Travis County Commissioners Court
September 15, 2009,
Item 15
15 is consider and take appropriate action on a request from a local business person to set up a food vending cart on Travis County property located at 5501 airport boulevard.
>> judge, Commissioners.
roger l.
khoury.
a couple weeks ago the Commissioners court directed facilities management to seek input from the committee members and we did.
and we got a five -- five-member spended from the committee and really all of them are the same -- on the same line.
you know, they want to have healthy food and like fresh vegetables and food served in a cup and also they would like to have baked chips, wheat buns, low sodium and reduced fat hot dogs.
and all of them are the same -- in the same line of request.
>> hot dog and a bun?
>> so that's the -- that's the answer from the committee, that they want to have also a salad cart, like a hot dog cart, salad cart.
so these are the answers.
>> previously we talked about the possibility of looking into an r.f.p.
process where we would see what kind of vendors might respond to our identifying a specific area and how many vendors it could support and putting down an r.f.p.
to see what came back.
correct?
>> first it was a step that you all need to approve the concept, you know, we should have somebody -- we have somebody there.
and then at that time we can get with purchasing to draw -- to work with the r.f.p.
for the vendors.
that was the last time we were asked to go talk to the wellness committee.
>> well, did the recommendation coming from the wellness committee, would the vendor be able to -- to provide those particular recommendations -- recommendations that have been put out from the wellness committee?
I'm not sure.
>> or does it need to be included in the r.f.p.?
>> yes.
>> if we decide to go out and -- and
>> [indiscernible] so we can have a variety of persons in the area
>> [inaudible] and so that's why I'm wondering what -- you can go announce it, roger.
>> this is the intention, right there to first find out what type of a food they are going to sell and then we'll go to the r.f.p.
and include all of that in the r.f.p.
if you wish to or the court wish to approve this.
but we did not talk directly to ms. Goldburg on that if she provides salad because I cannot talk to one vendor if we are about to put it out for the
>> [indiscernible].
>> here are my views on it.
we already have plenty of food establishments in the immediate area.
and one of the owners of property that we would like to acquire also sells a variety of refreshments.
probably good and bad.
this request came to us from a -- one of our residents and not employees who were seeking better lunch opportunities.
and then what the county would get out of it financially is very, very small.
so I'm wondering why we should invest more time and energy into this.
why wouldn't we just indicate to the proposing party that we are not interested?
and if we don't do that, and my recommendation would be to establish a committee of employees in the immediate area.
I don't see me driving way out there to have a hot dog for lunch.
or anybody in the downtown area here because you pass up too many restaurants to get there.
and so when the request came, it seemed pretty simple, but it's really not.
it can get fairly complicated.
and so it's not like we get 40, $50,000 out of it.
the other thing we have a contract with a con investigation their where we get a lump sum of money and how much?
>> $30,000.
>> but he's got snack places, vending machines, et cetera, throughout the county.
so this would be competing with him, and we accept $30,000 because our goal is not so much the money as it is a good sort of fast lunch opportunity and snack opportunity for county employees.
at the same time, though, we have -- we reduce a larger amount down to $30,000 because he complained about not making a whole lot of profit.
so I guess I'm -- I mean there are other factors that we have to weigh other than trying to accommodate one of our residents who came forward with what seemed to be a sort of harmless proposal at the time.
>> well, originally the proposer suggested they be located right in the traffic area of the building.
>> right.
>> to generate volume of business.
I'm quite sure that was the intent.
of course, that area out there would kind of be out of the way probably for most people.
and I don't have any problems with the suggestion because I know we have had to go through that and it is a lot of -- if you look around there, it's a variety of vendors all around, across the street, in that general area is quite a few vendors.
and, of course, I can -- and another point is the congestion.
early on I mentioned the parking areas there, how critical that is and disrupting the flow of traffic as we embark through those facilities.
I can go either way, judge, but I can see your point and it is --
>> $500 a year.
we would spend a few thousand dollars worth of labor just to do the r.f.p.
>> yeah.
>> and we do the r.f.p., there may well be another proposing party with a more attractive one for us.
not going to like the idea that she brought the idea forward and we chose somebody else because I wouldn't.
move we express our deep appreciation to this proposing party for coming forth with this offer and that we advise her that after mulling over the matter for the better part of a month, which is how long it's been, right?
>> yes.
>> we have decided to say thanks but no thanks.
>> I'll second it.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you for your work, mr. Khoury.
you may have a second career as placing -- placing lunch.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:14 PM
