Travis County Commissioners Court
October 28, 2008
Item 4
Thank you, judge and Commissioners or otherwise known as
>> [indiscernible] we're here because four Travis County programs this year are being recognized by the Texas association of counties for exceptional delivery of services and superior innovation. I have here to my right the honorable betsy price a at tarrant county tax assessor collector and mr. Victor
>> [indiscernible] junior a field representative with the Texas association of counties. If I may take a minute, I'm going to ask our media folks to run just two minutes about videos that will highlight the problems.
>> welcome to both of you.
>> thank you.
>> this is not a good time for to us borrow money from tarrant county, is it?
>> probably not. I was wondering if we could borrow from you all.
>> [laughter]
>> integrated filing system and overwhelming call volumes tested the resources of the Travis County sheriff's department
>> [indiscernible]
>> this is dolores.
>> they came up with an efficient time and money saving solutions for giving out warrant and inmate information on their website.
>> we were extremely stretched thin in different areas here in the Travis County sheriff's office. Our employees were spending a great deal of time answering phone calls and in one area central booking in our call center those individuals used to receive approximately 30,000 phone calls a month. Individuals were calling trying to find out if their loved ones or friends were in our facilities. That would take our employees away from their assigned duties to try to go and do research. I felt that the best way to address that issue was through technology.
>> related calls have decreased by 40 to 50% and residents can now get the information they need without hassle. While opening up the sheriff's staff time for other duties. When txdot and the Travis County tax office were looking for ways to increase the number of vehicle transfer notifications, they turned to Travis County media services and created a video to show residents the legal problems that can occur if the forms aren't filed.
>> I can't believe that I'm getting parking tickets for a vehicle that I sold three months ago.
>> we made a decision some time ago to make our videos shorter and to the point so that it can be used both for cable cast and for the internet.
>> after the video aired filing of the forms increased by 77%. The video project proves that when publications pool their talents together effectively, they can create cost effective informative services that benefit taxpayers.
>> make sure to file the transfer notification forms.
>> Travis County has been very progressive in creating a wellness clinic for its employees. Part of the mission of the clinic is to identify risks and
>> [indiscernible] doing that will then save the health plan money down the long run.
>> county employees have been rereceptive to the program. They enjoy being able to come over during their work day to see the doctor to maintain their health, this really is a possibility for any county to establish.
>> more than 2,000 employees have used the clinic's disease management services while others attend its free wellness related classes. The clinic has saved an estimated $385,000 annually. To help victims of domestic violence, Travis County constable bruce elfant turned to his website.
>> we think it's important to have a single source of information to find out the whole array of services available to them here in Travis County. We put that together on our website at constable 5.com. All of our resources are listed and we also included a series of short videotapes in english and spanish to help victims understand what their rights are, what services are available for them here in Austin.
>> the constable also set up an automatic e-mail alert system to immediately notify victims, attorneys and law enforcement agencies when protected orders have been served.
>> often the time when protective orders are served and going into legal effect are the most critical time for victims. It's important that they know immediately when a protective order is served so they can implement the safety plan and protect themselves and their families.
>> thank you. I'm going to turn over the presentation.
>> thank you, thank you for allowing me to be with you today. It's nice to be here. If I were in tarrant county I would be in the same spot, we're Tuesday morning, also. I'm vice chairman of the leadership foundation for Texas association of counties. And victor victor is our field rep who represents Travis County and several other counties. The leadership foundation has two major functions, I want to give you a quick brief on those. One of them is the leadership class we put together every two years and several Travis County people participated in that. We try to identify emerging leaders and train them to become their fullest that they can to serve citizens in Travis County or whatever county they represent. The other side of the program for leadership is our best practices awards and we have been giving best practices awards for about five years, I believe it is. Five to six years. It's amazing the number that are now being submitted. I am -- I never continue to be amazed at the creative people in county government. County government does wonderful things for their citizens and this year when I was -- I sat on the board that reviewed these awards. We had three books about this thick, several hundred applicants. Of those applicants we submitted 24 as winners in superior innovation and delivery of service. Travis County was blessed to receive four of those. So you should pat yourself -- count that a major blessing. Quite a boone to get four in one year. I'm very proud of that. You have one winner receiving his second one, that is bruce elfant getting his second award. The beauty of the awards, the Texas association of counties tries to encourage these awards. They must be reppable in other counties. I would tell you that the e title video we have already inquired with nelda spears about copying and using in my offices in tarrant where people are waiting. I know that it is already playing in the tarrant county txdot office. That's a great deal. I know that our sheriff visited with your sheriff. It's nice to be able to share as we develop these programs at the county level, you go through a lot and bleed on them as my staff. There's no reason for anybody else's staff to have to bleed on them again when you can copy what some other county has done. You should be very proud of your folks for all that they have done. We want to take just a minute and present victor is going to present the plaques to them. I think that we'll start with the employee clinic in the wellness. Also, you should have received a copy of the county magazine and every one of the 24 winners is listed in here and Texas association of counties has more of these, if you would like them. With a description and a brief picture and a brief description of them. So -- so victor should we start with the wellness clinic?
>> [inaudible - no mic] congratulations on the award.
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> [ applause ]
>> the next one would be the stop domestic violence.
>> put it out there, if you would.
>> take the mic.
>> thank you. Our next award is for constable bruce elfan for stop domestic violence, his web search for this. This is bruce's second award, that's quite an achievement to get your second one.
>> [ applause ] the third awardings to -- steven broberg, al jackson for the e title video. Is al here? Al is trying to leave the room. Maybe he doesn't want to be on tv with you.
>> thank you.
>> we're proud of you all. Thank you.
>> [ applause ] the fourth one for sheriff greg hamilton the inmate web search.
>> we have several of his representatives here.
>> I would be remiss if I didn't recognize lieutenant osborne and
>> [indiscernible]
>> [inaudible - no mic] from the county -- from county its. She wrote all of the code, these ladies here did all of the behind of scenes work to make this all possible. It would not for us to be fair to sit here and take credit without recognizing the people that really made this happen.
>> [ applause ]
>> congratulations, congratulations on your award.
>> judge, commissions, thank you for allowing us to be with you today. We look forward to Travis County submitting many more. The applications are online now. I know as innovative as your county is, I would like to say that you are as innovative as tarrant county. I think we are a little more innovative
>> [laughter] but we are copying many of your programs. We look forward to being able to be back with you next year and present again.
>> thank you for coming down and making the presentations for us.
>> thank you all.
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, October 28, 2008 1:38 PM