Travis County Commissioners Court
June 30, 2009,
Item 19
Then let's call up 19, consider and take appropriate action regarding possible uses of county-owned property located at 5335 airport boulevard.
a, request from manos decristo to use the building for their annual back to school program and a request to waive all fees for use of facility from July 27th 2009 to August 21, 2009.
b, request from health and human services and veterans service department for anticipated weatherization program.
c, request from Travis County district judges to use as' jury impaneling facility.
d, other requests informally requested, but not disclosed.
and d, overall strategy for development of this property, especially a rough schedule.
i put this item on because we have received several requests to use this property, plus at some point I guess we need to decide where we are in terms of the development projects.
the other thing is that health and human services has a weatherization program under the stimulus program that it will need space for.
we still don't know the date, though, do we?
>> our application was submitted on the 23rd.
we've been promised a contract by August 1st, but we're not really confident that that's going to come through at that time.
so we are still, however, making preparations as best we can and per our description in 19-b in our backup.
>> and manos decristos has requested -- what's those dates again?
>> if I remember correctly, it's the last week in July through the third week in August.
>> so you're looking at after August 21st, you think?
>> well, judge, in our conversations with facilities as recently as last week, they have expressed concerns related to the infrastructure improvements that would have to be made in order for health and human services to use the building?
and I do want to say that health and human services completely supports the projects that manos decristos is doing and we're aware of their tremendous demand and the number of residents that they served last year.
so certainly our discussion about this doesn't have anything to do with the project.
we think it a very worthy project and I can appreciate their need for having a larger location.
my concern was if the court were to see fit to allow health and human services to use that building, then there would be infrastructure improvements that we've been told that would take two and a half months to complete.
because of a conversation I had with facilities last weekend, I'm sure mr.
el khoury and ms.
perez can speak to that, I am not sure that that building continues to be an option for us.
>> but if we don't use county owned space, then we have to lease space.
>> that's correct.
>> will we be able to lease space under the grant?
>> no, sir, you will not be able to.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> you answered that question mighty fast.
that answer is certain then.
we're clear on that.
>> yes, sir, we're clear.
and we also, if -- I'm sorry, my backup is not numbered, but there is on the last page, I think, we've indicated for you the amount of funding that is available to you for administrative reimbursement, which if lease were included would fall under administrative reimbursement.
and of course, you know, if you combine these two programs together, you're barely getting to half a million dollars, which would also include any additional personnel that we would need to do eligibility for these programs, any carpenters or whatever the case might be in addition to if you chose to contract with nonprofits or other entities to help us spend down this money.
we still have to stay within five percent of the overall grants.
so when you look at those few contextual pieces there, the amount of administrative flexibility you have is very slim.
>> well, I was about to ask, so utilities from July 27th through August 21st, that's roughly three weeks, would cost how much.
>> roger el khoury, director of facilities department.
from July 27th, 2009 to August 21st of 2009, we calculate it would cost about $3,900.
it's about $150 a day.
you're running a 23,560 square feet of space.
air conditioning, lighting, power.
>> okay.
so when we turn utilities on, they come on for the whole building.
>> yeah, especially in the front, yes.
>> okay.
sheriff, do you have a need for this building too?
>> no, sir.
we are in partnership with manos cristos.
we will be assisting them.
>> are you bringing money?
>> we're going to bring -- yes, we will bring in money.
>> all right.
and supplies.
>> okay.
your name and comments?
>> my name is judith cardenas and I am the volunteer coordinator for manos decristos.
our program has grown quite a bit.
it's been around for almost 20 years of being a nonprofit.
we're just really excited to try to bring this out.
i know it's going to obviously cause some concern with money and whatnot, but we thought we would give it a try.
it's definitely a huge undertaking for our organization, considering we have a very small facility space.
we serve 150 children a day, not including the people that come with them, whether it's their mother, their father, their grandmother, their uncle, aunt, and older brothers and older sisters and younger brothers and sisters that don't get served.
all these people are in our building.
it's very, very tiny.
so really what we're trying to do is help these children, get them to a more efficient space and get them served quickly.
we don't have people waiting out in the sun and we don't have people, I guess, in possible dangerous situations.
we're close to 51st and 35.
there's not a whole lot of space in our building, in our facility.
really what we're trying to do is just kind of bring it out a little bit more.
let people be more aware of it.
hopefully more people will be able to take advantage of the program.
last year, even though we say we serve 150 students a day, we served as many as 175, 180 students a day.
we try to get in as many as we can.
last year we did Saturdays, but this year it will only be Monday through Friday.
we thought having a Saturday would be more beneficial, team would be able to come through, but it didn't turn out that way.
it was easier for people to come in Monday through Friday.
so we'll be having children and parents and whoever else can bring them Monday through Friday.
so we won't really be needing the space over the weekends, just really Monday through Friday.
>> what other space options do you have?
what other space options are you exploring?
>> we could possibly go into some church auditoriums, but that's kind of a last resort.
it's not really anything that has been too explored, I guess if you will.
we have some options, but it's kind of a last resort.
there are other things going on.
space again is an issue.
we don't think we can possibly fit into some of these auditoriums and there's other things going on at the same time like vacation bible school and things like that.
>> have you looked at other corporate private facilities that are empty because there's a significant number of -- there's at of empty commercial square footage out there.
>> actually, we haven't.
this facility was brought to our attention through some people -- our neighborhood association.
and just again trying to bring up the neighborhood association feel and bringing partnership with businesses, organizations and our nonprofits together in that area.
so that's kind of how this came to us and we're really excited about it because it was just sitting there and we don't really know the background work and we thought it's great, it's a block and a half from us.
it serves a lot of people in our neighborhoods and hopefully it could be a good partnership.
>> is that facility that's right at 183 and airport still empty?
>> yes, as far as we know.
>> that's also another possibility.
what was that, half verity's or something?
>> the room store.
i think it's been rented on a monthly basis.
>> it has?
>> also is there still some empty -- increasingly empty space in the highland mall?
>> I have no idea.
i'm not sure, Commissioner.
>> I guess what is the schedule for completion and renovation of that particular site?
as we go forward in trying to bring it up for use for county departments, county employees and other ventures?
is there a schedule that -- I know there has to be one somewhere that may we be privileged to have, whereby the schedule of renovation will not conflict with the use of the building by those that are trying to gain access to it?
what -- is that schedule available?
>> yeah.
i think this is number e on the items.
we have a schedule on the development of this piece of property over there.
right now we are in the middle of the master planning and we figure that the master planning will be done by the end of August, with perhaps time to come to court on the work session to talk about t I think we'll come back in a couple of weeks or so.
now, provided that if the Commissioners court approve our request for design for next year in fy 2010, then the procurement of the engineer and architect for this project would be in February 2010, then doesn't will start -- will be done by October 2010.
then the bid phase will be done by January 11th.
and the construction move on and will be done by November 11th.
and the building will be occupied in January 2012.
so I'm running with the schedules about 34 months of a schedule on that property would be starting in January of 2011.
so we have about like a year and several months on that facility before we start construction.
if there's discussion about if the court approve our budget for the design for next year.
>> is it in the preliminary budget?
>> yeah.
>> okay.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
the answer is at this point we don't know.
>> okay.
so we ought to take health and human services off the list.
we ought to assume the weatherization will not be there.
>> for now, judge.
we're going to take ms.
fleming and a couple other folks on a tour of our other existing facilities and also a property that was referred from the housing authority that they bought and could probably lease it to us on an interlocal for relatively inexpensively.
so that's another site we're looking at.
we will be looking at precinct three, vacated -- the one on johnnie morris.
four.
the one where precinct four used to be.
>> so you're looking at those possibilities?
>> we're looking at other possibilities.
>> so if those possibilities don't pan out awnd have to use this facility, are we talking about after August 21st?
>> yes, sir, but right now the facility is -- it would cost too much to remodel it for the youth.
>> all right.
then back to my question.
should we take weatherization off the table?
should we assume weatherization won't be at this facility?
i hear you saying yes.
>> the answer is yes.
>> [ laughter ]
>> she said that along time ago.
>> the answer is yes.
>> all right.
let me ask this then.
we have a list here saying that I guess county expenses would be $15,850.
does manos decristos have $3,900 to reimburse utilities?
>> I can try to find it.
>> because that's the bill we get from the city of Austin.
>> right.
>> the rest of this, custodial, I guess if you guys are volunteers, you could kind of help tidy the place up afterwards.
>> total.
we can take care of that.
>> and if we eat and I guess what custodial we need before and afterwards, that would still leave utilities uncovered.
>> yes.
>> and at $150 a day, that's $3,900, which is the bill we get from the city of Austin.
>> right.
austin energy, I guess.
>> we don't have it now, but I can definitely try to get it.
>> judge, along with that, also we want to make sure that we have the proper license agreement because the activity and things going on in the building.
we want to make sure that -- I guess the county attorney would have privilege to some form of a license agreement --
>> they've already drafted a draft license and I would just revise it to reflect any additional terms and conditions.
>> maybe similar to what we did for the folks that wanted to use the parmer lane --
>> exactly.
sort of a standardized form.
>> here just recently.
and so --
>> I might say, we're requesting an insurance also.
>> that's correct.
that's a standard provision in our license agreements.
i can give you a draft of that, indemnification, insurance, and the fee, that was not yet determined when I drafted this.
>> how long do you think it will take you to get final answers to those issues?
>> how about by Friday?
>> sounds fine to me.
>> thank you.
>> my motion then would be to grant the request, indicate the county's intention to apply our standard, I guess, insurance provision and seek reimbursement of utilities and indicate that the county will eat the other costs.
>> I second that.
>> and we'll have this item back on next week for a response to those two.
>> thank you.
>> you have the county sheriff working with you there, and he's normally -- he normally comes up with funds that we don't know the source of.
he assures us that they're legal.
>> [ laughter ] I'm glad to see him here at the table with you today.
>> he carries a lot of weight and really we thank you, sheriff, for your support of such a great effort and great cause.
you carry your weight.
>> for those wondering what happens, y'all basically distribute school supplies and what else to the kids?
>> what we do as we -- we give them two changes of clothing.
they will receive two tops, two bottoms, underwear, socks, grade appropriate school supplies and then they also get a backpack.
it's a lot of fun.
it's a great program and we have a good time with the children.
we usually have about close to 500 volunteers for that program.
it's our volunteers' favorite.
>> keep up the good work.
>> thank you so much.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
thank y'all.
>> no other questions, judge, on any of the -- like the jury impaneling or anything like that?
>> we get requests from time to time.
i guess we've been trying to accommodate them.
>> yes.
>> now, before this facility became available, we were using crawford, crockett --
>> well, it was crockett, and we do have a contract with northcross mall for that norris conference center, but their costs for their ballroom, which holds about 300 people, is a thousand dollars a day.
so I've got -- yeah.
>> so we've been trying to accommodate requests from the district judges to the extent that we can?
>> yes.
we have -- what happens is I talked to both debra hail, who is the administrator for the criminal courts, and I spoke with our district clerk, amelia rodriguez mendoza, and they said just lately we've had several high profile cases.
and voir dire in those cases, because they are such high profile, they have to bring even more people because they're wanting to get people who have not heard or will be tainted by newspapers or media articles on those cases.
they have to bring sometimes two or three hundred people in.
and it's just been one of those years.
and so that's why they have been looking for other property to hold those meetings at.
and because of the expense of the places like norris center.
>> okay.
so if the license agreement in a goes through, this building will not be available for about three weeks there.
>> yes.
>> okay.
anything else on this today?
>> with regard to 19-b, judge, I'm not sure that our posting covers the request in health and human services's backup.
i guess I would need to -- I'm looking at legal to see if it does.
if not, we can bring this item back.
>> no, the intention was just to discuss the airport boulevard location.
>> okay.
>> so you did a more general request for next week?
>> yes, sir, absolutely.
so we will make sure we get that back up.
>> okay.
anything else on this item?
>> no, sir.
>> then we'll have b back on with different wording.
and I guess at some point do we need to -- is it after the budget process that we need to discuss redevelopment plans for this building?
>> we will have a work session, asking for a work session in a couple of weeks.
and we'll do from there.
>> okay.
-- we'll go from there.
>> okay.
>> all right.
thank you very much.
so do we have -- cid, are you here on the flatbed item?
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> let's see if we can satisfy your curiosity then.
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, June 30, 2009 1:31 PM