Travis County Commissioners Court
February 12, 2008
Item 10
Number 10 is to consider and take appropriate action on repealing chapter 38 of the Travis County code copier management policy and adopting a new chapter 38, law library policy.
>> good morning. Alicia perez, executive manager for executive operations. Have you a couple of issues before you. The first is to consider and take appropriate action in repealing chapter 38 of the Travis County code having to do with copier management policy. Chapter 38 is no longer in use and we really haven't used it for about five years. We no longer own our copiers. They are lease copiers, therefore the maintenance and the other items that are mention understand this policy are handled through a lease agreement with our vendor. And because we are -- we were bringing to you another policy, the law library policy, we thought -- we're looking for a chapter and we thought this would be a good one to eliminate and then put the law library chapter in this place. And not just add more chapters.
>> so we don't need any of the current policy regarding copier?
>> yes. That's correct.
>> move that we repeal it.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Ms. Tinnily, did we give you a chance?
>> I had no comments unless the court had legal questions about either the repealing or the new policy.
>> looked like you were easily anticipating the opportunity to give us legal advice.
>> here if you need it.
>> there is a new policy recommended for adoption regarding the law library.
>> correct, judge. I’m director of the records management communication resources. I have lisa rush here with us today. She's the manager of the law library. This new policy is -- this is kind of under our spring cleaning effort as part of the overall initiative with the copier management and then the initiation of this new policy. Most of these policies that you're looking at have been in effect, but fairly unofficial. But what we're experiencing now is huge numbers of people in the law library. In fact, our library counter showed that we're nearing and even above in some years 40,000 visiters a year to these libraries. They range from legal researchers to pro se patrons and increasingly we found that some people have found it a place to camp out. And that's one of the issues that we're trying to address with these policies, that we may get people to -- will come into the library and stay all day and not be doing legal research. And we're -- since this is a specific type of library and not a public library, it's interpret si easy to tell who those patrons are and we're trying to add some level of restrictions through an official basis through Commissioners court for this problem.
>> so to our residents who say this is a public library, and I’m not bothering anybody, I’m just sitting here contemplating my future, what do we say?
>> well, judge, the -- those -- the people who will come in and actually sit quietly and appear to be doing some research are less of a prb than some of our other patrons. I have an entire list of issues that we've experienced within the last six months tand includes having to call sheriff's deputies to remove patrons who are disturbing either the law librarians or others. We've had seats, our chairs slashed on one occasion that required a risk management claim. Wheef patron whose have tampered with our computers. We had one person who came in and opened up hundreds of windows on a machine before we could catch them. We've had others who have tried to change the operating systems on the computers. We've had people without being indelicate, we've had some of the same problems that the city of Austin has had, we've had --
>> in short if you don't cause a problem, these policies would probably never come into play.
>> exactly, judge.
>> so if you want to come in and quietly contemplate, it would probably be all right. It would be better to have a law book before me. So this really -- we have had enough problems to require a written policy in the law library is what we're hearing?
>> that is exactly correct. We need to have some means of being able to take care of the patrol than the official policy.
>> and judge, if you look at page 1 in your backup, there are some key provisions in the policy that are outlined.
>> page 1 or page 2?
>> I think they're --
>> under chapter 38.003 I think is what you're referring to.
>> where it's key provisions and law library policy at the top and then it lists about 12 of them. There.
>> I want to commend you. It seems very carefully crafted and I assume that ms. Tenly had something to do with this as well. Access to the library for public research. So I think it's very narrowly crafted. It doesn't seem to overreach at all.
>> we too are very appreciative of the county attorney's help. Tinnily was great in all of this. Read case law and tried to determine that these policies were actually legal.
>> that's the good news.
>> [ laughter ]
>> have you really ever had to ask somebody to leave because of their perfume?
>> yes, sir. No, not perfume, but other --
>> no. Not body odor, but perfume.
>> not yet.
>> you think k is legal?
>> we do. Commissioner eckhardt used the magic words, which were narrowly worded for the purpose. The law staff did well to draft the policies here and I worked with them to make sure it would pass legal muster.
>> okay. For those wondering what we're doing, we're focusing on behavior like disruptive behavior, theft and vandalism, noise, solicitation, eating, children, unattended children more than children, cell phones, baggage. And we're not talking about a suitcase, we're talking about personal belongings and disorderly carry. So we're not really picking on homeless individuals, but homeless individuals who don't respect the law library.
>> that's correct.
>> on for those who want to see a copy of it, they can check with a member of the court and the law library.
>> we'll have them on -- let's get them on the internet.
>> as an example, I had the pleasure of seeing leslie on several occasions in our law library.
>> good reason to make use of it. And was berate agriculture defense attorney.
>> but his perfume was a little offensive to me.
>> he looked very good.
>> he looked very good, not disruptive, no loud cell phones.
>> he had a very good pant suit.
>> you would have really liked it.
>> we would like to welcome everybody to -- this is a public library and anyone who requires any kind of legal research on their own, what this facility is -- that's what this facility is for. We appreciate everybody who comes in.
>> my sentiments exactly.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank y'all very much. We appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 8:09 PM