Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 3
Three is to approve proclamation recognizing the retirement of harvey Davis as the Travis County corporations manager.
and Travis County assistant cash investment manager after almost 14 years of outstanding service to Travis County.
mr. Davis, good morning.
and others.
family members I think I see, excluding mr. Nellis.
>> let me just say to open the proclamation that it has been my pleasure for the last I believe 11 years to supervise harvey.
I can tell you, I still remember the first thing that he told me when I told him I didn't know anything about affordable housing, he said I'll teach you.
he's been teaching us in ppo ever ever since of it's not just about corporations and cash investment management.
it's been about life, family, and the needy.
and with that, I'll turn it over to harvey.
>> well, good morning.
>> good morning.
>> this I guess will be our last time together.
we have had many many sessions as a board.
I would like to first honor some people here.
first of all, my wife, gail, whose given me tender loving care through some major crisis in recent years.
I do want to brag.
she is a brilliant person, probably smarter than christian smith.
she has two bachelors degrees and one ph.d.
from the university of Texas, and she has been active in many issues, environmental issues and many other things that we hope to do more together in coming years.
and I'd also like to honor my mother, betty Davis, who is 95 years old, walks a mile a day, plays continue is twice a day.
>> no.
>> twice a week.
sorry, I got carried away.
she is also recently served on the Travis County grand jury.
if you're familiar with the grand jury, it is kind of a full-time job.
sometimes they have problems with people attending all the sessions.
I can report that she had a perfect attendance record.
you also might be able to read her once in a while in the Austin american stateman letters to the editor.
I guess she will write very poignantly on some big issues.
finally, interested to honor my sister, nancy la bastita who is, fortunately for the family, lived many years, her husband worked for the united nations and she lived many years in new york city and lator many years in london.
that I was a great boost for my family, for saving money in our travels to exciting places.
she was also the state high school tennis champion back many years ago.
unfortunately, this was before women's sports was so actively promoted in college.
so she did not have the chance to get the tennis scholarship that she well deserved back then.
I do want to say to the board, to the Commissioners and the board, that I have enjoyed without exception working with every board member, current and past.
it's been a pleasure, every, I have always been treated in a professional courteous manner.
I think we have done some good work together.
I will certainly miss you all.
I do think that ms. Shields, my replacement, who I have had the pleasure of working with for a few months, is going to do a very good job and will take the corporations to higher and better things.
I do have one request from ms. Shields, and that is to successfully end the nsp grant, save my reputation.
that is her call.
I do also want to thank mare mays for coming down.
she was the assistant corporation manager, retired a year ago.
it was a pleasure working with mary.
she taught me a lot, and it was an honor working with her.
finally, I want to honor, as you know, I lost my son, christopher Davis, nearly three years ago.
and of course I miss my son every day.
he was a wonderful purpose.
but what I wanted to say was how grateful I was that so many Travis County people came to his service and sent me e-mails and sent me cards.
it's just a wonderful reflection on how pleasant it was to work at Travis County, how many friends that I had and how many caring people.
it's been like every day I come to work and see people.
it's just, you know, you have so many friends and everything.
you know, it means so much when you suffer something like that to have that kind of real response from people.
>> mr. Davis, your colleagues did a good job of putting together a fairly long proclamation for you.
have they given that to you yet?
>> I read it on line.
he said maybe we used a little poetic license on it.
if he needs to correct some of it, he should feel like he can.
>> should we read it or leave it at that.
>> no, would you read it.
>> okay.
it reads, whereas throughout his entire career, harvey l Davis has demonstrated outstanding certified public accountant skills in managing the Travis County corporations and serving as the assistant cash investment manager, whereas harvey l Davis is retiring from Travis County after almost 14 years of faithful forthright and dedicated service, whereas harvey l Davis was an excellent representative for Travis County at the Texas association of local housing finance agencies annual conferences, whereas harvest Davis has never been intimidated to recommend what in his professional opinion was best for Travis County residents even if it took several years to validate his point of view, whereas harvey Davis, although in the beginning had only himself to implement affordable housing initiatives, helped bond issuances and all the other duties associated with monthly finance reports, check writing, et cetera, he generously found time to men tor high risk children in east Austin cools, whereas harvey Davis has never been known to refrain from giving his views on government programs and political viewpoints, especially when the conversations have been rather conservative, to say the least, whereas harvey Davis has never passed up an opportunity to remind the irs auditors performing the review of Travis County corporations that he was in fact an ex-irs agent, whereas harvey Davis never forgot his college tennis career at smu university, I didn't know that, by teaching some less experienced Travis County players a few lessons, whereas harvey Davis sets the example for all of us in environmental awareness, having purchased one of the first hybrid cars in Austin, which he still drives today, and installed a rain barrel at his house to you'll least rainwater for watering in previous years, whereas harvey Davis never gets overly excited about insignificant answer of differences and has been known to use a phrase, just plug it, whereas harvey Davis has abstained from the consumption of meats and other nonhealthy foods to distinguish himself as a true veagen among a carnivorous group of pbo and Travis County residents, whereas harvey Davis has never been too busy for his family and has a special gift for his friends, colleagues, and the community and his hard work and devotion are well-known, and whereas it is appropriate for us to honor harvey l Davis for dedicating his career to serving Travis County residents, now therefore be it resolved that we the member of the Travis County Commissioners court do here by extend bish wishes on his retirement and ask all members of the county to join us in showing his appreciation for his outstanding service.
I proof approval.
>> second.
>> I can say I knew mr. Davis before he started working at Travis County when he worked the a the credit union.
>> that is right.
>> you recall I was one of the best members of the credit union.
maybe with the smallest deposits.
and with the credit union clogeclosing I had no idea he would be joining me at the county.
I won't take credit for him being here.
one day he just showed up.
>> was here to be introduced.
>> we have had a loft fun working together and I think he accomplished a lot for us and helped us in the affordable housing area, and that has always been critical and is still critical today.
>> judge, with that, let's call it like it is.
harvey Davis is the affordable housing guru.
he has put together some packages here that have brought affordability to a lot of folks out there that are now occupying homes because of the different initiatives that harvey Davis has brought up.
you know, down payment assistance programs, a whole lot of things he put together.
with that, how dare anybody say Travis County is not in the affordable housing arena.
I recall the first time we looked at a project in manor, a long time ago we took a spin out there.
of course you continue to stretch that along with your other expertise, you really are going to be thoroughly missed.
because of those things, harvey, I'm going to stand up and giver you a rounds of applause.
that is what I'm going to do.
thank you.
>> you got to ride in my honda hybrid.
>> yes, I did.
>> a little bit of a shock.
>> that is right.
>> Commissioner Huber.
>> harvey, I have known you the shortest amount of time of any here, but I just have to say that not only your great work for the county, but you just seem to represent all the right things.
everything from tennis to veagenism.
>> my colleagues at pbo, they will be relieved to not be proseletized.
>> not only your contributions but you as an individual will be greatly missed.
I wish you the best in your retirement.
>> thank you.
>> thank you so much for all of your meetings with me to inform me about what was going on.
you did that without a lot of stuff.
just the facts.
and we got down to getting done what needed to be done.
I think that you certainly leave an example of the kinds of things that we need to do and the kind of involvement that we need to have in order to make sure that everybody in Travis County is served.
thank you so much.
>> thank you very much.
>> happy retirement.
>> I appreciate that.
>> any comments from family members?
>> oh, well.
>> (laughter.)
>> how can I not be bursting with pride.
he has been a wonderful son.
and I depend on him a great deal.
as someone said this morning, they had a question, I said I always have a question for harvey.
and he always answers it.
>> if I'm able.
>> right.
>> well, I just am so amazed at what an impact harvey can make in so many areas of his life.
and this has been a brute beautiful experience for me to watch the interactions here this morning.
I knew he had it in him, but you know, I haven't spent a lot of time down here.
so it's very heart warming.
I know he will miss you.
but I'll get to have him now.
>> I will just say, as kind as loving as he is with wanting to get affordable housing, he has always been the same kind and loving person in the family.
gentle, beautiful soul.
>> we will be having refreshments on August 3 on the fifth floor of the judges conference room from 9-11, and we invites everybody to come by and give him a good sendoff.
>> thank you for your patience.
we never know whether the public hearings will take pen minutes or two hours like the one today.
we appreciate your willingness to wait.
make sure we know how to reach you just in case we have some sort of emergency, mr. Davis.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> harvey.
>> we'll give it to mr. Knell sob--nelson for you.
we'll trives to get pbo to put it in an expensive frame for yo.
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.
