Travis County Commissioners Court
April 28, 2009,
Citizens Communication
>> good morning, let's call to order this voting session of the Travis County Commissioners court.
furnishing on the agenda, the -- turning to the agenda, the auditor asked us to postpone item 14, item 14.
and we've been asked to postpone item no.
16, by purchasing.
17 the matter involving the tolls, should we take another week on that and tie to have a final report -- try to have a final report.
a few loose ends we need to try.
we ought to be able to tie them between now and next Tuesday.
so that was 14, 16, and 17.
a and b.
we have been asked by facilities to postpone 32.
i understand the broker there had some emergency.
the other items are ready for consideration.
citizens communication is first.
and this item gives residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda.
for up to three minutes.
Karen rusicka is first.
she will be followed by -- gus pena, he'll be followed by -- by andrea calunga-bussey, about the swine flu and pete baldwin.
>> thank you, good morning.
Karen rusicka, the secretary to the mountain view property owners association.
and I guess we just are checking in to see how your investigation is going and just a couple of questions we have regarding some of the things that were said last time we met.
i know judge Biscoe you said that apache shores was -- that's still a question for us, we, you know, kind of wanted to address that again.
i know you said that they had been putting their roads in for years because of the cdbg, basically we noticed or have been informed through their website it basically says apache shore got into the roads business in 2001, it said we had noticed that the county was not going to be able to help pave our roads any time soon, so we took it upon ourselves to do what we can, as it is not obligated to do anything to the roads bylaw or deed restriction, we do it because it won't get done any other way.
we have completed phase one to get everyone's roads paved with access to and from their property.
we are still kind of wondering about that question.
just, you know, wondering, we're right next door, wondering why we're not really being kind of treated the same way.
you know, we love the cdbg program.
we, you know, have kind of analyzed it, also, you know, I did an assessment of the values for mountain view and the apache shores area and in the tax assessment and basically we're like about 38% of the apache shores value, so I think mountain view would be an excellent candidate.
to me they are two separate issues, basically, the hoa doing their own roads and then the cdbg program which is -- you know, I don't know a lot about it, but it looks like, you know, we are in there listed, manchaca area, apache shores, mountain chalet, deer creek ranch.
we don't know if we're in it, we seem like we would be a great candidate for it.
then another item, another question that we have, which has just been kind of one of those things that kind of bugs me and our attorney had written y'all a letter or your attorney general with respect to item no.
3 above, I would remind Travis County that state law prohibits a county from imposing higher standards for streets and roads in the subdivisions than the county imposes on itself for the construction of streets and roads.
and then it gives government code.
and by any objective standard the construction of street improvements by my client on beaumont street and portions of oklahoma, port arthur and iowa far exceed the improvements made by Travis County on Texas street.
in terms of compacted base, quality, width, culvert construction.
to me there's a --
>> [buzzer sounding] this whole thing should be done and dusted right there we're still just wondering why that's not, you know, addressed just I mean it's the law.
so, you know, then your attorney had written a letter back basically saying that the subdivision was not feasible to build the roads to current standards.
so, you know, we're a little confused and just, you know, kind of wondering about that question and I also have here from the Lake Travis fire department, you know, just showing us a final pass of everything that we have done for the area to get it, you know, passing for the, you know, fire department, which we're very proud of and then just, you know, some other letters, you know --
>> can you leave it on the shelf.
we're kind of out of time.
if you can leave all of those, we would be happy to try to address those at the appropriate time.
i still have in mind that public meeting.
>> okay, great.
>> hopefully very soon.
>> okay, great, love that.
>> the cdbg, though, turns on income eligibility.
i don't have any personal knowledge of the incomes of the affected residents.
but I can get that question aired to you and others if you all want to just take a shot at it.
>> yeah I mean I would love that.
our issue is that the hoa has always been putting their roads in.
if you call over to the apache shores office they continue to do their roads.
>> is your e-mail address or phone number on that --
>> yes, sir.
>> you got your phone number here.
>> I guess we also want to know what the communication will be, as far as when this meeting is going to be happening and where is that -- who is going to communicate it to us, who is going to be contacting us?
we're very anxious.
>> we're working on that, we'll be in touch.
a lot of moving parts there that we are trying to get aligned to have what you want to see and hear.
>> it will be to us?
>> next week or the week after.
>> okay, thank you, sir, should I just leave this?
with?
>> give them to ms.
porter there.
>> okay.
thank you so much.
>> she's a good, safe keeper.
>> yeah.
>> gus pena.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena.
first of all, I would like to thank dr.
pat crocker, the chief of e.r.
services at dell children's hospital, mijo and i, I'm kind of happy to see that you are going to have a presentation or hearing on the swine flu.
for the last month, mijo has been having abdominal pain, fever, symptoms somewhat similar to the flu.
kind of ironic when we went to the e.r.
last time, Monday, the third time in a month, the doctors asked us if you been to mexico, drinking water from the lake or river.
symptoms things that they were asking about the swine flu, indications.
thank god that wasn't it.
lucio is fine, still undergoing other tests but this is kind of a scary for me and for us anyway.
but anyway I want to thank dr.
pat crocker, whitaker, hopkins, hicks, top notch in helping me.
capital metro according to the paper today capital metro may cut services.
unwise and unbefore you department made by the president, c.e.o.
fred gill yam and the c.e.o.
chief financial officer ran do you newman that have led to us the level that we are at now.
catastrophic situation.
maybe we need change in leadership over there.
we need it.
we don't think.
we need leadership change.
early voting for the may 9th municipal elections started yesterday, April 27th through may 5th '09.
we have registered many people, senior citizens, veterans, 18-year-olds who became eligible to vote.
voting, it's very important to exercise your right to vote.
we need elected leaders with vision, collaborative and inclusive skills also knowledgeably on all of the issues pertaining to the city county.
please volunteer to mentor and tutor a student, especially in math.
the taks test is being administered as we speak as aisd and other school districts.
students need to pass four years of math, which in itself is astronomical.
please support our military veterans as they transition and reenter civilian life.
they need jobs, job training, transitional housing.
a lot of veterans are losing their homes.
this leads to the further burgeoning of the percentage of homeless veterans.
also needed is extensive treatment for ptsd and mental health issues, suicide rate is very high on the veterans.
among the veterans.
we also need to support improved health care for our female veterans with special needs that male veterans don't have.
we tended to forget to acknowledge our service from our female veterans.
we should support them in any issues.
cord to the tax district appraisal -- according to the tax appraisal district here in Travis County, east Austin does not -- if not the highest or close to the highest tax roll in the city and county, t.o.d.'s, transit oriented development --
>> [buzzer sounding] not wise probably, you know, a lot of people are being taxed out of their homes, homeless senior citizens losing their homes.
done a disservice to the people.
thank you very much.
have a good day.
think about these issues, please.
>> thank you, mr.
pena.
>> thank you, gus.
>> ms.
bussey and mr.
baldwin.
and company.
>> I believe she has the card there.
we kind of got out of sequence there.
i'm pete baldwin, the emergency management coordinator.
we want to take this opportunity to give you an update on what is going on within the county regarding the swine flu.
if you noticed this morning when you opened the paper, the first three or four pages were nothing but articles regarding swine flu.
that's getting harder and harder to say.
the name will change, though.
bottom line is, what we have done is health and human services, Travis County sheriff's office, office of emergency management and dr.
stewart out of our wellness clinic, we have sat in on a conference call yesterday afternoon at 3:00 with state and local partners to get the latest updates.
we have now established a process where every morning at 8:30 there will be a conference call.
every afternoon at 3:00 we will will have a conference call with the state where we get the overall update and overview.
within that what we had planned on doing was taking information, making sure that we have it available to all of our employees and any residents out there, by utilizing our website, by utilizing -- they will give you hotline numbers here in a minute.
hotline numbers and also seeing how we can impact through t.v.
17 with some information.
our primary information to you today is not to deal with numbers because numbers are going to change from yesterday afternoon at 4:00 the numbers have changed to this morning at 8:30.
so we don't need to keep focusing in on numbers so much as we need to focus in on how do we protect our employees and our public.
and bottom line is it boils down to good personal hygiene.
and with that I'm going to turn it over to andrea, she can run through those steps and other information.
>> pete, I guess one number that's important is the 0 for Travis County.
>> is that number still 0 or has it changed?
>> as of this morning, that has changed.
>> all right.
so we went from 0 to 30 or 0 to 1?
>> in between, sir.
>> [laughter]
>> non-confirmed.
>> they are still working --
>> [indiscernible] Travis County Commissioners court research and planning.
they are working on confirming the suspected cases, so it has to go through viral as say analysis takes two days to confirm.
right now the numbers are up and down.
but not significant at all as far as high impact.
>> they are following up and investigating with those suspected cases.
>> okay.
>> >
>> [indiscernible] will be maybe available, maybe a situation where it's not confirmed or whatever, if the public member of the listening public may inquire and say well when will confirmation will be -- when will that actually take place?
when you can expect confirmation one way or the other.
>> as anna spoke, somewhere between 48 and 72 hours.
>> 48 and 72 hours.
>> two to three days, sir.
>> for final confirmation.
>> on those cases.
>> all right.
>> and before andrea starts, I want to throw out one or number for you, so we kind of keep some things in perspective.
if you go back to our normal flu seasons, where we have every year, there's as many as 20 to 30,000 people die across the united states due to normal flu season.
at this point in time, we've had absolutely no deaths associated with this strain of flu in north america.
the largest cluster was found in new york city, 28 in one private school, they had been on spring break to mexico.
my point being is that -- as I said before, we need to make sure we don't get caught up in numbers too much.
numbers may become important later on.
but with that, andrea if.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
>> good morning.
>> as pete was saying, we are -- the county is working with our city counterparts and interfacing and keeping on top of all of the information.
there is a call center for the general public for any inquiries.
i would be happy to share that number.
we will have that available for channel 17 and the website as well.
and that public inquiry number is 1-888-777-5320.
also, folks have requested information as far as what would be a good website to keep abreast of and you can google the state of Texas health department or go to www.dshs.state.tx.us.
>> that telephone number, sometimes you go too fast, hold on, I have 1-888-777-5230, is that correct?
>> yes.
>> thank you.
>> absolutely.
and of course we would -- we have requested additional information to have at our county sites, including our community centers, regarding general flu precautions to take.
and reminding staff and their families and so forth to take universal precautions in washing your hands and so forth and just due diligence in taking care of yourself, of course pay attention to any symptoms that you or your family may be experiencing.
>> what is the website again?
>> for the state health department it is www.dshs.state.tx.us.
or if you google Texas state health department that would pop up as well.
>> Commissioner, we will be sure and put that link up on our website.
>> thanks.
>> absolutely.
>>
>> [indiscernible], Travis County health and human services.
sitting in actually for sherri flemming who is in oakland as far as attending meetings, briefing her on a daily basis.
i think that pete and andrea have said totally true.
we want to assure the public this is not a huge issue.
it's actually a daily practice we should be putting into place anyway.
in other words, when you shake hands, make sure that you wash your hands before you eat.
try not to touch -- excuse me, not to touch your nose or mouth with your hands before washing them.
when you sneeze or cough, cough into your holded arm rather than to your hand because then your germs are passed on to someone else.
and this is actually -- the actual flu season is from may to November, this will -- and excuse me, then through the winter months, it's going to be relevant all the time.
so we will keep you apprised.
the city of Austin is the lead on this.
the public health department.
and they are doing an excellent job and they are also communicating the information to the county.
>> okay.
>> there will be a status report put out daily, which we will make sure that it's forwarded to your offices.
>> thanks.
>> if -- if there's something news worthy.
or -- should we just expect a routine daily update anyway.
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
questions?
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> that was ms.
bussey, mr.
baldwin and ms.
almagea.
ronnie reefer seed, followed by morris priest.
good day to our public servants here.
i'm speaking about invent truths about global warming.
one, water, ie melted ice, is the basis of all life.
change is the only constant in our universe.
three, human population has more than doubled within my lifetime.
and four instinctulization worldwide has never been so rabid as now.
in other words more species of plants and animals have vanished forever during mankind's recent reign on planet earth over these past hundreds of years.
over the 100 million year die off of the dinosaurs, therefore, it seems obvious to me that mother earth or father god, needs more water.
ie melted ice to help feed mankind's growing needs.
thus, global warming is indeed needed.
to melt the ice to grow more crops, to feed more people.
yes, coastal areas have to continually adjust.
yes, some islands come and go over time yet don't forget the inconvenient truth number two, change is the only constant in our universe.
therefore, I believe global warming, which is caused by volcanic eruptions more than s.u.v.'s is necessary to mankind's insay thible appear site for more food and water.
any attempts to change is delusional.
it's caused by volcanos, solar winds, sun spots, other planetary and cosmic forces, et cetera.
yes, mankind has extraordinary powers to kill each other and to instinctullize other species, but I think that it is deeply poppy cock, delusional us to believe that we can predict these with any degree of predictability.
our recent invention of a so-called carbon tax to somehow regulate mankind's impact on the environment is total hog wash, merely another weapon of oppression, ie taxation, to redistribute wealth.
the best way to help save our world.
my humble opinion is by example.
not by using bullets or bombs to enforce our will on others.
again, we can once again earn our leadership on the world stage best by example if we -- of how we treat each other, especially including our most vulnerable among us, meaning our youngest and our oldest.
another inconvenient truth is that ageism is perhaps our most virulent form of bigotry here and now.
for example we collectively allow our supreme court to justify killing babies that truthfully we just find to be inconvenient and of course with
>> [buzzer sounding] with inconvenient old people with collectively warehouse them as we wait for them to die out of sight, out of mind.
time is now to stop the killing of both the very young and the very old, take the time to fully examine these ideas and others on line merely type infowars.com here and/or here in Austin tune into 90.1 f.m.
for the communication network featuring alex jones and other freedom fighters.
thank you so much for your patience.
>> thank you.
>> mr.
priest.
>> thank you, judge, Commissioners.
morris priest, for the record.
as y'all recall we had a campo meeting on October the 13th, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
at the joe c.
thompson center.
prior to this cam to meeting the public and some members of the campo board discussed with campo that they could not have this meeting in compliance with their rules and regulations and policies.
as a result of that, when they called the meeting to order, this is the document of the agenda, and item 7, 8 a and b was about the tolling of east 290, we see in the summary of those minutes Monday October the 13th at 6:00 p.m., we see on the top paragraph of page two of those minutes with which have been voted in so they are the minutes, at the start of the meeting item 7 was addressed first, senator watson recused himself from the discussion and acting in his stead Commissioner long announced that item 7 was being tabled from the agenda.
she requested that campo work with ctrma to set up public hearings in accordance with the public participation program.
the program is in the bylaws, this is a copy of that.
on -- on January the 27th, campo signed kirk watson signed the chairman of campo signed a resolution 1.2009.
january 2009, this is a copy of the transportation board policy.
the third whereas on the back of that page says whereas campo's transportation policy board adopted a public participation program which I alluded to earlier, that the vice chair said that campo staff was directed to follow on June 13th, 2007, which requires a minimum 28 day period comment period for transportation improvement adoption or -- and/or amendments.
this is a copy of the statement of purpose that campo drafted with the ctrma.
this latest post card that was sent out by campo, they all have a comment period.
this last one started April the 16th, closes may the 13th.
when campo put this public comment period for this agenda item, they combined a November meeting and the December meeting that -- and had a meeting on December the first.
they gave no public comment period which they are required to give a 28 day period for public participation.
this post card, a statement of purpose, said their first meeting started November the 5th.
the last meeting started that the comment period ended on the 19th.
when they came to the -- to the December the 1st meeting, joe
>> [indiscernible] the executive director gave the results and you see this on a -- on an item that was posted, it was November the 24th, agenda item 8, and it explains that the comment period was closed, prior to the campo meeting ever being taken place.
and this was in the minutes and it was even on the screen.
and I have all of that documentation.
>> [buzzer sounding] the bottom line is that the meeting was not posted correctly.
all of the excuses, the lies, the innuendos, the language arts, the mischaracterizations, in my opinion, whatever you want to classify them, campo had a meeting, they did not post public comment period.
they didn't follow the rules and regulations of federal, state or their own policy and guidelines and I'm asking that the comment be thoroughly investigated by this court.
>> thank you, mr.
priest, those are the residents who have signed in under citizens communication.
anybody else whether you signed in or not?
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, April 28, 2009 6:10 PM