Travis County Commissioners Court
March 3, 2009,
Item 15
>> 15 is to consider and take appropriate action on additional initiatives by Travis County, other governmental and Travis County residents to reduce ground level ozone in support of the 2009 big push initiative.
and we will call up the legislative item next.
>> we're here to talk about what things we can do to lower ground level ozone.
just to restate where we've been, as folks who are watching this telecast will hear over and over again, we've got an opportunity this year in the face of something of a challenge, the new standard for ground level ozone.
the way it has been crafted, we are at rifg of falling into -- risk of falling into the category of non-attainment.
however with some luck on the weather, concerted effort on ozone watch days and perhaps other efforts that may come along, we have a chance to squeeze in under the wire and stay in attainment status, which has implications for us.
what we've been talking about over the several yeeks weeks is there are some initiatives that Travis County can take, specifically initiatives that affect county activities as well as things that translate into activities that we can ask some of our partners to join us in to try to keep in attainment.
we had five specific items that we are going to take up for discussion and we're back with our comments we received on those and ask for approval on some of it and perhaps some diedance on a couple of others.
i think what we'll do is we'll start right in with those if that's okay with you.
leading off with restrictions in county operations on ozone watch days.
i guess we'll have tom take that one.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
tom webber.
in terms of restrictions on ozone wamp days, just to remind the court of what number of days this might actually be, last year there were six ozone watch days as well as in 2007.
we've had a higher number.
in 2006 there were 17.
the highest number was in 2002.
and keep in mind that until the new standard came in place in 2008, it was a higher bar that you could -- a higher standard, so it was harder to exceed it.
so with that in mind, we're looking at mowing restrictions.
we really didn't receive comments about that idea, and we did share these ideas with all the departments, so principally we think that that was accepted.
certainly within tnr we're interested in implementing that in the parks and then there's other facilities that could have mowing.
in terms of fueling restrictions, the modification that we're proposing for that policy is to allow our emergency personnel, which would include constables, deputies and other personnel in the sheriff's department and then the emergency services departments to be able to use a fuel credit card when absolutely necessary when they believe they wouldn't have enough fuel to continue their work until the next time that fuel would be available, which would be after 6:00 p.m.
of that day.
so they would receive notice about 2:00 or 2:30 p.m.
the day before.
there would be about a 16-hour window in which they could fuel and then after that period of time, after 6:00 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m., the fuel locations that Travis County runs would be shut down and not usable.
emergency personnel would use a fuel credit card at a commercial facility.
we actually heard a lot of interesting comments about how sometimes using the commercial facility may be in the long run a savings of time and fuel if those commercial facilities were closer than a county fueling facility.
and I also receive comments from at least one constable who said that he would very -- the deputy constable who actually said he tracks already when fuel is used with the commercial card, and he thought it was appropriate for him to oversee whether or not an emergency personnel had to fuel or could have waited.
so in orders, to have some -- so in other words, to have some kind of oversight over that.
we support that concept that with just sort of the judgment of our various departments, we could significantly reduce the fuel during that six a.m.
to six p.m.
area.
>> so do the fuel stations close today at six p.m.?
>> during the ozone watch days only.
>> what time do the fuel stations close today?
>> our fuel stations remain open 24 hours.
>> you enter employee identification code and it's available for a use for fueling.
>> I guess if we have advanced notice of -- that an ozone action day is coming up the next day, why would we stop fueling at six p.m.
on the eve of the ozone action day?
>> we would stop fueling at 6:00 a.m.
the following morning.
>> the morning of the ozone action day.
>> yes.
so there would be about a 14-hour window, judge.
>> okay.
so if you don't do it the day before, you can get there early on ozone action day.
>> correct.
keep in mind that the issue there is when you're fueling up there's a lot of vapor that gets lost, that gets emitted into the atmosphere, and that cooks during the course of the day, which contributes to the ozone problem.
>> I understand.
but before six a.m.
is what I'm looking for with clarity on that.
so you have until 6:00 a.m.
on the day of the ozone action day to refuel.
>> if there's no other comments on that one, I think we could turn to teleworking.
>> okay.
so teleworking is the second issue that we talked about.
>> proposal 1, what we have here is for county employees.
>> that's correct.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> proposal 1 dealing with those two restrictions.
discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> mowing and fueling.
okay.
proposal 2?
>> proposal 2 has to do with a concentrated effort to do teleworking on ozone watch days.
this is something that is in place in a number of communities across the country.
so we did a little bit of research.
we found policies that were applicable that are at municipal, county, state, federal agencies all across the country.
from that we then put together a draft policy and circulated that around for folks to take a look at.
it turns out we learned some things as we got some comment.
back in 1998 there actually was an effort here at Travis County to consider teleworking, not necessarily on ozone watch days, but as a long-term effort county wide to reduce commuting trips.
that effort was -- made a lot of progress, but it was ultimately abandoned.
and from what we heard it was largely due to concerns having to do with liability and things like that.
however, I couldn't help but in the in the proposal that one of the elements of it was to call for a coordinator position, full f.t.e.
coordinator position as well as a good deal of concentrated effort by its.
so I kind of read between the lines and I thought that's probably what killed this thing back in 1998.
however, in 2009 we're in sort after new era.
we're not talking about this as a long-term, season long effort.
we're talking about focusing on ozone watch days, although it could ultimately expand into a longer term effort if we wanted to do that.
some of the technological issues that were in place in 1998 really don't apply so much anymore.
back then there was a lot of concern about having reasonable speed access if you're working at home on your computer.
that's something that really has been addressed for most folks nowadays.
a lot of technical advances have taken care of some of these issues.
although the teleworking policy was not adopted back in 1998, there was general agreement at the time that the existing county code does offer management the flexibility to have teleworking on sort of a case-by-case basis.
one of the issues that we came up had to do with the provision we had for dependent care.
a universal element of all of these policies is that somebody who is teleworking from home should be working and not taking -- not being the primary caregiver for a small child.
so we had a provision in there that seemed a little bit onerous to folks, so what we did is in a modified version of this we proposed that we simply adopted the language that was proposed back in 1998 because that seems to fit within well with policies that we see in other places across the country.
>> there were some other comments having to do with operational issues.
a lot of concern about certain kinds of positions that require secure internet connections to be working from home.
i think our view of that is that certain kinds of positions, you either -- we do have some capacity for secure connections.
so, for example, the auditor's staff would have a hard time doing their work if they have to have secure connections to the budget system.
that's something that can be addressed, but it does begin to exact a toll in terms of i.t.
involvement.
it may just be that those kind of positions may not be eligible for this kind of activity.
for most of us we don't really need terribly secure connections.
we need to have internet, we need to have e-mail, we need some way to communicate.
and that pretty much takes care of it.
so we think that that's an easily addressed issue.
telephones.
a lot of folks would be able to have their telephone somehow either forwarded to them if they're going to be working from home or have some other mechanism.
this seems like an operational kind of thing that we can figure out on a case-by-case basis.
again, certain kinds of positions you're going to have to have somebody answering the phone at the county office in order to provide adequate customer service.
so there may not be a way around that.
for others of us we can either work with our cell phones, our county cell phones, or you can use -- if you're making calls you can check your voice mail messages and you can make return calls.
if you're concerned about privacy you can use the star 67 feature on your own phone so you're not necessarily revealing your home phone number when you're making a business related call.
records retention.
this is an issue for us all anyway because a lot of us do work at home from time to time.
we need to have very clear understanding of what your responsibilities are if you're working from our home computer with regard to backing up and retaining electronic records.
so whether we have an ozone watch day concentrated teleworking effort or in general this is something that people need to be aware of, I think that it's fairly easily addressed.
virus protection and software upgrades.
anybody working from home will be responsible for maintaining their own computer system with respect to virus protection.
the county is not going to go out and buy them a bunch of upgraded software and things like that.
there are certain fundamental things that we need to be able to do, word processing, that kind of thing.
>> do we run that by legal?
>> we have not had any formal comment from them yet.
i'll digress here a little bit.
one of the things that I'm hoping to accomplish today is to get a tentative okay on this one because we do need to vet some of these issues very carefully so that we're not rushing into something and making a mistake.
so while the concept may be good, the details may be a little bit more difficult.
>> on the management roles and responsibilities, we have several specific roles there.
is the bottom line that ultimately the manager will determine whether an employee and the department are appropriate for telecommute work even on ozone action days?
>> that is correct.
>> so it's the manager's call.
>> that's correct.
>> if the manager concludes I'd like to participate and work with the Commissioners court, but to be honest in this workplace I really just can't do it, that's his or her call.
>> that's correct.
and I can tell you I have personal direct experience with that kind of a system for managing that kind of thing.
>> okay.
i move that we give tentative approval of proposal 2 and that we ask that staff touch base with legal to make sure that the specifics that are listed here are legal for us.
>> second.
>> against the backdrop that ultimately it's the manager's call, whether that manager is an elected official, an appointed official or what have you.
seconded by Commissioner Gomez.
discussion?
>> judge, we didn't have an opportunity to comment on this.
i.t.s.
had security issues with this.
depending on -- we would prefer that it be more of a pilot because depending on the added capacity, we may need to add internet services through u.t., if it is a lot of people right now.
we're right on the edge of using our capacity on the internet with u.t.
so depending on how many people were to do this, we may need to add capacity.
that would be added cost.
we need to assure --
>> you don't just do that overnight, or do you?
>> no.
>> my thinking on this is if we were to receive word that there is no additional capacity, then if you cannot telecommute without using your computer, you wouldn't be able to do it.
if you can commute without using your computer, there are times when I'm home working on the speech.
whether I'm doing research, research and working on issues, if you can do it -- you can do a whole lot of things without a computer.
and I have to remind myself once weekly that there was a time we didn't have computers and we kind of lived.
but I agree with you.
if you are required to use a computer and we don't have additional capacity, then that means that particular employee will not be able to participate.
>> and it's a bandwidth issue for the entire county, so depending on how many people we would have to look at that again.
we also have internet protection tools that -- I think that that was mentioned also.
in terms of anyone that wanted to use their computer at home, that they would have to have the anti-virus and appropriate protection on their own computer in order to protect the network.
>> that's the first legal question, whether we can impose that on the employee.
if the answer to that is no, then we know not to go down that road.
>> what kind of liability are we looking at here?
i know there are some liable situations.
>> I hear you saying this may not be easy and there are a lot of issues that we have to work through.
and by giving tentative approval, we're trying to say we understand that, let's work through them and bring us the news, whether it's good or bad.
>> and maybe we could do it on a pilot.
>> this essentially is a pilot because we're only looking at ozone action days, which max would be, you know, in a horrible ozone action season could be 25 or 30.
so by it's definition it's a very short-term circumstance.
>> but I can see if it works and people like the results, it's possible let's keep on doing this.
so yeah, I think we need to take our time with each step.
>> let me also remind you that there are varying levels of connection that one needs.
i can work from home using my own personal e-mail account.
simply sending things to myself.
i can in a different level, I can log in to the groupwise system.
there are some folks who have secure internet sections to the vpn and then there are various other levels of connection that one might have.
so the world is full of possibilities.
>> my groupwise e-mail by my cell phone, is that an issue securitywise?
do I have to have virus protection on my cell phone to --
>> if you're getting it through the internet, no.
>> [overlapping speakers]
>> it's vpn that we're mostly concerned b.
>> I access my groupwise all the time from the internet on my home computer.
so it could be that we say if you access your groupwise internet from your home computer, you must access it by the internet rather than the vpn, which completely avoids the issue, correct?
>> these are things that we will have to work out to make sure we understand it clearly.
>> I kind of missed my boat there when you assumed right over the lawn mower issue.
i wanted to thank this body for working on the lawn mowing air pollution issue and about when to fuel those cursed machines.
i'm sorry that using no fuel by using human powered lawn mowers was ignored by the county once again and citizen leadership with voluntary action would push lawn mowers was not even discussed as far as I can tell.
the citizen and county use of (indiscernible) as opposed to those noisy air belowers.
no discussion about that, but the brooms spew no vapors, they emit no noise pollution and our quality of life would benefit.
so I guess my question is why was that ignored?
i don't know.
>> we gave it due attention.
we mull over it.
we just did not accept it.
but the electric mowers are really what it's all about, I think.
and the clean air force and others have been sort of advocating for those for the last few years.
i have not seen a push mower in my neighborhood --
>> judge, I may as a visual aid, I'll bring in my lawn mower when we talk about teleworking.
>> it's very small and it takes no noise.
>> push mowers are -- (indiscernible).
we have one in our backyard, but really the volume of territory we're having to cover with mowers you couldn't do it with a push mower.
>> I understand it on a county level, but I'm thinking citizens, it's our freedom.
i think we can urge fellow citizens, little apartment complexes.
>> we could add that into our tips to individuals.
i think that would be great.
>> great.
that would be --
>> [overlapping speakers]
>> it's already there in the mowers as well as statistics on how much emissions a gas mower has.
so it's already there as far as the mowers.
i don't think there's any mention of brooms, though.
>> those noisy air blowers.
those are really a problem.
i have lived in an apartment, for example, I don't have --
>> [overlapping speakers]
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
we'll hear further on that from legal or i.t.s.
and/or others.
okay?
>> I think now we'll move on to talking about we didn't get much in the way of comments about commuting options, but perhaps adele wants to talk about that issue.
>> briefly.
we've already started planning some seminars here for county employees so they can explore and learn about other possible commuting options.
we're scheduling those for the last week of March and hopefully the first two weeks of April.
it's a little bit late, but we're having to work with other entities and they're scheduled to get these on the calendar.
people will be able to be aware of these in advance of ozone action days and be able to take advantage of them.
>> that's proposal 3.
>> yes, sir.
educating employees on commuting options as well as number 4, comment on expanding communications to citizens and employees.
this is the one where we're going to be using channel 17 to -- I've been working with channel 17 to come up with some messages that could possibly be placed on ozone watch days to get the word out to citizens of Travis County that tomorrow is an ozone watch day or today is.
please do not do certain activities.
as well as certain public service announcements.
>> all right.
last night the campo authorized the executive director to execute a contract up to $75,000 for air quality communication, etcetera.
in 2009.
so I think we ought to make sure we collaborate with them, the clean air force and others in our community to communicate with our residents.
>> I'd just like to add, the county spent a lot of time working on our own programs.
is it possible to come up with a summary of what we're doing and share those with other major employers such that they don't actually start out trying to reinvent the wheel?
>> actually, that's what we are doing.
next Tuesday Commissioner Eckhardt and myself and kathy stevens with campo will be travelling to Pflugerville to discuss this with the city of Pflugerville, like we're doing here.
what the city of Pflugerville can do and will they join us as a supporting member of the clean air coalition in these efforts.
we're going to schedule more of these visits throughout the next couple of months.
which we're asking you to join in with these efforts as well.
>> are you also looking to target the various chambers of commerce?
that might be another avenue to do presentations to the various chambers, of which there are many that are geographically related or demographically related.
>> there are a lot of groups on a monthly basis that are looking for speakers.
>> we have explored that option through the clean air coalition.
they are busy working on that one.
>> so there are two things that you see in your packet that go along with this.
one would be the list of tips that we might have for both employees as well as citizens.
pick three out of the 10 or something like that that you can do as sort of a pledge effort.
we talked a little bit about that last week.
the other thing in here is the resolution that we would be asking the court to approve so that we can show that the Travis County Commissioners court is tifly supporting this and that we're inviting our partners, whether they be other jurisdictions or private partners, to join us in this and help us out.
>> move approval of proposal 3.
discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
we're not posted on the reds lewis, -- resolution, but I guess we can probably interpret some of this other real broad language to cover it, right, legal?
or do we need to bring it back?
move approval of the resolution.
>> second.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
if the legal opinion is that we shouldn't have done that, let us know and we'll ratify it next week.
>> the last item I'll let tom talk about that.
that's probably the one that got the most fireworks.
>> you're letting the new guy faulk about it.
>> it's delegation here.
>> as the person who doesn't have a parking spot --
>> [ laughter ] in all seriousness, we received some very constructive comments and criticisms of the possibility of having parking restrictions.
at this time we sort of feel this ought to be sent back to the parking committee along with all the their other deliberations on how to move forward with parking things.
i think one of the comments that struck me the most was the one where it said are there ways we could use a carrot instead of a stick to encourage these sorts of things?
and I think that is why we modified proposal 4, which you just approved, to include the concept of an employee pledge and a pledge to go out and work with citizens.
we think we can probably get as much reduction or more through that type of a pledge and activism by each of our employees or as many as we can encourage to participate in that and reach the same end.
>> this is a good package to duplicate and hand out to people to begin seeing what Travis County is doing and what they can do in their individual lives, like not guess gassing up before 6:00 p.m.
what happens during daylight savings?
>> daylight season typically runs April 1 to the end of October.
when does the tame change?
>> it would be -- you could consider those times, Commissioner, as daylight savings times.
>> after dark.
don't gas up your car unless it's dark.
how about that?
>> does it ever get dark around here?
>> [ laughter ]
>> move approval of the tips for all citizens?
>> second.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank y'all very much.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 2:17 PM