Travis County Commissioners Court
February 10, 2009, 2009
Item 13
>> looks like y'all are ready to discuss the 13.
consider and take appropriate action regarding the Travis County space standards.
>> good morning, roger he will chorally, director of facilities management department.
i have jim barr with me, project architect and the taskforce chair for this space standard.
and also nancy strickland.
the department recommends the adoption of the proposed space standard to be used in the planning, programming, design, construction and remodel of the office space in the county facilities as presented during the work session on January 29th, 2009.
as requested by the Commissioners court during the work sitions, we have the pros and the cons that we'd like to share those with you.
and I'll let jim barr go over those.
>> the advantages to adopting space standards is essentially to ensure the cost effective use of tax dollars by providing appropriate general office space to staff and elected officials.
it's to promote a fair and consistent assignment of general office space.
it's to support systematic decision making on office space during programming, planning and design activities.
it's to establish uniform expectations among staff and elected officials.
it's to guide effective cost estimating and budget preparation because there will be preconceived standards on how much space will be required for various budget proposals each fiscal year.
it's to standardize the general office amenities, which would include restroom space, conference room space, vending areas, service docks.
and it's to clarify the adequate size of spaces to provide assurance to users, particularly during management turnovers that a consistent policy has been followed.
disadvantages or cons in not adopting these space standards, there's a tremendous amount of flexibility out there for people like me to negotiate the spaces with the user groups.
this can sometimes create minor delays in scheduling because of the back and forth negotiation about who should get what and how many of all of that.
the second part of judge Biscoe's question last time was how many other major urban counties in Texas have adopted standards of this sort?
we polled several of them and acquired the standards that they have.
harris county, houston area, bexar county, san antonio area, and tarrant county in the fort worth and dallas areas, they have all adopted standards that actually are quite similar to what we -- what we're proposing in terms of office sizes, amenities, the types of spaces that would be required to promote proper general office spaces.
in addition to those counties, we also looked at the city of Austin, the Austin independent school district, state of oregon.
they were just easy to get.
king county, washington and johnson county, kansas.
all of these, there's just a tremendous similarity in all of these in both sizes and quantities that are proposed under these standards, so we feel comfortable that the standards that we're proposing for use in Travis County are consistent with what's out there as an industry standard.
>> I saw the presentation while I was at home dealing with allergies, and I had just one question, but you have answered it in the -- in the material.
so I think it's a good approach.
i've kind of always been concerned with the amount of money that we spend on remodeling, and it seems to occur just a little too much.
whereas I think the standardizization goes a long way to making sure that tax dollars were used effectively and efficiently, and so I'm ready to go on this plan.
>> is this what you had the same as what we had previous?
>> the majority of it is 99.99%.
we just made little minor adjustment because if you approve it today, I would like to approve it along with the minor adjustments we have on that plan.
>> did the other jurisdictions have -- I was going to say elected official and then there was a small restaurant?
>> no.
>> I'm thinking that at Travis County we don't have a handful elected officials, we have probably more than 50.
>> very close to that.
>> each judge, each constable, they come in increments of five.
so you get up to a real big number right quick.
the other thing is that I kind of like being treated like a rank and file employee.
>> I do too.
>> that's the only part that I guess I would -- it's a different thing if you're being asked to share the restroom with the public and you do like family law cases or criminal cases.
we've learned that volatile situations can unexpectedly result.
so I guess I seriously question providing the restroom for elected officials.
some as needed I think we can justify.
it's kind of like a separate restroom for juries.
i think everybody would agree that that's appropriate.
just because of the nature that -- the nature of the public service that they provide for us.
and the fact that you don't want them mixing with the general public while they're carrying out their duties.
>> this kind of originated with the criminal justice center project.
each of the judges and elected officials in that building, there were 12 judges at that time, the sheriff and the district attorney.
and as a part of that program, restrooms were provided for each of those elected officials.
there's a small handful of them in the heman marion sweatt Travis County courthouse that have essentially what amount to private restrooms, but of course that building is considerably limited on available space.
>> I think we ought to look at restrooms on a case-by-case basis or private restrooms.
any problem with that?
>> none.
>> that would be the only modification that I would recommend.
with that I proof approval.
>> second.
>> and that is that we agree to look at private restrooms on a case-by-case basis.
any more discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank y'all very much for the follow-up information.
>> thank you very much.
>> we have our big push people here.
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, February 10, 2009 2:00 PM