Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, March 29, 2011,
Item 5
Number 5 is consider and take appropriate action on the following.
a, receive proclamation from the governor's office recognizing March as purchasing month in Texas and Travis County, and b, honor judge perkins for his 18 years of service in the Travis County purchasing -- on the Travis County purchasing board.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
Travis County purchasing agent.
and part of the Travis County purchasing office.
the month of March is recognized across the nation as purchasing month, and this year we are honoring the month by honoring judge perkins for his 18 years on the Travis County purchasing board.
just to give a little bit of history, back in the '80s before all of y'all were elected and I was here, judge perkins was here.
back in the '80s there was a lot of things going on.
he did not have a centralized procurement office.
all the elected officials spent their own money and things were not going well.
at the end of the '80s, the Commissioners court was having a hard time hiring a purchasing agent.
in fact, they had a purchasing agent every year for five years.
they lasted less than a year.
they were having a hard time hiring a professional to come in under the circumstances.
so a decision was made to form a purchasing board, which is allowed in the law, and it makes the purchasing agent independent of the Commissioners court and report to independent board.
that board consists of three district judges and two county Commissioners.
way back when --
>> or a county judge.
>> or a county judge.
>> [laughter] way back when when billy powers hired hey, he was the first purchasing agent hired under the purchasing board and at that time it was judge perkins, judge joe hart, judge scott matter not on the agenda cowan, Commissioner bristol and Commissioner barbara carlson.
those was the group that got it together.
and I remember billy hiring me and about three months in he said I can't handle the politics.
and if I can, I'll help you get the job.
and actually the board offered the job to someone else who is now the purchasing agent in tarrant county and offered me the job.
so I felt very honored, but I can remember walking into that interview and judge perkins with his intimidating cowboy hat was there, and I was really green and very young and I remember judge matter not on the agenda cowan asks me why do you think you are qualified for this job.
I think judge perkins saw the fear in my face and undertook me as the underdog.
he was going to sort of help me out and he has been my biggest supporters all these years and it's with sadness that he leaves, but obviously he is coming back, he's around.
I wonder if a visiting judge can serve on the purchasing board.
we'll have who debate that, judge.
but judge perkins always looked at the law and at the time our judge aleshire loved to argue the law and I remember a lot of debates about the law and what the role and authority of the purchasing agent was, but there was a reason why the purchasing board was created all those years ago, and I am very proud that in the 18 years that we've had the board and that I've been purchasing agent that we have stayed out of trouble and all of you have stayed out of trouble and all of you should be very proud of that.
so I really want to honor judge perkins on all the fights he had on my behalf and all the things that he did for us.
and I also want to recognize my staff.
we have a plaque that went to present to judge perkins.
it says with heart-felt dierks to district judge bob perkins, last of the original purchasing board created in 1991 in recognition of your leadership and support.
judge perkins, when he left he was the chair for the last seven or eight years, so we appreciate that.
>> well, thank you.
I want to -- I enjoyed serving on the purchasing board.
really there were a lot of arguments back then, but once there were changes in administration and that sort of thing, then the arguments just kind of ceased.
then we would just have arguments in the board, not with other agencies.
but that's good.
but I enjoyed very much serving and I did -- I remember that originally in Travis County we -- we took the first step, which was the county Commissioners appointed the purchasing agent and it wasn't sort of a hybrid board, it was just the county Commissioners.
and after they had experimented with that, they decided we don't want to do this, we want to go ahead and set up the board made of district judges and county Commissioners.
and I've served with a lot of y'all on the purchasing board and it was my pleasure to serve with you all there.
it was also my pleasure to represent the district judges.
as you said, I was the only one that was on there from the very beginning until the end, and I served with a lot of great colleagues that were district judges and it was a pleasure to do that and it was a pleasure to advance the interests of Travis County taxpayers and the Commissioners court and the district judges so I thank you for allowing me to serve.
>> thank you so much.
>> we also have a plaque from the governor's office.
the governor wanted to come over and present it today to us, but he's tied up with the legislature.
and I also want to really give credit to the people standing behind me and marvin.
this is the purchasing office staff.
they day in and day out do a great job to build better business and government for us, and these are the folks that work hard all the time and really do save us money and are very good at what they do.
so thank you for recognizing us this morning and thank you for letting me honor judge perkins.
and anybody that wants to say anything.
>> I would like to know what the governor's proclamation says.
>> marvin, you have a good voice.
would you read it for us, please.
>> take my glasses off so I can see it.
it says: in local, county and state government positions, public purchasers can earn the public's trust by demonstrating initiative, depend act and wise cost effective methods for making purchases and allocating public resources.
fulfilling their many responsibilities in diverse settings, these hard working men and women increase operational efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of goods and work to promote uniform public purchasing standards for Texas and the nation.
the month of March has been designated for an awareness campaign -- excuse me -- to recognize all public purchasing professionals across our state for their efforts and contributions to excellence in government purchasing.
at this time I encourage all texans to recognize the outstanding contributions of these devoted professional as signaling once again this state's greatest asset lies within the people who call it home.
therefore i, governor rick perry, governor of Texas, proclaim March 2011 to be public purchasing month in Texas and urge appropriate recognition whereof and official recognition whereof, I affix my signature this 15th day of February.
>> I think on the back it says p.s., you are all fired.
>> you are right.
>> he's going to take out money for the rainy day fund for us.
we save that much money.
>> anybody else?
this may be your only opportunity to be before a million fans.
>> well, thanks to all of you for helping us.
>> thank you so much.
>> [applause]
>> thank you all.
>> thank you, judge.
>> I know judge is always never been short of words.
anything that he would like to say before he departs?
>> well, I just wanted to say that all the other times I've come in here, I've already taken off my hat but I notice you had other speakers who kept their hats on.
>> it's one fine hat.
>> thank you, judge.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you so much.
did we formally receive 5 a?
discussion?
in all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
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