Travis County Commissioners Court
May 22, 2007
Item 6
Number 6 is to approve proclamation recognizing larry deglandon on his retirement from Travis County transportation and natural resources road maintenance on may 31, 2007.
>> should I read it?
>> you bet.
>> it reads whereas mr. Larry deglandon, assigned to the east service center, is retiring on may 31st, 2007. Whereas mr. Deglandon started his career with with Travis County as a constable for the precinct 2 con constable be's office. He served as a deputy constable for three years. He was found to be an invaluable asset to the constable's office. Whereas he has serving bed Travis County for more than 23 years. For over 20 years he has been with transportation and natural resources department with the road and bridge division. He started with the county as a maintenance technician and promoted to equipment operator specialist. He quickly learned and honed the construction skills and assumed the responsibilities and duties as road foreman, only to keep leading and supervising to promote to section manager of the west service center. Whereas, after workogvarious crews, many employees of tnr have been trained by him where they were taught the fundamental skills of equipment and tools as well as who and where the constituents and customers lived because he knew most of them personally and the very history of each roadway throughout the whole county. Whereas efs he was a man who was well liked and known throughout the county because of his hard work or his work with administering county contracts from managing the guardrail contract to the asphalt contracts, his work was invaluable. Whereas the man who is known as just larry, would arrive at work each day, have coffee ready for peers and workers. It will take them awhile to get used to that, won't it, larry?
>> [ laughter ] greeting each with a broad smile. Everyone who has worked with him will always remember his larryisms such as that's more handy than a pocket on a shirt.
>> [ laughter ] and when it gets too tough for everyone else, it's just right for me.
>> [ laughter ] whereas tnr road maintenance will attempt to alert future section managers of the hazards of light poles with concrete bases that do not yield the right-of-way and jump in front of county vehicles. Whereas tnr are no longer schedule the work plan around deer season. Whereas his retirement from Travis County will leave a void within road and bridge and among those who know him, the county will have a difficult time replacing his knowledge. We know that he will now be able to do what he has always wanted to do. Good luck mr. Larry deglandon. It doesn't say what you always wanted to do.
>> it's definitely hunting and fishing.
>> that's why I move approval.
>> thank you, judge.
>> there's a lot of good people here. I've seen as you know, judge and Commissioners, Commissioner ek be heart, I -- eckhardt, I haven't had a lengthy time with you, by all means, but I've seen a bunch come and go here. I have. I've seen a bunch of good ones. But working for the tnr department, this division, I've been real fortunate. By beautiful wife with me. There are so many people here with me. Come to my house, e-mails, just on and on and on. I see constable bob advance is here. He and I spent many hours together. He's another one. When my mother passed away, be constable's office was right there for the funeral procession. That means a whole lot. We've got a whole bunch of good employees that work for Travis County. And developing the good, that's the big thing. I've got division director, executive manager and my committee boss, that's been true people, including y'all. And I can't thank y'all enough. And I'd like to pass that on to the employees too because this is a great place to work. You can advance yourself. I've proven that anyone can do it because I did it and that's unheard of.
>> [ laughter ] I really have enjoyed it. I can't thank all of y'all enough. I can't. And I will be enjoying the fishing and hunting. And you will see some e-mails.
>> you haven't changed your e-mail or your cell phone number be, have you?
>> [ laughter ]
>> I'm not saying I'll answer either one of them.
>> [ laughter ]
>> I can't thank y'all enough.
>> we're very fortunate to work closely with a lot of tnr staff. You've always been an excellent employee of Travis County. All of us as Commissioners get responses, get requests or complaints or whatever from persons in our particular precincts that need service. And my staff has always been able to work with tnr and those that resolve to solve the problem and provide the necessary services. It will be be tough to fill that voi, joe. I guess mr. Gieselman will have a tough time trying to fill that I guess as far as somebody that have demonstrated the equivalence of service that you have dedicated to Travis County. And you've done it because in my opinion you love the job and you like what you do. And that means a lot to people when you really love the work and don't mind getting up in the morning and coming to work. You are a heck of a guy. I wish you all the luck in the world. Like I say, don't catch all the fish because when we get out here, we all like to have something for the rest of us when we get down that road.
>> [ laughter ]
>> thank you, Commissioner Davis.
>> I want to say thank you, larry. You've really been a man of integrity and reliability. We could always expect to you deliver when we wanted something and we very much appreciate it. Larry, because of his tenure, really went through a lot of hard times with tnr. (indiscernible) fwhaf and probably a road and bridge office before that. He's seen a lot of changes, but he's been steady with us all along. I asked larry when he retires that he not write a book about it. We prefer to leave those skeletons in the office. But larry, have a good time.
>> I will. Thanks.
>> mr. Wheerl, anything?
>> you know I don't have much to say usually. Very important important in our road. I told a story a year ago about one of the most proud moments in my life in Travis County is when I went out on the road and I had one of my roadworkers chew my butt out because I had him doing something that he felt was a detriment to his reputation or to the counties that we were seal coating a road that had a bad spot in it and we hadn't fixed the bad spot. I explained to him that we were saving 98 percent of the road. He was very adamant of the fact that it was affecting the quality of his work. And I never did tell you who that person was, but it was mr. Deglandon when he was on a chipping machine. And he impressed me very much that first day, the first day I ever met him he was chewing on my rear end. And I hope the last day that I see him he won't be chewing on it. One thing, larry has always been open, which we foster in road and bridge. You have something to say you have a right to say it, and larry has really took that to heart.
>> [ laughter ] but he has been a good leader, he has been a good worker and he has been a good friend. We'll miss him a whole lot in Travis County. The county will miss him a whole lot. Talking about filling his shoes, judge, it's going to be hard because as I tell all my employees, whether y'all realize it or not, I've got about 70 percent of my road and bridge management through. Within the next two years you will see change. I don't know if you realize that or not, but larry is the first and it's going to start, including me.
>> [ laughter ] but anyhow, it hard to find replacements. You need to download these guys that have a lot of history and knowledge and it's hard to do that. Maybe somebody we'll have it. One of the ladies said earlier maybe we'll have a chip that we can plug in and plug out.
>> maybe you can come back as a consultant.
>> but he will be greatly missed.
>> mr. Deglando (, any n, any words?
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> [ laughter ]
>> I'm just real happy he's making this move finally. He didn't want me to be retired alone. I don't knf I will be able to handle him.
>> [ laughter ]
>> based on what I'm hearing today, you may have a long list of things for him to do each day.
>> [ laughter ]
>> he still thinks I'm a county employee.
>> we appreciate your many years of service.
>> [ applause ]
>> larry, I don't have to tell you how appreciative bob and I are from our office. Howard certainly does such a wonderful job. When we were told that you were going to the east side, we pitched a fit about that. We thought that we don't want to ever see anybody leave with your ability to get thing done. And the number of people that we would have that would just call the office and just say, you know, I don't know who that guy is, but we can tell you that he is the most outstanding person county wide and with all the tnr stuff we have to do. And precinct 3 has 52% of the roads in Travis County. County, which is a tall task to ask anybody to take on. Bob and I never worried when you were over there. Nor do we worry now. We have a wonderful tnr department and a job that people work very hard. And unfortunately a lot of the folks that work around you and for you are the people that make the least amount of money in the county, and working the condition that most of us that sit in the air conditioning all day long that have the climate control. I don't know how many times I've wondered that little thermostat on my wall, I've thought does that dang thing even work over there or is it just put up for show? But every time I make a comment about that, I stop and think, what are all these people doing out here when it's either cold as heck, rainy, hot, working in the conditions y'all work in? But I will tell you that I won't forget you. I'm going to make sure that bob keeps a cell number so no matter how many times you change it, we'll know where it is. Good luck with your hunting and fishing and congratulations on a great life with us. And you've still got a lot of years. I wish you the best.
>> Commissioner Daugherty, I can assure you that I spend a lot of my time right now going through the precinct 3 area, and as much as I dearly love bob, every time I find something wrong, I will be calling him.
>> [ laughter ] I just want to make sure that thing get done and in the timely manner that I expect.
>> [ laughter ] and if it doesn't work, be then I'll start from joe on down and see if it doesn't get fixed.
>> we look forward to that.
>> thank you very much.
>> all in favor?
>> [ applause ]
>> that passes by unanimous vote.
>> I asked for a roll rolex watch, but the da said if you had had the watch you wouldn't have your freedom to appreciate it. Good luck to 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:
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 8:00 AM