was. So I thank you for the opportunity of funding Travis County for class seven, and I do ask that you continue to fund Travis County for classes for the future. Thank you.
>> number seven.
>> good news is that the placement rate for the previous classes was incredibly high.
>> yes, sir, I believe out of 116 that we trained, that you have allowed us to train almost 90, right at 90 are employed in full-time positions, some in the state and some in other states.
>> I am told the number of graduates that have come from the program since it started seven years ago, how many years back, I guess.
>> yes, 116 or 119, I don't have the exact number.
>> but that is remarkable. Tremendous. I'm going to give you a round of applause.
>> (applause)
>> I want to encourage you all to keep on keeping on.
>> the placement rate for this class will be close to 100 percent. I can feel itit that's pretty high.
>> I thank you for putting us on the agenda so late in your business. We did want to say thank you for that support. And it is you that we need to applaud.
>> (applause)
>> thank you.
>> good luck to all of you.
>> thank you.
>> we need to get you invitations to the graduation.
>> give us the date again.
>> Wednesday at 3:30.
>> thank 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, April 11, 2007, 8:34 AM