Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, June 29, 2010,
Item 26
>> are we ready for 26?
>> 26 is to consider and take appropriate action on proposal to texas association of counties or other authorization for records management to prepare additional educational presentations on duties of elected officials.
>> morning, judge and commissioners. I'm steven brobert director of records management and communication resources. I think this agenda item is a carryover from last week. There was some discussion about what videos pac currently has available and what videos travis county currently has available to be purpd to explain to residents the roles of elected and appointed officials in our community. Based on that i pulled up the information on how often we've run the current video on county government there when you need it, and we have that currently in rotation averaging 1.5 times per week. Now, tac has some other videos that if you may recall we were instrumental in helping produce those videos, and they are titled how to obtain a marriage license, how to obtain a birth or death certificate, how to obtain or renew a passport angd how to get your name changed. We do intend to put those into rotation. In addition to that we also have repurposed a number of videos that we have produced ourselves from part of our tax facts series with the tax sphvment those are how to pay property taxes, delinquent property taxes, three ways to save on property taxes and disabled plate and placards. There has been some talk over the years about productioning and airing videos that are a little more specific to particular offices in the county. Constables, jp's, for instance, commissioners themselves. And tac does have some of those videos available now on their website. And while we don't have a current agreement to air those, we certainly could do that. We would be willing and i know that we have great relationship with tak and i know that they would love for us to run those as well.
>> > judge, have you finished?
>> yes.
>> thank you. Judge, the point that we had last week on this item is actually item 24-c, rather, and of course we came up with some general language to cover what the intent of that was and to make sure that the elected official that we've identified would be on one d.v.d. And of course, this particular language would cover that and of course there was a list that have been supplied of those elected positions -- elected officials that would be embraced within this particular d.v.d. And of course, as far as an educational tool and on top of that we've had an agreement from the district judge kennedy who would like to be a part of this d.v.d. As soon as possible, as soon as that arrangement can be made between records management and the judge to actually present the selection process, the procedure for the grand jury. So she said that she would love to do that and that we got an e-mail to that effect that she would be willing to volunteer that. And another aspect of this, and it was commissioner eckhardt had brought up, was the fact that a link be placed after this particular d.v.d. Is generated, that a link be placed on the travis county website where a person would see the link and download that on travis county website any time they would like to review the role as an educational tool, the role of travis county government and that particular d.v.d. Would download for them to actually review that portion of t so it's those particular as speks of it. And bruce elfant, who talked earlier, he had basically looked at some of those things and we had submitted the backup as far as the list of elected officials that would be on this particular d.v.d., and that would be the direction i would like records management to head into to make sure that they're made available.
>> so that will be my motion. That would be my actual motion is to direct it as an educational tool of the travis county elected officials role in county government sloing with judge kennedy wanting to participate in this as far as doing the overview, the election process of the grand jury along with the link, downloading this from the travis county website for the residents of travis county who would love to probably watch this, but it would all be combined in one particular instance. So this is what this is -- that's what the motion would entail.
>> mawj, may i ask a couple of questions?
>> there's a motion. Is there a second?
>> i'll second it.
>> okay.
>> steve, as the records management functioning as the program manager of channel 17, my interest in this is to see channel 17 perhaps lay out the management and distribution of the air time with regard to the educational component as it relates to county governance. Because i know that we have a fairly robust rotation currently, and to -- i think it might be advantageous for us as a court to better understand what channel 17's current management and distribution goals and viewership for that educational component is as well as how we can weave it into our website management at its because this is happening in two separate departments, but i think we could probably get some good synergy going on this. Already tac is such a wonderful partner of ours, providing some really good material for us, and so if this motion passes, my request as part of that motion is to -- is to see what the channel 17 plan has been and how we can weave it in with the ats plans for the website. It's exciting stuff. Y'all have already done exaiting stuff inside channel 17 on this.
>> i guess the problem is that when mr. Linder came down, his issue is a whole lot more specific than general public education about county government. And if we're to try to address that, then we have to be a lot more specific than this. And i guess on this my question is how far do we go? And do we think the average resident is interested in learning what -- 40, 50 county departments? There are a lot of duplication there. Out of five jp's, if you cover jp's, it would just be one, but do we think the public is interested in learning all of that?
>> well, judge, this particular project has long been of interest to me.
>> do we think the public is interested in seeing it?
>> well --
>> which is a different question. And i don't know the answer.
>> it's difficult to gauge, but i think we do have a little bit of -- a little bit of a track record with texas association of counties with their similar -- with their project that is similar to this through the vg young institute at texas a&m they have distributed these county videos to school districts around the state. This project might be more specific to travis counties, but this is a video that if produced or a series of videos that should be seen by every school kid in travis county. So it's --
>> but do school kids watch channel 17?
>> no, but they would in the classroom. That's the idea is that --
>> so we're in the business of making videos for school districts?
>> no, but we are --
>> do you see my point? Where do we draw the line and how do we clearly define what it is we're trying to accomplish?
>> right.
>> and i think we would be better off spending time with mr. Nelson's issue and at least landing on it. I don't know what we can do. I do know that some effort has to be made if we plan to address it.
>> and judge, i'm not -- believe me, this is not to belittle anything that nelson linder has brought before us. In fact, we're continuing on the grand jury's type of things and i made that perfectly clear. But he also understands and there are others in community that have suggested that they had no knowledge of the grand jury's role or what the grand jury do in travis county. And may want to be involved if they understood what the role is of the grand jury and what -- how they may can participate in becoming a part of the grand jury. How the selection process works. And it just opened the door for persons that need -- that may want that information made available to them as we go through this process. And by no means, by no means -- as i can still maybe see them sitting out there now. Mr. Linder said that this -- what we're doing as far as bringing this up, the awareness, education, all these things he suggested he didn't frown upon. So this is just a continuing of what that actually conversation was about. In no way belittling his effort and still looking on the way that i think we can do things to -- to, to enhance what we may need to look at as far as the grand jury is concerned. I'm still open for that and going to look at it as far as the role of the grand jury and how and what travis county can do to maybe make improvements in that particular situation. This is in no way belittling or taking away from anything that mr. Linder brought to us because i'm still going to pursue what i'm going to pursue as far as the grand jury is concerned.
>> let me make sure i understand. So the motion --
>> this is an educational aspect. That's all i'm bringing up.
>> so the motion is what?
>> is to direct staff to have the elected officials role -- actually define and discuss the different individual elected officials' role and included in that the volunteer situation for brenda kennedy, judge kennedy who said that they would like to be a part of this particular d.v.d. To discuss the grand jury and selection process of the grand jury and the process from -- as far as how we deal with the grand jury, as far as the court is concerned. And she would like to go through that process. This is the way we select them. This is the process that we go through. She want to discuss that as an educational tool for the public. And we've got an e-mail in regard to that. That's a part of the backup which says that she would like to be a part of this d.v.d. So this d.v.d. Again is an educational aspect and this is the way it will be presented to the public.
>> so what offices -- grand jury we know. Then there's a list of county officials in part of the backup. So the grand jury and these offices?
>> yes.
>> judge, if i may also point out that this will be a time consuming endeavor. This is not something that we can produce overnight. It's a fairly complicated endeavor too because we have to -- we found this out working with tac that the duties and responsibilities of each office have to be very carefully described on video to make sure that you're accurate. So we may need a little help on that portion of it. Two other items of note is that tctv tries to produce videos that are what we call evergreen, and that is that these are videos that can stay in rotation for a long time. We get the biggest bang for our buck that way in that we're not producing news that we're using valuable staff time to produce something good for one week or one month or even one year. And lastly, if we use elected officials, we will have to take some additional care. There are times that elected officials are needed more in washington, say, and there will be a new elected official in that office that we described and those officials may want their own face in the video rather than an official that's no longer there.
>> and i have no problem with that. That's no problem. The point, the key point is the role that's being played and being portrayed. That's the point. And of course, bruce elfant being a part of -- a high-ranking person, officer within the texas association of counties, have been willing to work diligently to smooth out the rough spots in this particular endeavor. So he's an ally to us on this.
>> he is. And we talked to bruce this morning about this.
>> and he's in the audience.
>> yeah. He can speak for himself. So --
>> has anybody looked at the presentation and in fact determined that the duties and responsibilities covered by the speakers apply to travis county?
>> no, judge, we have not.
>> there's a difference. For a lot of the positions there's a big difference between what the small county -- take county judge, for example. There is a big difference between what the county judge of caldwell county does and the county judge of one of the urban counties like travis. So in terms of general information, it's all right, but when you start talking specifically, there really is a whole lot of difference. And when i looked at the tape, i didn't know the speakers, so i don't know whether they're in office now or not. But -- the smaller counties, right?
>> some of them were, yes.
>> and that's what the texas association of counties represents basically. Cuc srl the urban counties.
>> yes.
>> if we do this i think somebody ought to look at this and make sure that the statements apply to travis county if we're trying to educate travis county residents.
>> i agree, judge.
>> i have no problem with that, judge.
>> judge, would the -- commissioner davis, would you find it friendly to direct staff to create a proposal for an educational d.v.d. On the roles of the various electives within travis county and bring it back for our review with regard to how the d.v.d. Would be done, what the expense of it would be and what the timeline for its delivery would be so that we would have some more meat on the -- on the bones of the proposal so that we would have a clearer picture? Because i know that -- as i said, i know in terms of the programming goals of channel 17, some of this has already been done, but it is -- it is a much more ambitious undertaking to have a comprehensive d.v.d. Of how travis county functions as well as figuring out how that information might be interwoven into our web presence.
>> it is a tape -- a d.v.d. For travis county residents. And i think constable bruce elfant has a good knowledge of what the role is of travis county elected officials, especially with the list that we have, the role does vary according to counties. We understand that, but as much as we can glean that is -- may fall in the realm of then a lot of our enhancement, more information for travis county elected officials, because we do have a little different settings as far as specifics, but there statutorily, but under the statute we're basically required to do certain things in the statute, period. I mean, that's the first part of it. All these other things i think we add on, but --
>> some of the statute is a century old.
>> yeah.
>> some of it really doesn't apply to modern day life.
>> i understand.
>> not to be critical of t.
>> i understand, but i was wanting to make sure that if we end up doing that, that to move forward -- and i understand that what we're trying to do here, but i want to move forward with this. I don't mind accepting that friendly, commissioner, but i want to move forward with this, but along with the assistance of persons that those with the particular duties and responsibilities are not viewed in the video, it appears to me that those elected officials that may want to offer the actual duties after viewing it, actually the additional maybe duties specifically to travis county, they will have an opportunity to do that. But i would like to have bruce -- constable elfant i guess to look at this. And he has a list also of these particular elected officials and see if we can come back -- not come back, but go forward with these particular things as he have looked at it. Because, like i say, he has a pretty good rendering, i think, or understanding of the role of elected officials in the urban and also rural setting. So do you want --
>> sure. I'm constable bruce elfant, precinct five, and also vice-president of the texas association of counties. If the court proceeds with this project, which i think is a very exciting project. I want us to take every opportunity to educate the community about what we do and why we do it and our decision-making process. If y'all choose to proceed with this, i would be happy to help in any way i can. I think that the association of county videos are a good baseline and we can go through, you know, line by line and make sure that the text -- the transcript is going to apply specifically to travis county. I would certainly be happy to help with that.
>> and on top of that, we all have experienced college students from the university of texas, from huston-tillotson and others wanting to do interviews with each one of us. What is your role? You probably get those particular questions asked as you go through the community, what is the commissioners court role? And we've answered them and we've set up meetings with persons in this community that are in school and would like to know more about what the county government does. And i think again --
>> the last time i did that it took two hours.
>> it took me two hours to answer that students' questions the last time i did it, and we cut it short.
>> but anyway, we'll work. This it's taking time. Like i said, even taking two hours, just think of --
>> i think we ought to -- i think we ought to define it precisely so we'll know exactly what it is we seek and so we'll give ourselves the best opportunity to achieve that. The other thing is that if i were doing it i would have elected officials in travis county doing it. And it amazes me when i'm at capcog and we're chatting about issues, to find out what the other county judges do day in and day out. It is not like what i do here in travis county. And it kind of goes back to the size. And there's a whole lot of authority the county judges are given, but in urban counties really what you do is more administrative than anything else. Whereas in some of the other counties, even without being lawyers, the judges actually have judicial dockets. And when you look at the statute, that's authorized, but that statute is very, very old. So modern day what happens here in travis county, if we think our constituents and residents need to be educated, then i think they ought to be educate bid us about what we in fact do. Not what the books say. That would be a lot more meaningful, i think, than when you share that with kids too, maybe they're interested in public service. I think it would be a lot more meaningful.
>> judge, i'm not knocking what you're saying, but i think if those elected officials -- judge kennedy, she said look, i mean, we've gotten in touch with her office and sent an e-mail. They would love to volunteer how the grand jury process works, how folks are selected. She will want to be a part of this d.v.d. And i think if any other elected official want to do that. If they do not, then i think they can give specific information to media to make sure that's enhanced in whoever is speaking in that particular effort. This is what we do. And if it's not included in what -- as far as what they're saying currently, then i would like to include this. So just a lot of inclusion on what we're building on. And i think bruce said it, he said this is just a baseline of moving in the direction we're going. And i have no problems with that. And whoever from the commissioners court want to say this is the role of the commissioners of travis county, so be it. It doesn't have to be ron davis of precinct 1, it could be whoever want to do it. This is the role. And so that's basically the perspective i'm coming from in this particular motion.
>> mr. Priest?
>> thank you, judge. Morris priest speaking on my own be half. I wanted to enlighten you on this issue and give you a perspective. I know that channel 6 in austin wanted to do a similar thing and they got a lot of flack over it. I know they did -- they've done a thing now called city view and there are still people complaining about it. And they feel it's nothing more than a propaganda arm for elected officials to use. But as far as the issues of presentations on elected officials, you know, we have libraries and everything that these gentlemen have spoken about as well as myself. And you know all that we can -- this information is already available. And anything else is just going to be an opinion. So you know, we have a legislative, executive branch of government and the official branch of government and as far as the grand jury, it's actually the fourth branch of government that many people don't really know much about and how to use, but it's actually really like a fourth branch of government that many people in this community feel that we don't have the opportunity that we should have to address the grand jury. So i think what i'm saying is it's basically an opinion and i don't think that's all that you will get out of it and we've already heard how time consuming it is. That's why i'm opposed to it. But i do believe that sometimes people in our community, whether it's nelson with this grand jury situation, they're not going to be satisfied with any answer, and i think that's the situation we're dealing with, with this agenda item that it's going to be -- this is not going to be a productive thing in my opinion. Thank you.
>> could i answer that, judge?
>> yes, sir.
>> two issues letting to that. After 20 years of having fairly the same staff at tctv, we're fairly adapt at dodging propaganda videos. And it's always keen in our windshield whenever we're doing any kind of video to keep the politics out of it. I think more importantly, you can't go to any website these days without seeing video. And if y'all may remember our last two budget hearings with commissioners court, we've really tried to make that point. We see it -- we see it perhaps more acutely than many other people, but it's a youtube world. It is how people communicate now and it is how people receive information.
>> it's how they research.
>> exactly.
>> final word on this.
>> okay. We had the situation with txi and we had a lot of groundwater issues, storm water runoff issues brought up. And normally there's a process of where these hearings are rebroadcast. And i'm not saying it was anyone on this court or any people with your staff, but it did seem kind of ironic that instead of seeing these repeat broadcasts of the public being outraged about this fxi situation, we started having this groundwater conservation, these shows shown. So the public really didn't get to see the meetings as many times or the times that they're normally used to seeing these programs, and that is another way that i feel that -- i'm not saying it was intentionally done, but it's just another way that -- whether or not these folks do anything. And i believe what he's state sheriff's department correct, that -- what he stated is correct, that -- even though i think the city does, i think they can still be used or could happen at a time where it would be basically the same thing, being used for the same thing because we did have hearings shown over and over and over again all the time, and then all of a sudden during the txi thing we had shows all day long, just repeating shows of these water districts and things. So people were not privy to a lot of things that took place during the court -- during the txi hearings that we had here because of those repeat broadcasts.
>> unintentional bias, mr. Broberg.
>> yes, sir. We've never pulled any tricks like that, ever.
>> [ laughter ]
>> final, final word, commissioner davis?
>> no. There was a motion and second on the floor. I would like to go ahead and vote on the conditions and what we discussed.
>> all in favor of the motion? Show commissioners eckhardt, huber --
>> clarification. What's the friendly amendment that commissioner eckhardt --
>> for records management to come back with a proposal regarding a d.v.d. To educate the folks on what county government does. With an --
>> is that the motion?
>> part of the motion. The motion --
>> that's the motion i support. Restate the motion. Restate the motion.
>> my motion was for records management, working along with bruce elfant, who has a list of these elected officials, so get a d.v.d., along with judge kennedy's input on this d.v.d., discussing selection process of a grand jury -- and actually, the educational tool for the grand jury selection by judge kennedy included in that, and of course, pursue that. And if there's any elected official that wanted to participate in this, they would be allowed to. Just as an example, if one of the commissioners would like to be a part of that presentation for speaks fifty reasons, then they could be a part of that as long as it's a commissioner. The judge in his particular situation, if he would like to do that. Or if the other elected officials that would like to have input into this process. And again, by getting with bruce elfant, media and saying these are the things i would like to see added to it, then that was basically the motion to make sure that these particular elected officials are within this d.v.d. Along with judge kennedy.
>> well, i -- may i speak to that for a moment? I would withdraw my second under those circumstances because i feel that it is important for records management to put together a proposal that will be immune from the reality or any appearance of prop began propagg or electioneering.
>> you're talking about the --
>> i think mr. Priest raises a very good point and that if this motion requires records management to include any and all requests for participation as an elected, i think that that -- i would withdraw my second under that circumstance. Because i think it's important for records management to come up with a proposal that is solid, that we can consider, and runs the traps initially for any even appearance of prop begannizing.
>> i'm not supporting propagandizing.
>> i know you're not. That's not the intent.
>> if records management, as you stated, they have a great track record on what they're doing to ensure that propaganda and all these other -- i think steve made that point. He said that we don't do that. We give the public a good product and it's not tainted as far as what we produce. And based on what he's saying, based on what he's saying, that eliminates the propagandaing and all this other stuff that he's insisted on.
>> i know it's not your intent, but if your motion is to actually definitely include judge kennedy's proposal as well as any other elected's proposal --
>> she says she would like to e-mail -- owe she wanted to volunteer and do the selection as a judge. You remember when -- during the testimony here last week, item 24-c, part of the situation was that the district judges and things like that do the selection process, part of the selection process for the grand jury. The da doesn't have anything to do with it. None of these other folks, but a district judge. And she was willing to come forward to illustrate what that particular process is in the grand jury. So this is why she's a part of this -- she want to be a part of this d.v.d.
>> and i am --
>> i don't think that's propagandaing.
>> i totally recognize that's not the intent, although i'm -- do you consider it friendly for the motion to be -- have staff and records management come back with a solid proposal with budget and timelines for our consideration?
>> i don't mind that at all. But i just want to make sure that those folks that are willing to --
>> is that --
>> that's part of the friendly.
>> that's in the motion.
>> yes. And i do not -- if there's a district judge that's willing to tell the public how we deal with that grand jury selection process, so folks in this community who do not understand, which a lot of folks do not understand, do not understand what is all entailed with dealing with the grand jury from the selection to going through the process, they have no knowledge of these things, what we're trying to do is let a district judge who is involved in that process explain to the public that this is what we do and this is how we do it dealing with the grand jury. If they want to be a part of this d.v.d. --
>> we have a motion and a friendly. The friendly is a proposal, a specific proposal in writing --
>> a specific proposal --
>> that the court can respond to with a budget and time.
>> right.
>> commissioner huber. , let's let you have a word.
>> well, with the friendly motion i'm back into this. I do agree completely in the concept of this, but in addition i'd like -- i just am very concerned about the amount of material that would need to be covered under this effectively. And second, what the judges mentioned about the difference between the small counties and the more urban counties. And i think that because of the time that it would be required to cover it adequately, and that's kind of an open uncertainty as it relates to cost that having a proposal that they come back with where they address that is appropriate.
>> that will be brought back.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Move that we recess until 1:30. All in favor? That carries -- all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote too.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 2:35 PM
