Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, March 8, 2011,
Item 28
>> 28, consider and take appropriate action making appointment to the downtown Austin transportation management association board of directors.
I did get the e-mail, he and his staff don't believe adele noel is appropriate person for this and they also recommended our director of human resources.
I had asked a few questions last week.
Commissioner Eckhardt.
>> yes, sir.
the idea of the tma, I also passed out earlier the city of Austin central Austin circulation study, executive overview to put it in context.
the idea of the tma, we now know and have for some time that we are at capacity and have been for 20 years in the central business district transportation grid for rubber tire transit.
as a major employer in the central business district, this is more in terms of our positioning as a major employer rather than as governmental entity per se.
an is a major employer, we are a large traffic generator for this area.
we have found or the city of Austin in their good work through their circulation study that is found that we have an above average number of individuals engaged in carpooling in the central business district because of our lack of capacity.
even without incentives, we have an above national average carpooling.
we're also seeing about somewhere in the realm of a one percent bicycle commuting option in the central business district and something less than a five percent transit utilization option in the central business district.
so the idea of the tma is to manage the capacity through an entity that works with all employers, including Travis County, to manage what capacity we have throughout leastation of all other options, as well as improvement of options for rubber tire.
so it looks at parking incentives, looks at transit options, looks at bicycle pathways, looks at pedestrian ways so people don't have to get in the car at lunch time, look at peak time in the central business district, cure yosly, I wasn't aware of this, about three on Friday is actually a peak time in the central business district.
so it looks at the actual user trends and manages the capacity so that we can move people in and out more efficiently and with a higher quality of life.
so, to that end, tma was created and is now asking for representation from Travis County on its board.
I have served in the interim capacity just to get the bylaws in place and all the incorporations under state law, but now it appears it's time for a Travis County representative that really operates in the realm of human resources and providing information to our employees about all the options that they have.
that is where we are today.
>> who else is on the board?
>> thomas can tell us who else is on the board.
it's a new roster.
so I don't have it quite memorized yet.
>> it is.
we have eleven members, capacity to expand to 21.
sorry, eleven spots right now.
the members thus far are joe can'ta loopo, who is with carson--
>> joe represents who?
>> well, I would in the say many of the members are representing any entity other than the Travis County representative would be the city of Austin, capital mettro and downtown Austin alliance.
the reason those four are representing an actual entity, those are the four groups that have funded one of the feasibility studies that led us to this point and are funding the budget of the, operating budget of the organization in its first year and will hopefully continue to help fund that in years beyond.
>> who is the city of Austin representative?
>> that person has not yet been made.
>> who is the capital metro representative?
>> that person has not been named.
>> the four that contributed resources have not yet appoint--
>> they are working through their own internal process do that.
downtown Austin alliance, we were able to name a downtown business representative, a lawyer from the jackson walker law firm.
>> when do we expect the other ent the is that make their appointments?
I would hope this week.
>> do we know who the city of Austin is considering?
>> at this point, I do not have an answer for you, no, sir.
>> council memorily --member rily was on the interim board and presumably the individual recruit forg the most appropriate staff to serve on this board.
>> he is.
and he was also kind of running the tract at capital metro since he is on that board.
>> in your view, a person with a human resources background would be the most valuable county representative?
>> I could say a human resources person would be a good fit with membership, transportation management associations often work directly with human resource departments with the large employers who make up the membership.
having somebody with human resource background would certainly be a good addition to the board.
>> our contribution was $37,000.
>> yes, sir, 37,500.
>> what did the other partners contribute?
>> 37,500.
>> that came from four including us.
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
>> from each of the other partners.
>> sure.
>> our contribution came from our I rap fund?
>> tc q.
I remember that, one of those grant programs.
>> Commissioner, it came from the I will.
p.
>> sorry, I get them all confused.
in any case, it came from funds ear marked for air quality.
since our largest contribution locally to our nonattainment emissions, it was an appropriate source.
>> that is correct.
>> our goal is to complement the other members of the board?
how do we do that without knowing who they are?
>> to be rather selfish, I'm going to go ahead and lay cards on the table.
I think that we would as employer, as Travis County, get the most out of the tma as far as services.
if we tied it to our h r.
I wasn't thinking as far as its highest to other --complement to other board members.
I was thinking who from internal Travis County would provide us the biggest bang from our membership in the tma, to be perfectly flank.
>> what is the term?
>> takes one-year term.
>> okay, there is a motion?
>> I move that we appoint diane blanken ship as our representative.
>> she has agreed to serve.
>> she has agreed to sives.
I would include in that motion that adele noel be a proxy to ms. Blanken ship if that meets with dnr approval.
>> Commissioner its our expectation that adele would basically be providing staffing services and would be in that capacity.
>> it's dealing with air quality though.
>> adele is more familiar with air quality than ms. Blanken ship in hr.
>> it's a dual role actually in that the overall effect is that it would improve air quality because it would reduce tailpipe emissions, but also a dual role of managing our capacity as an employer and there by a generator of major traffic.
>> I'm just trying to see how, understand the hr part.
my main concern is what I think the intended purpose is of what we are doing here, the issue air quality.
of course you have cap metro and all these other folks who haven't even come on board yet.
of course, it just appears to me that the role may be reversed, in my opinion.
you know, it's your call.
I just think that adele noel is the lead person.
as far as air quality, all these other kind of things out of that shop, they deal with that.
john white or tom well burn, some folks in that area that actually deal with this air quality situation.
>> I had talked with those women and also received e-mails regarding their involvement.
>> yeah.
>> frankly, either way is fine with them.
and they will be working together irrespective of who is the appointed representative.
>> yeah, as far as having hands on knowledge about air quality, I think adele noel would definitely be the lead person along with these other folks.
>> er--Commissioner, if I may.
while a lot of the technical aspects have to do with air quality, the actual implementation will have a very strong hr component.
there's actually a number of different possibilities you could use.
you could have a facilities kind of person, a hr kind of person, but it's always going to have a hr kind of component to the implementation because it solves certain kinds of benefits that employees would be receiving.
>> second the motion?.
that is with blanken ship appointed, noel backing her up basically.
>> and let me ask this.
I remember when this came up before, I don't have any problem with this, Commissioner, just that it looks like it is reversed to me.
that is the way it appears.
the concern, how will this address the concerns of persons using cap metro and not getting the services of cap metro, coming into the downtown area who actually live in the unincorporated area and trying the get downtown to work?
let me give an example of that.
I think I brought this up last time, Austin colony an example, those folks looking for cap metro services morning and evening, going to work and going out in the afternoons, going home from work.
those kind of things that we don't have a cap metro representative near place yet, but those are some of the kind of things that we kind of want in place.
just those particular issues.
I think those outlying areas, people are going to need more bus service and transit.
I know the example is right on 3177, for example, where this e have trouble doing the turn around as far as bus service is concerned.
I can't think of the neem of the subdivision over there off of fm 3177, another good example.
my concern is getting folks in here to downtown area, people that work for the county, live out in the unserved areas as far as transportation is concerned.
so I just hope that all of these kind of things are taken into play when we move forward with this particular, if the court decides to move forward with this particular issue because it's definitely a concern that I want to make sure is addressed for those folks that have been screaming fob service out there in those areas.
I hope you all hear what ima saying.
>> Commissioner, I think we hear that.
what we will do through adele and ms. Blanken ship, we will make sure those kinds of issues are discussed when they are doing their planning.
>> okey doke.
>> any more discussion on the motion?
all in favor.
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, March, 2011 2:19 PM
