Travis County Commissioners Court
December 8, 2009,
Item 25
Number 25, consider and take appropriate action on the composition and charge -- composition of and charge to the vehicle users committee.
>> good afternoon, judge and Commissioners.
don ward, t.n.r.
i'm kind of filling in for mr.
rhoades this afternoon.
he's unable to attend.
but just wanted to concur with his memo and state the following composition of the committee.
one constable -- and these are the voting members.
one constable or designee from the constable's office, one from the sheriff patrol, one from sheriff corrections, one t.n.r.
representative would be the chair, fleet services representative, juvenile county district attorney representative, p.b.o.
representative, and in addition to that list I think it would be prudent for us to add one from emergency services, which includes the fire marshal, medical examiner, emergency management as a voting member also.
they have some unique needs and vehicles in that group.
and then two nonvoting representatives, one being from purchasing and one being from i.t.s.
and we would like the following charges to come from the court, please.
perform a comprehensive review of the existing vehicle replacement policy and make recommended changes.
determine alternate approaches to ordering and receiving fleet vehicles.
determine and recommend the most efficient method to install and equip vehicles including radios, mbts, et cetera.
determine and recommend alternate methods to improve overall efficiency of our fleet.
and finally determine and recommend most efficient use of our new vehicles and assignment.
what we've got also is the plan to -- from myself to all these representatives to send a memorandum to them requesting the name of the representative and begin our endeavors as soon as possible within the next two weeks or as soon after the holidays as possible.
taking the old chapter 34 and thoroughly going through it with these charges and come back to you within three to four months with a plan and hopefully a good game plan on the changes that we're proposing.
>> all right.
looking at the membership, the change would be e.m.s.
would be added as a voting member.
>> yes, sir.
>> is p.b.o.
down as a voting representative?
>> yes.
we concur with mr.
rhoades.
>> one line of thought is p.b.o.
does not operate a fleet of vehicles.
this recommendation is that p.b.o.
be nonvoting.
ms.
rio, were you here for p.b.o.?
hate to put you on the spot.
let's do the pros and cons of that.
first the pros.
p.b.o.
voting or nonvoting?
>> well, I did speak with mr.
rhoades this morning and he would like for p.b.o.
be a member.
>> microphone, please.
>> I'm sorry.
he would like for p.b.o.
to be a voting member.
>> why?
>> to provide input on the financial impact of the proposals that are put forward.
>> would it be safe to say that the desire of p.b.o.
to be a voting member is to essentially be a reality check?
because, of course, in a vehicle users committee, there is a possibility that the vehicle users will ask for all that they want, which is essentially what we're asking them to do is put all their wants on the table.
but as we also know, the sky is not the limit here.
>> I think having p.b.o.
as a financial and list expert and -- analyst expert and as you say the sounding board for a voting member of this committee, I think that's very prudent.
>> I will see we've been a nonvoting member in the past and I've been here 13 years and we've gone through the process of looking at chapter 34 multiple times and it has never to this day come forward to the Commissioners court and it's definitely time for that to happen.
>> so if p.b.o.
is added to the nonvoting persons within this committee, they would join the ranks of i.t.a.
and others that are a pot of this but actually do not vote.
they would be present and I guess to have some say as far as what we're talking about, but really wouldn't have any vote to determine, I guess, whatever recommendations that -- and I assume this is what you are going to to do.
i mean you have a choice and to come back to the court with certain ways to look at our vehicle policies.
i'm kind of concerned about the other nonvoting members and so can you maybe go into that a little bit as far as the role of a nonvoting member versus a voting member?
>> what we have is the previous committee, I believe, had approximately 30 members.
we've paired down that to the list of eight or nine here.
and with --
>> you mean nine or ten.
eight voting and two nonvoting.
>> so we've paired it down considerably to a third of the original listing.
and we've tried to come up with I guess the voting members be the crux of the fleet and the uses.
the thought on having p.b.o.
as a voting member is, again, is a financial adviser.
and again, they are one vote, but I think it's prudent to have somebody with a good financial advice to the committee and being able to do that as a voting member is essential.
>> so who has the p.b.o.
representative been?
oh.
>> sorry.
>> and I participated in many discussions on chapter 34.
many, many.
>> what is ironic is fleet services was a nonvoting member for the entire time, which really doesn't --
>> you are not suggesting that fleet be nonvoting, are you?
>> no, sir, I am not.
i think it's time for a little bit of a change there.
>> move approval of the proposed eight voting members and two nonvoting, two nonvoting be purchasing representative and i.t.s.
>> second.
>> we're adding two and leaving the other members as proposed.
discussion of that?
>> it would be emergency services, not the e.m.s.
>> emergency services.
>> okay.
>> and we're listing those at one representing the fire marshal, medical examiner, emergency management.
>> so all emergency services basically.
>> yes, sir.
>> because even if there is agreement at the committee level, then those disagreements are brought to the court anyway.
>> correct.
>> and so I don't know that we would eliminate any decision making that overrules someone else and they can make their case to the court.
>> no, each of the steering committee offices have the opportunity to bring the issues before the court which has occurred many times.
>> many a times.
okay.
>> you'll have this back up.
discussion?
more discussion?
that passes by unanimous vote pass.
now to the five bullet charge.
do we think these bullets cover the gist of comments that we made in court during our last court discussion?
>> yes, sir, I believe they do.
i -- I feel that when we get into the meat and potatoes of this thing, we may possibly add to some of these things, but I think it's a very good shopping list to start off with and I think with these items will give us a great start and we've already had discussion with different representatives and I think everybody is ready to get started.
>> okay.
>> I have one question about the final bullet.
i would suggest that we not limit the final bullet to new vehicles, just strike the word "new" and just do vehicles.
>> we can do that.
that's a good comment because that's one of the charges we're trying to do currently is make sure we have the correct vehicles for the type of use out there.
we had some incidents very recently.
>> I would move approval of the bullets with the exception of striking the word "new" in the final bullet.
>> okay.
hold on.
i may second that.
nowhere here do we say that all of this is supposed to be contained in a written policy.
we are making a whole lot of determinations and recommendations.
but the end of this hopefully will be approval of a written document that contains court action on all of these.
>> correct.
>> right?
>> correct.
because if you want to refer to it as a revised chapter 34, in the first bullet item it does say review of the existing replacement policy, it doesn't call out the policy number, and make recommended changes.
>> changes to chapter -- and it's chapter 34.
so and make recommended changes to chapter 34?
>> correct.
>> mr.
hobby.
>> now that you've taken the other action where emergency services is going to be on the committee, something we've experienced this past year as well as being and working with all the various departments that have vehicles regarding radios and mdcs, blackberries, cell phones, it would be neat, I think, to have as part of the one of the charges that we look into the safety of the vehicles, and that is those people who drive vehicles and the proper use of driving training as well as the use of electronic equipment as well as wireless equipment and as they drive those vehicles, I think that's a very important element today that we sometimes miss, and that is our constables and our sheriffs and all of our emergency folks have to use a lot of different tools when they are out there working.
and as part of the vehicle policy, it may already be there, mike, and correct me if I am wrong in making these comments I would like to have safety as one of these elements.
we're experiencing that in my world where it's very important that we acknowledge that there needs to be extra care and extra safety discipline in the use of county vehicles.
>> how would you word that?
>> she just made the recommendation, determine or recommend the safest and most efficient assignment and use of our vehicles.
that last bullet.
>> would that work?
i would suggest a separate bullet of -- how about reviewing safety issues with regard to vehicles and multiple electronic devices.
i mean because we have had issues.
we have issues with people having accidents while they are checking their mobile data unit.
>> Commissioner, if I could interrupt, there is a crept safety policy that does have and addresses the use of electronic equipment, phones, radios.
it's not in the chapter 34, it's in the safety policy, and it does discuss the use of that while operating a vehicle and it basically boils it down to the -- no use of that type of equipment.
t.n.r.
has already put that in effect and it does allow the use of that equipment if you are a knowledge personnel.
i want to say it's chapter 30, but I'm at a loss at the number.
but there is a current safety policy.
>> we have proposed to dan also changes to that policy that will strengthen it, and dan is researching that with the county attorney's office.
>> perhaps we should bring that bullet back if we were to just look at these one, two, three, four, five bullets and put that in the parking lot for further review pending dan's look at that particular policy.
>> I think I would go with your recommendation also to say determine and recommend the most safe and efficient use and assignment, just include that wording also.
just put that in there to kind of double dip.
>> the rio amendment?
>> what chapter would you have reference to?
if it already is -- like we said chapter 34 on this one, but what chapter would this exist in currently as far as the chapter, as far as existing policy, the safety thing.
>> it's in the safety policy, sir.
i can't remember the number.
but I was just saying it wouldn't hurt to put that wording in there just to cover our bases.
>> okay.
okay.
>> what language did we land on?
>> I think we landed on determine and recommend the most safe -- the safest and most efficient assignment and use of our vehicles.
scratching "new." for the last bullet item.
>> do you have that, ms.
porter?
does it make sense to you?
anything else?
move approval of the amended charge or the charge as revised today.
>> I will with draw my motion.
>> that's fine.
>> we'll take it on the judge's motion.
that work?
>> that will be fine.
discuss in all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
anything else on this item today?
>> no, sir, thank you very much.
>> thank you very much for your hard work and your patience.
>> thank you.
>> I know others are looking forward to working with you on it.
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, December 8, 2009 2:30 PM
