Travis County Commissioners Court
January 15, 2008
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. This item is -- this item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes. And the first speaker is gus pena. He'll be followed by joe jackson.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. Gus pena. As jimmy castro wants to say, I知 not representing anybody speaking here but the concerns of the people. First and foremost, the city manager, I know this is Travis County, but I want the public to know it is a flawed process. The public was not allowed to participate in the beginning of the interview committee. I have served as an i.r.s. Investigator, I also have served probably as a department of treasury, eeo discrimination complaints investigator. I found this to be a discriminatory practice, a flawed process. It's in the a good process. To have city council member and the mayor say in the paper, we will vote for the city manager not the public, it's total arrogance and smacks of royal authority. It is not conducive to -- to community relations with the elected officials in the community. I will leave it at that. You people, you need to call the mayor, councilmembers, to have a process be corrected. Judge, Commissioners, again I知 here to speak upon the issue of health care for us veterans. We don't ask or beg for anything. I have friends that have helped me out. My family. The issue is this: our government is not taking care of our military veterans. I think with our new secretary of veterans affairs that has been appointed by the administration, whether he be republican, liberal, democrat, whatever, I知 a democrat, the issue is this, that the veterans deserve health care. We come over here to the clinics, I have had to file a grievance on the clinics because they have not allowed the clinic card or veterans that have served their country. There's a grievance coming up both on the county and city side, I don't know why they have not allowed the -- the information to be given to us because of privacy. Okay, I understand that. I知 a former discrimination investigator, I understand about confidentiality matters, et cetera. That is not correct. You go to the v.a. Clinic, some veterans are not given proper health care. That's why you have a lot of veterans dying, a lot of agent orange illness, you name it. Commissioners, I come over here to y'all to -- to tell the public hopefully they will select a good city manager that is communicating effectively and working effectively with this elected body. It's very important to work with each other because anything that is done here is -- affects the residents of the city of Austin, anything that is done over there in the city council will have a direct impact on Travis County employees. I will say this, I said it at the city council, I highly respect y'all because you have had meetings when the city council doesn't meet. I知 not slam dunking anything, I try to be peopleful because I know lucio and youth are looking at me, I will be respectful. It needs to be a better process. It is flawed. Be aware. I spoke last week about the catastrophic and critical decision to not fund the social service agencies. I really am proud of you, judge Biscoe, for making that statement, about the donations to -- to the -- to the organizations that gives out to and allocates funding to the social service agencies. They need help out there. I知 going to tell you this much, I知 going to wrap up, we are slated for a little r, a little recession. We're getting there. I知 not -- we're getting there, but I hope not. God bless you all, keep you healthy, safe and strong.
>> thank you.
>> joe jackson. Please come forward. Have a seat and get comfortable there. Give us your name, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> good morning. Hopefully you can hear me okay. Judge Biscoe, members of the Commissioners court, distinguished guests, visitors, fellow neighbors, my name is joe jackson. I知 a resident and I live in del valle, precinct 4, Texas. I -- I知 not here today to represent a large group of people. But I am a part of a small group of citizens that are concerned about our community. I have -- I have tried to pass out, a handout for you. Just wanted to say -- the issues are too numerous to -- to go into this morning, but I would like to read those into the records. The second thing that I知 -- the second reason that I知 here this morning is to ask the court if we may have access to the legal arm of the attorneys to the court so that we can address these issues with the city of Austin. And possibly with the state of Texas. We do have some issues and concerns that we would like to address with your permission I would like to read these now for you for -- for you and should you have questions feel free to stop me at any time. The first one is to vote no on atmus energy corporation's rate increase request. As you know, when we first moved here, a few years ago, the public utilities commission granted them a 50% rate increase. When -- first month of their arrival here. There's no reason for a rate increase at this time we feel. The second one is repeal fuel recovery fees. We want to address this issue to the city of Austin. To repeal all fuel recovery fees within Travis County. Third, we want to incorporate del valle into a city to include its e.t.j. Fourth, we want to deannex Austin community college from -- I知 sorry, deannex del valle independent school district from the Austin community college. We feel those tax dollars can be -- best be used within del valle independent school district. And then third, I知 sorry, last, we want to participate in the economic bowpt tee of both the 130 around i-40 toll roads. Should you have any questions of me, I would be happy to try to answer those questions for you. Most important we would like to have a work session with the attorneys of the court so that we could more specifically address these issues with the proper authorities either city of Austin or with the state of Texas. Subject to your questions.
>> questions?
>> I would like to know what is I 40?
>> I知 sorry, I hope -- that's I 40 toll roads. If I made a mistake there I apologize to the court. I 40 or I 45? I may have made a mistake there on my end.
>> there is an s.h. 130 --
>> shh --
>> s.h. 130 is that what you're talking about.
>> that is correct.
>> I知 not familiar with what -- what I 40.
>> it's probably --
>> that's the road that's south of us.
>> 45 --
>> are you talking about 45 southeast.
>> correct.
>> uh-huh.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Jackson. Anybody else for citizens communication whether you signed in or not?
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, January 16, 2008 3:06 PM