Travis County Commissioners Court
May 19, 2009,
Item 8
Number 8 is to consider 8.
consider and take appropriate action on the following: 1.
proposed modification to Travis County code chapter 1.019, county vehicle usage policy; and 2.
request to approve payment of outstanding toll amounts.
>> we have been negotiating with the -- do you have one of those?
-- with various entities about these.
>> -- , no, I don't believe --
>> fees and late charges.
and what I have just given you is an off the press memo from ctrma cou.
>> that answers another question, rather than one I was looking for.
go ahead.
>> do you want me to --
>> yes.
>> okay.
the thing that was handed out earlier from the ctrma is actually old and we had several revisions and continue to adjust it down.
they discovered additional fees were for emergency vehicles and I talked with my colleague at lunch and the final amount that is due is $78.20, is what has been negotiated to for the ctrma.
i communicated by e-mail with harris county toll authority, and I passed you out a copy of that e-mail resolution -- Travis County toll authority -- just before the session started and the amount due then is $8.
i don't believe we have heard back from the the turnpike authority yet
>> we have not, except we did get a last word that they had referred this to an administrator whose job it was to deal with requests such as ours and that person was on -- was out until may 12th.
but the indication was that person would work on our request and get back with us and we have not gotten that followup phone call yet.
but these two are significantly lower than they started out, and you have those amounts that we initially heard about?
ctrma began at about 1100 bucks, didn't it
>> it was like $794 and I think the -- harris county was 500 something dollars, I don't have the exact amounts on the, and then the big one was txdot
>> the big one we are waiting on?
>> harris county, 236
>> so what is the -- after looking at all of these numbers that are floating around, what is the bottom line number that we are saying Travis County has to hit its pockets for?
>> with these two it will be 86.20 right now
>> I mean all of them combined
>> until we hear from txdot we won't know the --
>> the biggest one is txdot
>> and that was almost 6,000
>> that was over 6,000, though, in other words even what whether we have heard from them or not, what I was saying is it's still part of the cumulative poll.
until we know different we just have to assume this is what it is and hopefully we will hear from them and it may be reduced, but it is part of the -- it is part of the equation, in my mind right now, as far as moneys are sold, and until txdot comes up with something different
>> Commissioner Davis, I have been working on that and we have every reason to believe that txdot will have some significant reduction to the amount as well.
the reason we went ahead and brought these two to the court today is because they have a payment deadline, and we will start incurring additional fees and charges if we don't go ahead and pay this negotiated amount with them
>> right.
right.
>> so I feel confident that we are getting somewhere with txdot, but it just takes a while
>> I understand.
believe me, I understand.
>> [laughter] but, anyway, so hopefully we will hear from them soon and so in the meantime, are these particulars that we have now from these toll roads starting and also trma, are they fixed?
in other words, they are not going to increase or move, they are going to stay packed?
>> if we pay them now.
>>
>> [laughter]
>> before they change.
>> [laughter]
>> after they have
>> [indiscernible] six months q.
there is a motion to pay ctrma $8.20, and the harris county tra $8.
>> eight dollars.
>> second in motion?
discussion?
all those in favor?
that passes -- show Commissioners Eckhardt, Gomez and yours true voting in favor.
Commissioner Davis abstains and we have the other one on as soon as possible.
on the language for na, did we ever approve that?
>> no.
>> why don't we just bring it back when we bring the other one back, okay?
>> actually, that's a yes and a no, because last November, when it was brought forward to you, there were changes made in relation to if toll issue and those were approved.
additional changes were made to additional changes to that and at the time the court brought -- discussed it -- and discussed those potential changes, the court did not seem inclined to approve those.
and so if the court wants to look at those additional changes -- you've done one set of changes that talk about how people are -- county employees are supposed to act in relation to tolls.
if you want to make changes in relation to what you have said, then that's what's being brought forward at this point.
and --
>>
>> [multiple voices]
>> and where we went from the last conversation there was no need -- actually we probably didn't need a anymore because your feelings were that you will not -- we should not be riding -- Travis County employees should not be riding a toll and if they ride the toll, they pay the fees that are associated with whatever toll fee they gave and if they go through without paying, then any additional bills we receive, the individuals will pay, and that is what this policy says as it is now.
and what we were asking is that we had a way to pay in advance when those bills came in so they don't escalate to all of the different fees where we got to this $8 instead of $236 or $78 instead of $794, and so you disagreed with us at that time.
unless you want to change your mind I will bring it back.
>> that is something still that has to be negotiated, thank goodness the entities were willing to listen to Commissioner Huber's suggestions but the bottom line is those employees in my mind are still responsible for that money.
>> yes, an --
>> and, of course, even though a minimal amount, they are the one that -- they are the one that caused the infraction and I think they should be held accountable and responsible for this -- everyone the amount of money we just passed.
i -- that the court just approved.
it just -- I just hate -- I just don't want to see them get away with taxpayers having to pay for their behavior, it bothers me a lot.
>> we will stand for the policy now which is also to send those bills to the department and they will pay even the minimum bill and attempt to find the individuals that ran the tolls at the time.
>> is there -- this might actually be a question for pbo, is there a way for individual departments that are concerned about incurring follow fees for which -- unauthorized toll fees could lay aside within their budgets, a line item to handle that?
>> um, not say within the policy, you have established.
>> I don't care what the intent.
>> [laughter]
>> I see what you are saying barbara.
>> you can't say a department will set aside $10 to pay tolls when you already said in another policy that the county will pay no tolls which is basically what you said.
>> yes.
>> yes.
>> whether there are times when it would be more efficient and actually cost the county less money to pay a toll than not to pay a toll, and that could be a case if you are talking about I pay somebody's salary to drive the long way as opposed to I pay the toll to go the short way and less on the salary, but there are times when it would be less costly to the county to pay the toll.
but the way the policy is written at this point the county vehicles will never incur tolls at county expense.
if they do incur it, then the employees who is driving them better find a way to pay it before they incur the penalty that is go with it.
>> and speaking for myself alone I can understand a department head or an elected official and coming to us and petitioning us and saying this route is one that we have to take all of the time and it is shorter to take it on the tolls and therefore, I would like something included in my budget to handle that.
i am concerned with the policy that was laid out previously because it is like telling a -- your teenager daughter no, you cannot go shopping at the mall but I am going to put a credit card for, you know, for the mall just in case you do.
>> [laughter] it is talking out both sides of your mouth and I also understand we still don't have a good system for tracking who is using what car when in order to enforce such a policy, even if we were to say for this particular job it is faster to go on i30, how would we know that vehicle is actually being utilized for that particular job?
>> well, if the department was supposed to develop a log system or some kind of tracking system so as individuals use the vehicle, if it's a vehicle that is not assigned to any one person and it's shared by several, they should sign it in and out so the department knows at that point in time who was driving that vehicle when that infraction occurred.
>> has that occurred?
>> well, it works at t and r.
>> I don't know what it does.
i can only -- -- so we have a lawsuit.
>> and even that is not accurate.
>> [laughter]
>> that is something for the next discussion to see what the wording is.
twenty-four, re-size language.
consider and take appropriate action
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 2:00 PM