Travis County Commissioners Court
October 20, 2009,
Item A2
A2.
consider and take appropriate action regarding a request from the sheriff's memorial and benevolent society of Travis County to waive all fees in connection with proposed use of the Travis County exposition center arena for the golden gloves amateur boxing tournament on February 10 through 12, 201
>> thank you, honorable judge Biscoe, honorable Commissioners, my name is art, a captain with the Travis County sheriff's office, sitting to my left is roger wade our public information officer from the Travis County sheriff's office, also, the president of our sheriff's memorial benevolent society.
to my right is joe vela, one of the predominant youth boxing coaches here in Austin Travis County.
besides being a captain in the sheriff's office, I also dedicate my life to teaching youth how to box.
i teach at the town lake ymca, besides being an amateur boxer with a very unsuccessful career, I might add, I still carry the tradition of teaching youth how to do that.
for many years the Austin golden gloves played a significant role in the Austin sports history, from about 1940 to 1980 more or less we sponsored the Austin golden gloves tournament here in Travis County in Austin.
if you remember, those of us who were living here at that time, the Austin american-statesman were the sponsors, they would raise money and donate it back to charity.
for reasons unbeknownst to me, I can't figure it out why, the tournament left us and was relocated to san antonio, Texas.
when I started at the age of 30, I realized even though I lived in Austin I had to travel that full week to san antonio it was quite a chore for me to do that.
i was an older man.
those that are youth, 17 years old and older, it was quite a chore for them to go weigh in every morning and drive back and forth, take its toll on the amateur boxers here in the central Texas area.
for a couple of years now my colleagues and boxing culture have asked if we could sponsor again the Austin golden gloves tournament.
i have been working on that about two years.
i was able to get the franchise awarded back to Austin through the franchise holders in fort worth, Texas golden gloves association.
golden gloves has been a part of u.s.
history since 1933 started in chicago.
to promote amateur boxing and at the same time raise money for charities.
since about the 1930s or so Texas has had their own golden gloves.
again Austin had theirs from about 1940 to 1980.
i'm very fortunate and happy with the support of coach vela here we've been able to get the franchise offered to us again.
part of the rules of the franchise is that it has to be sponsored by a 501 c 3, which is where roger comes in.
he's the president of our smbs, that organization was developed to raise money for officers who are injured or killed in the line of duty and to help people associated with the sheriff's office when their time of need comes, whether through tragedy or financial hardship.
so they're going to sponsor my tournament for me.
what we're asking the Commissioners court, we want it to be successful since it's coming back to Austin after all of these years, we are asking for cooperation in using the expo center, waiving or reducing the fees for the weekend of that tournament.
it's only a three day tournament versus a week long tournament.
that's what they have in san antonio.
probably because all of the Austin central Texas boxers go to san antonio is why it has to be so long in san antonio.
so our tournament is for three days, we're asking for your support in that particular proposal.
if you have any questions for us, I'm here to answer those questions along with coach vela.
>> I'm glad to see you all here.
i know that this is really a really strong statement I think that goes back to the caring of this community, the efforts of your department and other departments are making toward our youth in this community.
i just really applaud you for this.
boxing is a great sport.
i have some concerns, my only concerns are some of them are the time that's set aside here at the expo center in February, those have already been looked into and set aside as far as the scheduling is concerned for this particular event and everything.
>> yes, sir.
>> squared away on that.
okay.
good.
and I guess the only other concerns that I would like to maybe have brought up and as you know as we come through this and go through this process I've -- the organization that have asked us to waive fees and do -- do a lot of other things as far as using the expo center for whatever event that they are trying to promote there, one thing that we need to make sure that everyone understand that the -- that the requirements I guess as far as legal license agreement and I guess that's basically also the 501 c 3 status, everything is basically intact.
>> yes, sir.
>> if all of those requirements have been met, I think it's a pretty good deal.
but the event that generate revenue for this golden gloves event that money will then be donated 100% to charitable organizations of --
>> yes, sir.
i'm sorry, speaking with roger wade, we have thought about maybe providing scholarships for disenfranchised youth or several scholarships for disenfranchised youth.
speaking with them, there's a small public school on f.m.
969, it's in my jurisdiction, hornsby dunlap.
they have asked us for help.
i would like if we raise enough money to give them financial assistance, also, other charitable organizations that need our help.
the money is given back to smbs, once we have approval we can sit down and determine with the Commissioners' approval, of course, which charities you want to focus on.
>> right.
i guess the only other thing I guess as far as -- we normally ask roger el khoury, who goes over -- who's kind of over these things, what we normally do when somebody is wanting to use this, we normally ask facilities to look into this and see exactly what we can arrange as far as a reduction of as far as utilities a whole bunch of other things.
i don't really know the legal may have to weigh in on to it as far as the requirements I guess, have they meet all of the requirements.
have they meet all of the requirements, legal?
>> yes the corporate status has been remedied by roger wade the last couple of days and we would just a as we normally do, require that they enter into our standard expo center license agreement with all of the standard terms and conditions, it would be really up to roger to recommend what the fees would be charged.
if the court wants a reduction of those fees and how much is really up to the court.
>> all right.
okay.
>> so we should look over the October 15th, 2009 memo from you?
ms.
aldrige?
>> October 15th?
>> regarding corporate charter?
>> yes, well, I don't recall that there was a memo.
okay.
>> what would you call that.
>> there was an issue with the corporate charter status, an involuntary dissolution simply for failure to file certain periodic paperwork required by the secretary of state's office.
i brought that to the attention of the sheriff's office, they remedied it within a couple of days.
>> disregard it today?
>> yes.
>> it can be disregarded.
>> okay.
roger.
>> good afternoon, judge, Commissioners, roger el khoury, director for facilities management department.
i just want to give you some -- some information regarding the events.
the days of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are open for the event that sheriff is sponsoring.
also, I would like to tell you that the rate per day on the arena is $3,000 and if you multiply that by 3, that's about $9,000.
those are rent.
in the past the court does waive, you know, the waving of the rent.
but not the direct costs.
the direct costs to the expo center is the utility charges for the arena which is $125 per hour.
if we talk about eight hours a day, that is going to be about $8,000 a day for three days at $3,000.
in addition, the custodial fee at the expo center is not an indirect cost.
it is a direct cost, you know, so we charge -- it's a $600 per day for three days is about $1,800.
so the total direct costs to the expo center is $4,800.
so just want to keep this information to you as always for your decision and direction.
>> let me ask this question.
years ago, I don't know if the sheriff has the capability now, years ago you used to have community recitation service where you allow persons to assist in tasks as far as you mentioned custodial.
has there been any arrangements made with the sheriff to -- to address some of the moneys that have been mentioned here today as far as -- as far as --
>> are you speaking of custodial?
>> custodial, Commissioner.
>> yes.
>> I have spoken briefly about that, we do have a component in place where we can bring inmates out and I'm not going to speak 100% about that.
we have spoken about that, that is a possibility that we could bring the inmates out to come clean the expo center or we have a -- we used to call it the weekender program where the inmates would come on the weekends.
even though this tournament is Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we would try -- there's other individuals that don't come on weekends because not everybody is off on weekends.
we have that component in place, also, I have met with the sheriff about that, we certainly will discuss that more.
>> okay.
roger, I guess will you be available to discuss those type of arrangements.
>> yeah, I will -- michael norton about this issue.
>> consistent with after the job fair, which was kind of the arrangement that we made with the sheriff's department to have the weekend workers come out and we're working towards having it more seamlessly during the week because we have often busy during the weekend because it's hard to have them work while we are having events.
i have spoken to sheriff hamilton, the proposal is to continue that on a perpetuating basis whether they are granted use or not, just in good faith to continue that.
they were out there just this last weekend.
so yes that can not only be a solution for cleaning up after this particular event, but also for compensation for the ongoing use of the facilities which I was very happy to hear.
there is the issue of janitorial during the event.
the $600 that roger quoted is getting it in place and ready to open the doors.
that is a solution that we have not talked about, because I don't know if you can have prisoners or inmates in there while the event is going on.
there does need to be people during the event keeping the trashcans and what have you, service, bathroom service during the event hours.
but in terms of compensation and return for waiving fees, the whole idea of having the prisoners come out on a consistent basis is certainly something that has work and started to work well for us.
if there were any one thing to discuss with sheriff hamilton, any direct costs such as hvac that the court felt needed to be paid, I discussed with the sheriff hamilton the possibility of taking that out of parking money off the top of the parking because it's the event's prerogative to charge for parking.
we don't dictate whether that is charged or not n.
the standard form license it's the prerogative for the promoter to say yes I want to charge for parking.
one third, what I discussed with sheriff hamilton discussing whatever direct costs or if I have to hire employees to come out and service bathrooms, taking those costs off of the top of the parking revenues before there's any split between the county and --
>> that the pay under the laws regarding parking fees for county facilities?
>> well, as michael said, the whole arrangement with parking fees is our office did conclude that was permissible as long as the county isn't charging those fees, it's up to the licensee.
really only the larger events from what I understand actually impose parking fees on attendees of events.
so ours is really more of an administrative fee.
not per se a parking fee.
whether that's translatable to use those fees to offset utility costs individual to look into that a little bit but sounds like it might be a doable thing.
>> okay.
>> remind me the hours of the event?
>> we have by the rules of the sport judge, we have to have physicals one hour before the event.
so the athletes will come in at 6:00 to get their physicals.
the first bell, first competition at 7:00.
the organizer of the sport, the officials of the united states amateur boxing federation are very stringent about those rules, I would imagine we would have to open up at 5:00 just to get the center going and whatnot.
and I would say that we're looking at 16 bouts per night, more or less, so the venue would be closed at 10:00 each night.
so 5:00 to 10:00 each day.
>> five hours a day.
>> yes, sir.
>> so the city I guess Austin energy charges us per hour.
or per day?
>> no.
they charge us on the meter.
per month the -- as a meter run.
we have translated that at the arena it costs us $125 an hour.
>> but if -- so if we plan to start using it at 5:00, what time do we have to turn it on?
>> we have to turn it on like about two hours before at least and this would be about like 7 to 8 hours.
but let me add one more thing.
the event is in February.
in February it's -- we're not going to be turning the air conditioner on to get it ready.
so it might be going to be the heat if it's cold outside.
>> the heat starts the same thing.
>> the heat is sometimes more problematic in that all of the air handlers are at the top of the building.
sometimes even though we have only charged the client for eight hours, we have to turn the heat on 24 or 20 hours before just to warm the building up.
>> the thing about the utility bill is this is a check that we have to send Austin energy.
so if we can figure out a way to cover that, we have a lot more control over the fees and even the custodial costs because those are direct costs to the county or the expo center special fund as mr.
norton would remind us.
but I do think we ought to try to figure out a way to cover the utility costs.
maybe we can be real creative on use of labor.
>> one other thing, judge, I think in this particular event, I think they are looking for sponsors, I guess, as far as looking for persons that will be able to help to do -- through whatever means, donating to this particular smbs, I guess, directly, or to whomever as far as contributing to offset some of the expense.
i guess if a person hearing this today that really want to see the proceeds from such an event that's been absent from this area for a long time, really -- anyway, there's been -- that's been absent from this area for a long time.
it just appears to me, if someone wanted to contribute to help out, in such an endeavor as this one, how would they do it to -- to help facilitate as far as on your expenditure side, how would we do that?
>> I'm very fortunate the smbs has been my sponsor.
they have set aside a line item for me.
if there's any citizen out there listening and want to make a donation, make it out to the Travis County smbs, sheriff's memorial benevolent society.
>> if I might, roger wade, president of the corporation, we have a separate 501 c 3 private corporation away from county government.
if someone wants to donate to us, we ask they send us a check.
make it out to the smbs, we have a p.o.
box.
252.
>> 252.
>> del valle, Texas.
78617.
if they would just notate what the donation is for, if it's for the boxing tournament, we will put in it that line item.
we have committed our resources to captain cardenas and to this event.
anything over and above that, we will provide for.
we are just proud to be the recipient of the money that you make off of this and proud to sponsor the golden gloves.
>> right.
it's going to a worthy cause.
that's to help needy children in the area.
>> it's going to --
>> [multiple voices]
>> many other things.
>> many things.
we offer scholarships, we offer --
>> scholarships.
>> dealing with matching grant for a memorial being built around the courthouse for the veterans and fallen officers.
we also provide for deputies, families, friends who are in emergency situations beyond their control.
so it's -- we also do -- do educational programs and community events.
so it's all going to a good cause.
>> okay.
there is a motion.
>> yeah, judge, I would like to move approval of this particular item and also if possible for the sheriff and also facilities to get together on the necessary working relationships to -- to clean up the facility and all of the other things that we have discussed here.
>> second.
>> and we would like to see those fees basically reduced and done away with except for the utilities.
that would be my motion.
>> seconded by Commissioner Gomez.
discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all very much.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> no, no, thank y'all.
good success to you.
joe.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 1:40 PM
