Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, May 14, 2010,
Item 12D
Number 12 is to consider and take appropriate action on the following items regarding the proposed acquisition of certain real property by austin habitat for humanity. Pursuant to a contract as a part of the travis county 2006-2007 and 2008 community development block grant plan. We note there that it may be taken into executive session under consultation with attorney. We approved 12 a, b, c, previously. And d is other related items. And so that's where our discussion will occur.
>> good morning, christie moffat, travis county health and human services. We received a letter of interest executed by austin habitat for humanity for the property and this morning i -- we originally were -- travis county was going to assume the responsibilities for the environmental assessment. That is still true. We thought that we were going to be able to do most of that work in house. And i was made aware this morning that -- that we potentially are going to have to pull in a consultant. So for us to be able to move quickly, what i would request is that the judge be given authority to sign a certificate of exemption from environmental review for any costs that are allowable to be exempted related to predevelopment and also the environmental. We anticipate that cost for those things to be somewhere in the neighborhood of about $25,000. And so we want to be able to move forward quickly and for us to wait until the next -- for the next court -- commissioners court it might delay us a little bit. So we would like the court to consider approval of giving the judge authority to sign that on your behalf so that we can move forward quickly before the next session.
>> i would like to move approval of that.
>> second.
>> let me make sure that i understand what we're asking to be exempted.
>> yes. Okay.
>> so as a part of -- as a part of any kind of cost where you're not actually affecting anything in the physical environment, you can exempt things. Like environmental review. So we're probably going to need to engage in a consultant, probably going to have to be an architectural or archaeological study. So we are going to engage a consultant, we hope forks somewhere -- we for somewhere -- we don't know what the cost is, we anticipate it to be under $25,000 so we can go ahead and get the environmental review done and approved and hopefully certified by the court in the next few weeks.
>> so we're asking that it be exempted from competition?
>> no, we're asking for it to be exempted from -- from nepa, the environmental requirements. It's something that you don't have to go through the environmental process to get access to the funds. Snoop sherri flemming, executive manager for health and human services. If i may give an example. We did a similar exemption for our social work project. We are not actually turning any dirt for that project. However, we have to certify that -- that there will be no environmental impact to those activities. So -- so, you know, obviously we are, you know, having a -- having a staff person who is working directly with the public, they are not building anything, they're not, you know, changing the landscape. So this is a similar activity where we are -- we are engaged in an -- in an administrative function, but we must have an exemption of environmental impact on file. It's -- it sounds a little bit strange, i know. But --
>> so you are not asking for an exemption from the -- from competitive bid because this is professional services anyway, so it would be exempt in any case and you are not going for special authority outside of bringing the contract back to the commissioners court. This is just exemption from the nepa process because it doesn't have any effect.
>> yes.
>> okay.
>> i'm new to this. Where does the 25,000 play in this from a consultant? What does the money come from?
>> we have -- it's a part of the project. There's $945,000 funded for the project. We're anticipating that the cost of the land will be around 900,000. And so -- so we can use the $45,000 for anything that's directly related to that project. And so this would directly be related to that particular project.
>> so it would come from cdbg.
>> yes, it would be.
>> funding.
>> yes. It is an allowable expense.
>> it is.
>> and i'll provide the documentation probably next week early.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you, sherri.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, May 14, 2010 12:35 PM
