Travis County Commissioners Court
December 30, 2008
Item 2
>> number 2 approve proclamation recognizing scott burroughs for his many years of service to Travis County. This is not a raid on our sheriff's office in Travis County. Should I read this proclamation too?
>> go ahead.
>> I was about to say it's a lot shorter, but it's not. It is shorter. It reads: whereas after 25 years of faithful service to the Travis County sheriff's office, scott burroughs -- how do you pronounce your last name?
>> burroughs.
>> > burroughs is retiring to become the newly appointed chief of the port aransas police department. Appointed. Two sides to that sword. Easier to get in, but easier to get out.
>> I understand.
>> [laughter]
>> whereas scott began his career with the Travis County sheriff's office on April 11, 1983, and has diligently served under five different sheriffs. A graduate of the university of Texas, scott work his way through the ranks from cadet to supervising roles in patrols and investigation and other areas of law enforcement. He is a master peace officer, certified law enforcement instructor, a licensed forensic hypothetical no advertise and a graduate of the national f.b.i. Academy. Whereas scott is a member and leader of numerous professional organizations including the national sheriff's association, the sheriff's association of Texaser, the capital area law enforcement association, the federal bureau of investigation national academy, alumni association, Travis County sheriff's law enforcement association, Travis County sheriff's officers association, the fraternal order of police and the airborne law enforcementment association. This list could have been much longer but the county judge insisted that we stop somewhere so we stopped there. Whereas in any group of people a fraction will be leaders, a smaller traction followers and won't get involved. Contrary to the latter group scott is a firm believer in community involvement and volunteerism as demonstrated by his interest in youth and sports and scouting, past president of his homeowners association and the Travis County sheriff's office memorial and benevolent society, just to name a few. Whereas scott and his wife shirleen have been united in marital bliss for 26 years and are the proud parents of two sons, clinton and robert, both of whom are here today. Scott is a special gift to his family, community, colleagues and the entire congregation of dripping springs united methodist church for his abiding faith and true compassion for others, and whereas very early in life and prior to his decision to work in law enforcement scott also decided to adopt the instruction of joshua 24:15, quote, choose you this day whom ye shall serve, whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the lord. Now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the Travis County Commissioners court do hereby extend heartfelt thanks to scott burroughs after 25 years you would think I would know how to pronounce your last name -- for his dedicated service to Travis County and wish him much success as he embarks upon his new career as chief of the port aransas police department. And I move approval.
>> second.
>> before we get comments, how big is port aransas?
>> significantly smaller than what we're dealing with here.
>> [laughter]
>> population under 2,000?
>> 4,000 on the census. About 8,000 with the summer texans. About 8,000 on a daily basis. 50,000 over spring break.
>> family members any comments? Anything you would like to say about your father or your husband that you wouldn't say at home?
>> [laughter]
>> no, they do not.
>> [laughter] I want to thank you all for your service and dedication also to the citizens of Travis County. I know we've been embroiled with some heated discussions from this table and from the podium up there and I appreciate the opportunity to be able to speak freely. I've made professional and personal friendships with many of you all and appreciate your guidance and leadership even if we didn't see eye to eye, I know that you always respected my opinion and I hope you know that I respected yours. And I just want to thank you all very much for your continued service and for this opportunity that's prepared me for next phase of my career.
>> now, scott is thinking that the number of law enforcement officers that we need will not change. The number requested may get smaller but the number we need won't change, right?
>> the number will increase.
>> [laughter] and
>> [inaudible] is ready to go. Where I left off last year, she is ready to go. So get ready for her.
>> we'll be updating that five-year plan.
>> hey, scott, good luck. I mean you and I have had a lot of real honest conversations, you know, over the six years, but you've always been a real straight shooter and I always appreciated that. You know, they are getting a good guy down there. I mean I didn't know that there are was an area that you had considered going and I suppose charlene, you are going to go down and teach or retire or --
>> I am retiring from education and it looks like I'm going to be supervising student teachers for the university -- the a&m in corpus. Yeah, I know.
>> congratulations. To you and your family.
>> and I wish you all the luck, scott. And I don't know that we disagreed so much on issues. I think that certainly I had tremendous respect for you, as I hope that you had for me. And after all, that's because we serve the public. And not so much our personal agendas at all. And so I truly appreciate working with you and I look forward to continuing that -- that relationship with the sheriff's department. And so good luck to you. And I don't go on spring breaks, but, you know, I do kind of like to go out to the water occasionally, so good luck.
>> scott, I'm going to miss you, going through the budget process and all the other things that we've kind of established a relationship with here in Travis County. Your tour of duty with Travis County. But I would like to ask you this question, if you could help me out. When you go red fishing in that area down there in port aransas coming from from aransas pass, you go into one of the big sobs and ask the question where are the red fish running today and no one seems to have a good answer. So what I'm going to do whenever you take up your chores there, I'm going to ask for you and see if you will tell me where the red fish are running. I haven't found them yet. They were biting here two days ago, but -- I'm always a day late or a dollar short.
>> right now there are now a very competent guys on the island that contribute to the tax basements feel free to ask any of them.
>> I'll miss the rides in the patrol car when I'm running back when you say jump in, I'll ride you back up to stubs, but I won't miss the forensic hypnotism you try and pull on me in the office. Will not miss that.
>> best of luck to you.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> [applause]
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:27 PM