Travis County Commissioners Court
December 15, 2009,
Item 3
Item no.
3 is to approve proclamation honoring cecelia burke for her many years of service to Travis County.
ms.
burke is here along with many friends and coworkers.
if the friends and co-workers would come forth, also.
let me read the proclamation, okay?
it reads where's the domestic relations office serves a vital service to our Travis County community in the areas of child support, family services, legal services, and enforcement services, whereas through the services of the domestic relations office thousands of children and families are served every year through the efforts of dedicated and committed individuals at the domestic relations office -- how many of you all work in the domestic relations office?
thank you very much.
whereas on this day Travis County would like to acknowledge and recognize the worker of the domestic relations office, sees celia burke, who announced her retirement effective December 31st.
whereas cecilia burke on February 16th, 1999, assumed her position as director of the domestic relations office and things were never to be the same.
>> [laughter] whereas through her leadership and tremendous commitment to child support services, cecilia was able to guide the office to the model of excellence that it has become.
whereas she was instrumental in bringing services to the office that have helped to make child support collection and accountability a progressive and efficient system.
whereas cecilia was able to bring to the office services and programs through collaborations and partnerships within the community that have helped to serve children and families in their time of need.
whereas cecilia's successes and advocacy for children have included not only our Travis County community but state-wide residents as well.
whereas cecilia has served as chair of the Travis County child support task force, the Travis County family violence task force and the Travis County combined charities campaign and whereas cecilia served two terms as president of the Texas association of domestic relations office and in November of 2009 received the lifetime achievement award.
and there's a -- does a big cash bonus come with that, too?
>> [laughter] from that association.
for her work in service.
now, therefore, on this day the Travis County Commissioners court joined by the Travis County Commissioners court juvenile court and probation department would like to extend sincere gratitude to cecilia for her many years of service and strong advocacy for children and families in our Travis County community and I move approval.
>> second.
>> ms.
medina is first.
>> thank you, judge, good morning, good morning judge an commissions, I'm with the juvenile probation department.
thank you very much for the opportunity to come before you this morning as we take a few minutes to acknowledge and thank our colleague and friend for her many years of service and the many things that she was able to bring to our domestic relations office.
she was able to introduce very innovative and wonderful processes and systems into our child support office and our functions at domestic relations office.
throughout all of that time and many years of service one theme has been very constant that has been her adequacy for children and families in Travis County and in our community.
today many of us and the many others that we represent thank for you the opportunity to be able to say to cecilia thank you for all of your work, many years of service, on behalf of all of us thank you and congratulations.
>> [ applause ]
>> judge, I bring a close perspective from the community and the reason I say this is because how many times have I sent families to you, she didn't say okay go talk to this individual.
you talked to them personally.
when they come to you, they come in dire need in dire straits and emotional and traumatic situation, so I just wanted to -- I have known you for many years, I won't say how many.
we have known each other for many years.
there never has been a time when she said no to anybody.
she would listen to the people in need and the people in trouble and not only to guide them in the proper direction, guide them to the proper agency, but to help them also.
that's the kind of human being we need more of in these jobs.
i love you very much for everything that you have done for the community.
i'm not going to mention names because it's confidential from east Austin, southeast Austin, south Austin, on behalf of these families, more than 15, thank you very much for what you have done, god bless you for that, I wish we could clone you because we sure need you.
thank you.
>> anybody else.
any comments from anybody else before I to go the court?
constable?
>> I will be brief.
i'm bruce elfant, a precinct 5 constable.
let's just say that cecelia and the status quo aren't very good friends.
whether it's forwarding state legislation to give domestic relations offices the authority to do a better job in enforcing child support or whether it's our relationship with the state, with the attorney general's office and how we interact with them, cecelia for all of her career has been pushing to strengthen our ability -- strengthen our ability to do our job effectively.
in my mind that's what a public servant ought to be.
always striving to do better, be more effective.
i am so proud we got to work with each other, maybe cause some trouble with each other, we're going to miss you a lot.
so thank you.
>> [ applause ]
>> I would like to say something.
>> okay.
>> now the Commissioners court still gets a turn, no matter how long you talk.
>> judge, Commissioners, all my friends and colleagues, I want to thank all of you.
it's been such an honor to be able to work for Travis County and I'm not leaving town.
i'll still be around, I'll miss all of you.
thank you so much for this proclamation.
i really appreciate it.
thank you chief for your leadership it meant a lot, thank you.
>> [ applause ]
>> now, for those who may not know, there are other highlights, cecelia served as our tax assessor collector for how many years?
>> six and a half.
>> six and a half years.
worked for the Texas child support.
>> attorney general's office.
>> did you work for the comptroller, also?
>> correct.
when mr.
bullock was the comptroller.
>> she was an office mate for the campaign office mate to the county judge, first time I ran for office.
>> yes.
>> had she talked me out of running, I would probably be a multi-millionaire today
>> [laughter] thanks to her, I'm just the county judge.
>> [laughter] any other comments?
>> well, cecelia, I think we go some ways back and --
>> [laughter] -- and it's always been a very wonderful friendship and I think it's been challenging to me, certainly has given me the opportunity to grow and I think we have a lot of -- of common friends who are also very good at what they do.
and in setting goals and achieving them.
and so -- so I think your support -- I thank you for your support as well.
i always welcome that and always welcomed comments from you.
because I do like to hear from people, feedback, and I don't want it to be filtered and I think that you've certainly be one of my good friends.
thank you so much and it was good to see you coming to work for the children of Travis County and that was a good day for the children.
and their families.
thank you so much and I'm glad to hear that you are going to be in town.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, Commissioner.
>> [ applause ]
>> I just can't waited to see what you met morph size into next, I'm on pins and needles.
>> thank you, Commissioner, I appreciate it.
>> you know, we go back a long ways, cecelia, I don't want to go into how far we go back, but there always have been positive relationships to the community of Austin.
i remember a lot of good things that you have done in the past to help the residents here in Travis County.
and I can also recall -- before I became an elected official.
but after I became an alert elected official I can recall the things that you have innovatively done to enhance the effectiveness of your office.
i can remember the database things of how we could maybe help facilitate those that are in need as far as getting the services from domestic relations, working directly with the attorney general.
i remember a whole bunch of things as far as how we tried to make sure that we had the right mechanisms in place to make sure that the database availability was accessible to your department, which has made a lot of difference in a lot of things that we have done here with Travis County.
all of these things that you have done has been positive things, we're going to miss you.
you have been a great servant of Travis County.
the folks just need to know how great you really are, what you have really done for this community.
i just want to express that.
thank you
>> [ applause ]
>> I just want to say it's always a little sad to see someone who contributed so much, set such high standards for county and community to move on to retirement.
i just want to say thank you for setting those high standards and creating such huge shoes to fill, because it moves us better forward in the future and I wish you well in your retirement.
>> thank you.
>> [ applause ]
>> finally, one member of this court a few days ago, kristened the drive-through window as the cecelia burke drive-through window.
you will be sorely missed.
>> thank you.
>> thank you so much.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> [ applause ] item no.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 2:30 PM
