Travis County Commissioners Court
October 6, 2009,
Item 3
3.
approve resolution recognizing the national forum for black public administrators, central Texas chapter and future focus, for hosting the outlook 2009 regional conference in Travis County
>> good morning, judge.
Commissioners.
i'm deborah britain.
and today I'm representing the central Texas chapter of the national forum for black public administrators.
i have the honor of being the newly elected president of the chapter.
>> congratulations.
>> thank you.
>> and -- and we want to thank the court for -- for recognizing outlook 2009, it's a regional leadership conference and it helps to increase the skill sets and knowledge of public administrators at the city, county, state and federal let me and -- and I -- I can't say how -- how hard we have been working over the last eight months to prepare for this conference.
we're expecting I guess now it's about over 600 attendees, registered attendees.
that far exceeds our estimates.
we were expecting maybe 3 or 400, the numbers are still coming in.
so we are really excited.
>> that's great.
>> the conference is going to be held at the Austin convention center and the Austin hilton.
just to tell you a little bit about it, it was established nationally in 1983 in washington d.c.
and there are over 40 chapters nationwide and internationally.
and over 2400 members.
locally, the local chapter, has over 70 members and -- and -- one of which is my executive manager, who I have to -- I would like to thank for her support.
because this takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.
she's been very supportive and is an excellent member herself.
we also have mr.
anthony snipes, the city of Austin's chief of staff.
and he is also the planning conference chair and he's going to give you a little bit more information about the conference.
>> thank you.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, we are indeed happy to be hosting outlook 2009.
the theme for the conference is preparing public leadership for green initiatives, new technology and the future workforce.
and any time when we have an opportunity to assist public administrators to continue to add to their toolbox, nfbpa has always been a champion for that.
throughout the week we will welcome city and county managers from across the country.
city manager marc ott will be moderating a discussion at the convention center on how those administrators have dealt with the economic climate in their respective jurisdictions as well as talking about revitalization efforts that they are undergoing in their respective cities.
we also are going to have a ceo and general managers discussion on sustainability.
as you know, a large amount of utilities, whether that's water, electric or dealing with sustainability issues throughout the country and we wanted to know what some of the best practices are -- currently exist.
so we invite the public to -- to look into visiting us at the conference October 8th through 10th.
they can visit our website to learn more about the details of the conference.
thank you so much for the proclamation that you provided us today.
>> it's really good to see this kind of outreach.
really I applaud what you are doing from the county and from the city to make sure that we continue to keep the connectivity among our public administrators intact.
i can recall when I received my -- my master's in public administration down at southwest Texas state, I can recall one of the things saying well -- I wasn't Commissioner there, then, but you can go ahead and be a city manager.
i said a city manager.
yeah, you qualify to be a city manager.
all you do is dah-dah-dah, but anyway we didn't go there
>> [laughter] but -- but I just wanted to say it is a great, great program.
i am really supportive of the public administrators all across the nation because it is a tough, tough job.
it really is.
i thank you all for bringing something like this together.
really appreciate it.
thank you.
>> so is this -- is this -- is it open and free to the public?
>> yeah.
>> no, sir, it's not.
actually, we are looking at inviting the public on Saturday.
we have several open events on Saturday, that's one of the reason to get the website to get those details at the website to which events fee is associated to their attendance and which are free.
>> so the participants will have preregistered or register on that day.
>> that's correct, sir.
>> okay.
>> ms.
flemming, any -- any relevant words of wisdom for us today?
>> we just thank the court for support of outlook.
you provided some printing that was very much appreciated.
in terms of keeping down our local costs.
because the conference proceeds will benefit not only the local chapter and the national chapter, but also a group that whether snipes heads up, the focus committee, which is a committee of up and coming public administrators.
i think the 30 somethings --
>> 21 and 40.
>> my age group.
>> [laughter] so I think that it speaks highly of the -- of the organization's commitment to -- to not only continuing to sharpen the saw of those of us who have been around a while, but also stimulating interest and continued growth for young people who are interested in -- in following in our footsteps.
so we appreciate the county support and it does allow us to support these three very important causes.
so thank you.
>> I'm going to echo that just for a moment it's so great to see a robust professional organization that's really pushing for public administration.
it's an incredibly important job, but it is also an incredibly rewarding job.
and sharpening the saw of those who have been in it for a while but also luring those newbies in because it really is a very gratifying field of service.
>> really is.
>> thank you for doing,.
>> thank you.
>> any more discussion?
rumor has it that the county's printing contribution caused a number of participants to double.
>> [laughter] I insisted on sharing that with the city of Austin.
>> there's truth in that, judge.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all very much.
and -- and to carry with you is a beautiful proclamation.
we don't have one of those expensive frames they give you down at the city.
>> sorry.
>> [laughter]
>> [multiple voices]
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, October 6, 2009 2:30 PM
