Travis County Commissioners Court

July 24, 2012 - Item A1
Agenda

A 1, consider and take appropriate action to address immediate leadership needs in Information Technology Services, ITS Department.
A, appoint managers to serve as department head on acting interim basis,
and B, transfer ITS under the supervision of the county executive planning and budget.

>> Good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners, sherri fleming, health and human services, however, I'm here today as the facilitator for the organizational planning team, and the planning team would like to recommend to the Commissioners court that upon the retirement of joe harlow, that the court appoint or direct tanya esvedo, rob brown and senior manager of i.t.s.
To oversee that department under the general direction of county executive leslie brouder.

>> And these are the --

>> These are the senior --

>> Top managers?

>> These are senior management team of the information technology department.

>> I kind of put this on at the last minute because it seems to me since joe is leaving tomorrow, it would help to have people in the department that employees can go to as needs arise.
And putting it under one of the county executives sort of made sense too.
There are a couple other things we have to work through so we would have this on the agenda again next Tuesday to give us a opportunity to do that.
And I think we're looking at two to eight weeks before we can get the semblance of a permanent solution in place.
Is that what I'm thinking?
Is that correct?

>> The organizational planning team has moved forward with the -- the interviewing of an interim c.i.o., the purchasing office is handling the appropriate negotiations at this time.
So we don't have an estimate.
Eight weeks seems to be a bit long, I think, compared to the discussions we've had, two weeks might be closer to point.

>> My own view is Commissioners court should interview this person or two, whatever you all recommend.

>> Yes, we are very much aware of your interest, judge.

>> The court's interest, hopefully.

>> Your being the group.
Yes.

>> Does this sound like a golden opportunity or another setup?

>> [laughter]

>> Golden opportunity, judge.
A golden opportunity.

>> Now, we kind of have a policy in place in which we have a temporary bump in compensation when these additional duties and responsibilities are taken on, and so in my view that ought to be brought back to court next Tuesday after we've had an opportunity to think through and discuss any proposal.
And so we will chat with you all between now and then, and we being either miss broader or miss ferodo or both.
Not necessarily the county judge.
How does that sound?

>> We're here to serve you and the court.

>> That's the right answer.
Anything else?

>> No, sir.

>> Commissioner Gomez moves approval of a 1.
I second the motion.
Discussion on the motion?
All in favor?
Show Commissioner Gomez and yours truly voting in favor.

>> Judge, I will be a stain until I'm able to have a little more information on what impact it will have after the particular transaction, even including the financial aspects.
It's not that I don't support it, I just want to back off just a little bit until I can evaluate what's going to happen here in the next few weeks evaluation so I'm going to abstain.

>> That motion is approved by a vote of 2-0-1.
Two in favor, none against and one abstention.
Thank you all very much.

>> Thank you, judge.

>> By the way, if you do have questions for me or things that you would like to discuss, please feel free to drop by.

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.

July 3, 2012: Travis County Launches New Video Playback System

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On July 3rd, 2012, Travis County began leveraging free resources by posting Commissioners Court meetings on Youtube. Previously every video clip was edited separately and hosted on the county's video server. The old system also required RealPlayer to view the video clips.

The new systems save time and resources -- and that saves taxpayer dollars!