Travis County Commissioners Court
February 9, 2010,
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is first and this item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes.
morris priest is number one.
he will be followed by steve wilson.
who will be followed by steven broburg and company.
good morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
morris priest speaking on my own behalf.
last night a attended the campo meeting and probably going to take close to 1,000 hours and have to do some publication and working on a documentary for quite some time.
but I do want to express to the Commissioners court and the viewers of this channel 17 today I guess at 12:30 maybe they will show the campo meeting at 6:00 p.m., but many citizens were outraged with the tolling of our roads.
we have many roads in the community that were going to be tolled.
there's a dozen roads on this item here that I guess was published in 2004.
and more than half of these roads have not been built or constructed and most were promised to be built or under construction by 2007.
most of them are dated 2006, 2007.
we did get two free roads with our efforts of fighting against these tolls.
one is this road 183 and this part of 71.
but the point is that we can be very effective when we work in our community and speak out against things that we're not for.
many times what happens we have campaign promise breakers run for office and they get in and they do just the opposite of what they've pledged and promised, which is pretty much what I've experienced with my Commissioner.
and I think that, you know, we'll see changes in the upcoming years.
we've seen it with tea parties and other things and hoping that we'll see some changes.
i don't expect to see much change in Travis County.
this is, after all, the blue county in the red state.
but I think we will see changes north and south of us and maybe possibly even locally here in some democratic challenges, but I pretty much came to say that I won't be coming up here for quite some time, probably sometime in September I'll come back, but I think there's a lot of work to do.
i think people are getting informed.
i think they've seen that we've been lied to by our elected officials.
we see scandals every day just like the statesman.
people have been working for years and months and really dedicated their life to ensure a better life for future generations, and I know that most of the people that we look at in our public office today have not really made their promises and commitments as they've promised.
they've not assisted us in areas and they haven't been openminded.
they've been pretty much -- you know, it's appalling I can see one of our Travis County attorneys sit here like he works for t.x.i.
and see a Commissioner that sounds like a t.x.i.
spokesperson and also see staff and other people starting to behave pretty much like our city staff.
for the most part.
most of our Travis County staff people are the best we have in the nation.
>> [buzzer sounding] but there is a behavior and attitude exhibited by the staff at the city level.
thank you.
>> thank you, mr.
priest.
steve wilson.
wilson or wiser?
>> wilson.
>> wilson.
okay.
>> good morning.
my name is steve wilson.
i'm a physician and I'm the chief of staff at brackenridge regional trauma center.
i was appointed by this court to serve as a physician representative for the Austin-Travis County e.m.s.
advisory board.
i'm also currently -- excuse me -- serving as the president of emergency services division number 9.
e.s.d.
number 9.
it's in that capacity I've come to address did Commissioners court today.
i've come to speak in support of the reappointment of virgil ed flathouse.
in December of December 2008, we were left shorthanded by the untimely death of our president and the resignation of another Commissioner.
since that time, virgil ed flathouse stepped up and took the lion's share of the extra work imposed by the loss of these Commissioners.
mr.
flathouse worked for the Texas education agency managing multi-million dollar budgets and his knowledge of budgeting has made him an invaluable asset to our group.
also as mr.
hovek with attest, mr.
flathouse has been instrumental in the progress by the Commissioners council and dedicated many Saturday mornings attending these meetings.
as you know, e.s.d.s are working boards and they have remained in the past apolitical.
when you find a person such as mr.
flathouse who has the work ethic, experience and the time to commit to the e.s.d., you should strive to keep him.
therefore I was extremely surprised to find that mr.
flathouse was not on the agenda to be reappointed.
if the two individuals who are on the agenda are reappointed, mr.
flathouse will be left out and that would be a shame.
if there is anything I can do to further his reappointment or convince people the value this gentleman has to our e.s.d., I will be happy to -- to help in any way I can.
this gentleman is a very good man and he's done a lot number of our e.s.d.s and I think he deserves better.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, dr.
wilson, for coming down and sharing your thoughts.
and I want to say that as the Commissioner that appoints for this position that I have nothing but tremendous gratitude and appreciation for the commitment, both time commitment and the expertise mr.
flathouse has brought to this board.
i personally believe there should be-change on boards and the person I nominated to replace him is one that brings -- bring a balance that they do not currently have.
i've put a lot of thought into this and I appreciate the support that's out there for mr.
flathusband and what he's brought to the community, but that's my position on it.
>> steve broburg and christian moyland.
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners.
i'm steven broburg director of records management communication resources here at Travis County.
and I'd like to note that this is african-american history month, and I have with me christy moyland who is our Travis County arrest vyist and she has created a display in memory of me man marion sweat.
i would like to let here describe her efforts.
>> we would like to take a moment to recognize the contributions of heman marion sweatt, name sake of the christian county courthouse.
in 1946, mr.
sweatt filed suit when his application to be a university of Texas law school was denied because of his race.
the case would eventually be heard by the supreme court of the united states which ruled separate professional schools were not inherently equal.
mr.
sweatt's fight for equality and justice which began in our court has became instrumental in the national battle for civil rights and helped bring about segregation in schools.
for the month of February we will have this on display outside the Commissioners courtroom as well as several historical documents loaned to us by the district court's office.
we thank them for that.
>> thanks.
>> thank you very much.
we look forward to reading it.
>> thank you.
>> appreciate your dedication and hard work.
keep on keeping on.
amalia rodriguez mendoza.
good morning.
>> good morning.
>> our district clerk, I should add.
>> thank you.
judge and Commissioners, I bring you good news.
in 2005 the court appointed a committee to look at the feasibility of offering electronic filing of records in the county, and the committee met for approximately six to eight months, and then in the district clerk's office in January of 2006 we started a pilot program.
there was some cost incurred by the county and we were charging a $2 fee for every transaction.
i'm happy to bring you the news that we have collected all of the initial costs that were approved by the court, so let me give you some numbers so that kind of give you an idea how much was collected.
the pilot started January 30th of 2006 for six months.
then in June of that year we went into what we call full production.
so we have collected a total of 203,329, which was the cost that had been allocated for the infrastructure that the county first put out there.
i'll have to say that we didn't do it alone, of course, we did it with a committee, but the other portion of this cost was also brought in by the county clerk's office.
they started last year, first in probate and then in civil, and the totals for the district clerk were -- we collected 188,631, and the county clerk collected 14 come $698.
so that -- as of last Thursday, we stopped collecting the $2 fee.
i'm sure the legal community will be very happy that -- that we've been able to recover all the costs that we initially -- that you initially approved at that point.
>> great.
>> I thought you would like to hear that.
>> that's excellent.
>> so our agreement was we would cut the fee once we recouped our costs?
>> we did.
>> let's keep our word.
>> I want to thank judge dietz for all his efforts.
the program wouldn't have been successful without him being part of this, not only chairing the committee but also mandating some of the cases in civil to be e-filed, and that was what really has been very successful, and everyone participating and being part of it and embracing e-filing here in Travis County.
>> can you tell us a little of lore on that?
my understanding was when judge dietz initially started pushing on the attorneys to do e-filing, there was a lot of push-back, but I understand now the attorneys are very happy with it.
>> absolutely.
i think that's kind of expected when you introduce anything new.
but as far as I know, he's just been, you know, whatever leaders has just been out there.
as a matter of fact, as the state level as well, we both serve on the e-filing subcommittee for the judicial council on information technology.
so --
>> well thank you to you and judge dietz for being so out front on this huge efficiency measure.
>> thank you.
it has been a efficiency program for us.
thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> greg luna is next.
how are you doing?
>> Commissioners, how are you all doing?
>> just fine, thank you.
>> I have a son that's in jail.
this is a long story.
you probably know bit.
he been in tyc, he been abused in tyc.
i filed a lot of stuff.
anyway, sheriff hamilton promised us that he would take care of the people in mhmr that has needs.
my son has a need.
he's locked up plus locked down because they were giving him medication that was not -- that was a side effect was messing with his legs and arms and he fell on top of a sheriff and that and that coming on the 20th going back to jail from court.
so they put him in lock down.
you know what happened when people get medicated, they got reactions like a drug addict.
he's withdrawing.
and so he's in lockdown locked up and I'm just not pleased with the way you all are treating him.
i see dogs being treated better than my son.
you know, and I don't think that's right.
his life is better than, you know, an animal.
and he has -- adhd, mental bipolar.
and he should be in del valle being treated the way other inmates are.
and he shouldn't be treated the same way as inmates are because he has special needs.
all I'm asking for you all Commissioners is come on, man, I mean I don't even like to come up here and tell you all because I call you and tell you, but I need you all to tell hamilton before I go out there with a protest sign and I'll start protesting and bring out all this stuff that's going, what's going on in the county and the city.
i'm not too happy wit, you know.
all I'm asking is for y'all to be fair with my son.
and right now I had to get a court appointed lawyer, john evans.
eight months he's been locked up, judge.
eight months my son has been locked up.
$200,000 fine.
come on, he's not a murderer.
this is ridiculous, you know.
and the thing about it, all the stuff that they say he did, I mean I got proof saying he didn't identity and nobody is looking at the d.a.
saying I'm bringing this up to the mother's baby, what they call mama's baby, I don't even want to go there.
i just ask for y'all to look into this, to judge sheriff hamilton and tell sheriff hamilton, hey, man, didn't you get elected to work with mhmr?
all I seen him worry about is ice.
that's good, you get federal money, but come on, I mean I got my son there.
needs to be treated fairly.
and all I ask, Commissioner Gomez, is for you to look into this, please.
and judge, judge Biscoe, because I know you all.
you all know me.
>> [buzzer sounding] I'm not going to pull your legs.
i just want to thank you.
and luckily leo martinez has stepped into the plate.
and I think for a man that's a good lawyer, you know, to help me with my son.
thank you, judge.
>> okay.
thank you.
ronnie reeferseed.
>> thank you, judge.
well, I'm glad to be back.
a little bit more -- and of course deborah medina, anybody watching the debate will know what I'm talking about.
her candidacy is exploding.
she has zero money and she's into double digits now so look into her.
deborah medina.
this is ronnie reeferseed saying kids, don't waste yourselves by wasting your childhood.
cherish it because that first swig of alcohol or hit off a joint, you cancel your own childhood.
because I know, believe me.
instead, let us all rejoice.
that despite the lock step mainstream media obama scam, citizens are being beginning to wake up to reality.
the reality is we're not bringing any of our own troops home to defend our own borders.
the obama war machine instead invents new enemies that we all know are supposed to hate.
like now the ancient civilization of persia and modern day persia.
in iran.
their anadem democraticly elected patriotic leader was eliminated by our own so-called intelligence community back in 1953, cursing that nation to rule by the shah, which begot the islamic revolution.
we can't seem to figure this out that it's not our business to mess with their governments over there.
look, we don't like it when others mess with our government's foreign policy, right?
like militant israel.
for that fanaticly flaming fire with iran, eager to sacrifice more u.s.
blood and treasure in servitude to their own biggotted socially -- totalitarian regime that hijacked the ancient civilization of judaism.
instituting military spend terse, by all signs military bangster complexes worldwide the demand for more human death worldwide is the problem.
it's a bad thing.
it's not a solution to anything.
look inside yourselves.
and listen to 90.1 and 100.1 mf to hear more truth from alex jones weekdays 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
sunday afternoons.
infowars.com, 24/7.
call 888-222-1414 for weekly updates from our own ob-gyn Ron paul.
check out american free press.net for more sources about what's really happening.
that's americanfreepress.net.
a great weekly newspaper dr.
ron paul writes for and heal my favorite columnists seem to write for free press.
thank you for letting me share these ideas with you.
>> [buzzer sounding] peace and love.
>> thank you.
gus pena.
>> > good morning, judge, Commissioners.
gus pena, native of precinct 4, east Austin, 2327 east fifth street.
judge and Commissioners, you know, when I come over here, I'm like the gentleman said, I don't like to come over here and talk bad about anybody.
i don't care if people talk bad about me, it just rolls downhill.
i'm the son of the lord.
when things don't get done to help other people, that's when I come over here.
i feel like the man said, I don't want to be here.
i have other things to do that are more productive like helping kids stay in school.
keep our dropout rate low.
and the things that I want to discuss here today are the poverty issue, the homelessness, hunger, unemployment.
let's take poverty.
they had a poverty study done.
y'all don't know what poverty is until you get out there in the communities.
poverty, senior citizens, the cardiac ward at brack on the 21st of September, trying to get some meds, I seen a senior citizen pay $1,100 for meds.
this is unacceptable.
a senior citizen who paved the way for us to have to pay this much for meds.
health care reform, we neat pharmaceutical reform.
five pills, $195.
who can afford that.
if you are a poor, unemployed veteran, chances are you are not going to get any help in this county.
the go-to guy I have is senator james webb of virginia, he's a marine corps vietnam veteran.
he's a democrat, he's a good guy.
let me get off my band wagon.
on hunger, a lot of folks cannot afford to buy healthy food for the kids.
food bank doesn't supply too much of those.
a lot of canned goods have high sodium and sugar.
if you are going to donate food, make sure it's low sodium and sugar for diabetics and people on special diets.
the new veterans court wrap-around service needs to be more effective once it comes into play.
please assure all wrap-around services are available for the veteran and their families do not do a fragmented approach.
it's not productive.
veterans still need our support.
i don't care what your position is on afghanistan and iraq.
support our veterans.
they are out there dying and being wounded for our freedom and safety.
last, and I'll leave it at this because I could say something about precinct 4, Commissioners race.
when I ran for elected office I was the Austin police force, nearly all the assistant d.a.s and county attorneys, 250 attorneys that had faith in me.
i didn't do a good job and I felt bad about letting them down.
but the issue is the community wants to know how we can improve the quality of life for people in Travis County.
judge, I consider you a good leader and I'm saying to people out there I support you and ask all my constituents, people that I know to support you and vote for you.
i just want the quality of life for our people to be improved.
>> [buzzer sounding] and unemployment drop down.
people have given up.
anyway, thank you all and have a good day.
>> thank you, mr.
pena.
those are the ones that have signed in as a few moments ago.
anybody else for citizens communication?
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, February 9, 2010 2:15 PM
