Travis County Commissioners Court
December 30, 2008
Item 4
>> number 4, receive briefing and take appropriate action regarding applicants for appointment to the Travis County health care -- all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
>> thanks. 4, receive briefing and take appropriate action regarding applicants for appointment to the Travis County health care district board of managers. A, request to extend the application deadline. B, additional outreach regarding the opportunity to serve. And c, process for selecting the Austin-Travis County joint appointee.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, sherry fleming, executive manager for health and human services. I wanted to report today that we right now have one application for the available slots on the board of managers. We do have -- and that one applicant is dr. James tee. We have an indication that we will be receiving another application on tomorrow, but the county attorney tells me that until we receive that, that should not be shared in public. So expecting to have a total of two when our processes closes at 5:00 tomorrow. So along with my co-committee member, we wanted to bring this back to you your attention so that you might discuss how you wanted to move forward because your call for nomination will expire tomorrow at 5:00.
>> I think we ought to extend it another 30 days and I think we ought to advertise it, try and do a better job of getting out word of the opportunity to serve. I don't know that I expected hundreds, but I did expect 12 to 15. I saw what we had done and, you know, those are the usual circles. But if you don't check county website or board members, community action network, you may not know about this opportunity. So I would feel better if we advertised it.
>> okay.
>> what will that cost?
>> I am not sure what that would cost, but I think that we could get with purchasing and we normally advertise, I believe, first to the chronicle versus the statesman unless there is an interest in having it in the statesman. So I think it may be a little less. What we could do is maybe by way of having a smaller ad is just to use something smaller and direct folks either to health and human services' phone number or the county's website for additional information so we would maybe just use a paragraph or so of the call for nominations information, what the deadline is and how to submit your information. So we could probably keep it pretty small, but I don't have a dollar amount because it would depend on whether you wanted to use just the chronicle or if you want to use both the chronicle and the statesman or any other publications in the county.
>> do you have enough money in your budget to take care of the advertising costs? For that situation?
>> well, we would have to determine which line item in health and human services. There is not a particular area that we have for this particular advertising. So we would just have to figure which area to take it from.
>> I move that we extend the deadline 30 days, that we authorize advertising, that source of funding be hrmd, the human resource department, and if we need to replenish the amount used for this advertising in the future, to indicate our intention to do that.
>> second.
>> and we would basically tap allocated reserve at the appropriate time if we need to.
>> okay.
>> and in terms of where, the typical places where we think we'll get out the word.
>> okay.
>> you know, affordability has to matter some. Do you all feel comfortable letting sherry and me chat with hrmd trying to put out a strategy to get out the word?
>> that would work.
>> our goal would be basically make sure that anybody interested will have an opportunity to see it and whether they act on it is kind of beyond our control, but I would feel better if we a bit more proactively outreached. I'm amenable to whatever other actions we ought to take. We really ought to try to generate 10, 12 if we can.
>> okay.
>> that was seconded by Commissioner Gomez. Any more discussion? 30-day extension that is correct we advertise it and this would be a and b. That the source of funding be hrmd, human resources department. We would indicate to them if we need to replenish whatever amount we use later this the fiscal year we would do that.
>> okay. And I can put together -- if your motion includes, judge, your approval of an appropriate advertisement, then that would get this to moving the ball forward. I'm not sure how much we can get done with the holiday this week, but we can certainly work on drafting something.
>> why don't we try to do that and get it to court members. And if you have input, just let sherry know. Is that okay? I say 30 days, but actually when you get out the ad you are lucky if you have 20 or so to work with.
>> just for your information, the last business day of January is January 30th. The 31st is actually on a Saturday. So if you -- if you want to do 30 days, we could do January 30th, which could be appropriate so that we have that last business day when our offices are actually open. Or the Monday, which would be, I believe, February 2nd.
>> either one is fine with me. Any strong feelings?
>> whatever works.
>> let's go to the end of January then.
>> okay.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? So Commissioners eckhardt, Gomez, droughtry, yours trulyly voting in favor. Commissioner Davis abstaining. C, the process for electing the Austin-Travis County joint appointee.
>> stacy wilson has the report.
>> we have made multiple contacts to the mayor's office trying to figure out what process they would prefer to use. We've also had discussions with the city attorney's office to figure out if a process was previously determined for this appointee. It looks like there was nothing at least on the city's side set for how this joint appointee should be selected. And unfortunately although we know they are having internal discussion we have not heard anything back from them on a process they would prefer.
>> last time we went ahead and -- of the ones that applied for our vacancies, we interviewed all of them. Did we prioritize them? Did we send over a short list to the city and say here are three or four applicants, all of which are acceptable to us, is anyone acceptable to you? Did we do something like that?
>> I believe that was the basic process, yes.
>> well, rather than having to go through, I feel comfortable doing that. On the ad I would indicate a possibility of a joint appointee also. That way we at least give ourselves an opportunity to evaluate the applicants and if we think one is suitable for the joint appointee position, then, you know, we recommend it. If not, we don't have to act. But if you interview multiple individuals, I mean it can be time consuming because we really ought to allow 45 minutes to an hour on each interview.
>> should we establish -- I mean perhaps we need to suggest to the city of Austin that we have the same deadline for the joint appointee, January 30th application, or do you think that's too soon for the city?
>> the city is -- they have been working rather slowly and they are having very few council meetings in January and February. We can suggest it to them and see if that's acceptable.
>> because perhaps if we took applications through January 30th for both positions and then we short listed it based on resume alone, and then went to city council in February with maybe a joint subcommittee?
>> that's kind of what I had in mind, but if we interview multiple applicants as I envision, we may well come up with two. I would appoint one for the county vacancy. On the other if there are two or three that we think are suitable, I would send those to the city, say we've interviewed those, we think these are suitable, what do you think. If they have another process and come up with two or three and send them to us, at least we're looking at two or three and not an entirely new process so either way I think we benefit time-wise. What you are saying I think is kind of what I had in mind except I would change the ad to indicate the availability of these two. And it may be us, you know, we kind of promised the residents who have been communicating with us primarily by e-mail that we would emphasize the community participation angle, someone who has worked with neighborhood associations, somebody used to outreach, you know, making sure we get regular citizen input on matters like this and I think we ought to try to keep to that.
>> so for the advertisement we'll draw from the call for nominations which talks about that particular interest as well as some of the other qualifications, so we'll be specific in including that -- excuse me -- in including that in the advertisement that we draft.
>> also I think we ought to just send the city a short note indicating that we are taking this action. But I think the bottom line is that if we send them two or three and they don't like them, I think it puts on them responsibility coming up with a short list for us to consider. And last time it worked well.
>> yes, it did.
>> I think the only point I would like to make, at that time you were both interviewing candidates for the board of managers. We have no indication so far that they are soliciting applicants. So I think that may be the -- the point that we want to try to get some updated information regarding how they plan to approach this vacancy because as of last week there was not notice of the vacancy on their website, which would lead you to think that they would be soliciting applicants. So that's the only concern that I have. So a note may actually yield that information.
>> I think the letter ought to suggest that if they have a different process in mind, they let us know and maybe we can agree to go ahead and implement. Taking no action seems to me to be inappropriate at this time. This is an important position and the sooner we fill it the better. I mean even if we follow the process we just set out, I would be real surprised if we fill this in less than six weeks. So you are looking at, you know, maybe two months. Where, you know, I know about the continuing to serve provision, but we may as well go ahead and get a new person on there. Part of c is drafting an appropriately worded letter to the city to advised them of the process that we are adopting today. And offering to consider any new and different process they might have.
>> that might serve as a good notice to them that this is still on our radar screen.
>> and is this letter coming from the judge or the full court? Or from my office?
>> we don't want to put on that pressure on your office, ms. Fleming. Let's have it come from the county judge. How is that?
>> sound wonderful.
>> since you are drafting that letter, if you would send it to the court, if somebody wants to wordsmith it, fine with me. That's the motion.
>> second that.
>> more discussion? All in favor? Show Commissioners eckhardt, Gomez, droughtry, yours truly voting in favor. Commissioner Davis abstaining. Ms. Porter, you got all of that motion?
>> oh, yes.
>> anything else on number 4?
>> I think that covers it for the day.
>> if you have business for the Commissioners court today it may be a good time to move in this direction.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 2:27 PM