Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Finance Committee
January 24, 2001
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
1
7 BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on the
8 24th day of January 2001, there came on to be
9 heard matters under the regulatory authority of
10 the Parks and Wildlife Commission of Texas, in
11 the commission hearing room of the Texas Parks and
12 Wildlife Headquarters complex, Austin, Travis
13 County, Texas, beginning at 9:32 a.m., to wit:
14
15
16
APPEARANCES:
17 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
Chair: Dick W. Heath, Carrollton, Texas
18 Lee M. Bass, Fort Worth, Texas
Nolan Ryan, Alvin, Texas (Absent)
19 Ernest Angelo, Jr., Midland, Texas
John Avila, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas
20 Carol E. Dinkins, Houston, Texas
Alvin L. Henry, Houston, Texas
21 Katharine Armstrong Idsal, San Antonio, Texas
Mark E. Watson, Jr., San Antonio, Texas
22
23 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director, and other
24 personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department.
25
.
2
1 JANUARY 24, 2001
2 *-*-*-*-*
3 FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
4 *-*-*-*-*
5 COMMISSIONER HEATH: This is a
6 meeting of the Finance Committee of the Texas
7 Parks and Wildlife Commission, and the committee
8 will come to order. And may I have approval of
9 the committee minutes from the previous meeting?
10 CHAIRMAN BASS: Move.
11 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: Second.
12 COMMISSIONER HEATH: All in favor?
13 (Motion passed unanimously.)
14 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Thank you.
15 AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: BRIEFING - CHAIRMAN'S
16 CHARGES.
17 COMMISSIONER HEATH: We'll begin
18 with a briefing of the Chairman's charges. Suzy?
19 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Chairman?
20 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Andy?
21 MR. SANSOM: Thank you. The second
22 charge that Mr. Bass has directed this committee
23 to address is the uninterrupted installation of
24 Texas outdoor connection with a new partner in our
25 automated licensing system.
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3
1 One of the things that I need to
2 tell you is that the pilot for this new issuance
3 system will be rolled out in five phases starting
4 in February and will continue through April. This
5 puts us about one month behind the schedule that
6 we had initially set.
7 But the contractor, WorldComm, plans
8 to compress the schedule later on for training
9 deputies and other purposes and equipment roll-out
10 and so we still plan to meet the implementation
11 schedule at the end of June.
12 One change that you may hear about,
13 as you travel around, is that we're going to
14 require a little deposit from these license
15 deputies because we've got millions of dollars
16 worth of equipment out there in these stores, and
17 we haven't always had a good response from them in
18 terms of taking care of that stuff and getting it
19 back so we are going to require a deposit, and
20 you'll hear about that.
21 Jayna Burgdorf, who has left the
22 room, is about to have a child. And she has done
23 an incredible job in that this thing has pretty
24 much so far run flawlessly under her leadership.
25 And I want to particularly commend her for that.
.
4
1 Mr. Chairman, the second item that I
2 would like to call your attention to is our
3 license plate program which you've all been very
4 interested in and, by the way, was a topic with
5 the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.
6 Our Texas Horned Lizard plate is now
7 the third most popular specialty plate in Texas.
8 We've sold about 9,000 of them and have gross
9 revenues of around $180,000. And just to give you
10 a reference point, the number one plate is the
11 State of the Arts plate, which has sold about
12 20,000. The number two is the Animal Friendly
13 plate, which has sold about 12,000.
14 You've asked us to move forward and
15 test a license plate which would be used for the
16 support of state parks. And we've tested six
17 images both at Expo and in the parks themselves.
18 We've tested an armadillo, and we've tested a
19 falcon. We've tested the Texas conservation
20 passport logo around the star. We've used the
21 Republic of Texas flag and a bluebonnet and a
22 buffalo.
23 We've surveyed it on the Web, in the
24 parks, through -- throughout the months of
25 December, through the middle of this month. We
.
5
1 talked to about 2,000 people and 500 on the Web
2 and about 550 at state parks. The survey results
3 basically determined that the number one choice,
4 you know, by a large margin was the bluebonnet.
5 And this plate pretty much gives you
6 the product that we've tested. It is -- the
7 design is circumscribed by TxDOT, so that the
8 image or the icon has to appear in this portion of
9 the plate. So we're designing within a parameter
10 that they had given us. But it was the top
11 selection of 33 percent of all the state park
12 visitors, 31 percent of the Web visitors. And it
13 was very, very strong among the state park users
14 themselves. So we're going to immediately take
15 steps to put this out, and you'll start to see it.
16 The renewals -- those of you who
17 have Horned Toad plates, those renewals are
18 coming. And Lydia pointed out to me yesterday
19 that when you get your renewal in the mail, you
20 have to go down to the courthouse if you want to
21 change. You have two choices. You can either
22 renew the plate you've got or you can get up and
23 go down to the courthouse and renew it, so I think
24 that bodes well for the renewal business, which is
25 where these things really start to pay off.
.
6
1 Darcy Hamburg, our marketing
2 director, and Lydia have spearheaded this project.
3 And I'm pretty excited. We're doing well. I
4 mean, we -- the -- particularly, against these
5 other plates.
6 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: Are we going to
7 end up with just that one plate? Is that how
8 that --
9 MR. SANSOM: Actually, what we're
10 going to do, Commissioner Idsal, is we debated in
11 the beginning whether or not to issue a whole
12 suite of plates at once, to, address, you know,
13 various constituencies. And we decided it would
14 be more prudent of us, since we've never done it
15 before, to try one and then see how we did. And
16 we have done very well. This will be the second
17 one.
18 And I've kind of urged Lydia and her
19 crew to speed up the process because I think
20 there's probably no -- there are people who want a
21 license plate that has a large-mouth bass on it so
22 they can contribute to the hatchery system. There
23 are people who would like to have a license plate
24 with a white-tailed deer on it, you know, the
25 money of which would go into the wildlife program.
.
7
1 So we're going to move quickly to develop some
2 additional plates that meet specific constituency
3 desires and target funds to specific fish and
4 wildlife programs. So you'll see -- I believe the
5 next two you'll see will be a white-tail deer and
6 largemouth bass.
7 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: I was a little
8 bit concerned. As pretty as that is -- and it
9 really is -- I like the graphics a lot -- that
10 some males may resist having something that is
11 that pretty.
12 MR. SANSOM: It's kind of
13 interesting.
14 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: Well, you
15 know --
16 MR. SANSOM: The male response was
17 very strong. Commissioner, that was the same
18 question that all of us asked. And it's
19 interesting that the male response to this was
20 very strong.
21 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: What were the
22 next two in popularity?
23 MR. SANSOM: Armadillo was number
24 two.
25 MS. SALDANA: Those two were so far
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8
1 above the others that --
2 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: The armadillo
3 and the bluebonnet?
4 MS. SALDANA: The armadillo and the
5 bluebonnet.
6 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: Where did the
7 horned lizard come in?
8 MR. SANSOM: It's what the males
9 all went for.
10 MS. SALDANA: Well, the question we
11 asked on the survey, was for those who chose the
12 Bluebonnet, how many would choose that over the
13 Horned Toad? And it was low. We didn't want
14 that -- we were concerned about cannibalization of
15 the sales of the Horny Toad plate. So that was
16 the reason we went with the Horny Toad plate.
17 But your question about the male and
18 female, on the Web survey, 70 percent of the
19 people who were surveyed on the Web were male, and
20 yet it still came out on top.
21 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: I'm prejudiced.
22 MS. SALDANA: We were surprised. I
23 know I was surprised.
24 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: One more thing,
25 and I want to be sure get this straight. We will
.
9
1 have -- and I think I would agree with this, that
2 you have one main plate, and that you will be able
3 to get the other ones by special order type of
4 thing?
5 MR. SANSOM: You get them all the
6 same way.
7 CHAIRMAN BASS: You get to choose.
8 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: You get to
9 choose. So we'll have the white-tailed, the
10 buck, the armadillo -- is that it?
11 MR. SANSOM: No, the bass.
12 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: The bass and
13 the bluebonnet. Okay. Sounds great.
14 MR. SANSOM: Mr. Chairman, that
15 concludes my comments on the charges, save one
16 comment. We did appear yesterday before the
17 Senate Finance Committee for our first hearing.
18 In my mind, it went extremely well thanks to the
19 fact that Commissioner Henry had a number of
20 questions planted before we arrived.
21 But both Commissioner Henry and
22 Commissioner Watson were there all day with me and
23 the staff, and I appreciate that very much. It
24 provides us with a shield that we otherwise
25 wouldn't be able to have.
.
10
1 And it was -- and a number of
2 members of the committee commented on the fact
3 that they were there. And I noticed that in
4 several instances members of the committee who had
5 sort of decided they would leave did not leave,
6 but stayed, you know, in order to make sure that
7 they acknowledged the presence of these two
8 members of our board. And I appreciate that.
9 CHAIRMAN BASS: Before we move on,
10 I'd just like to note that to the best of my
11 knowledge, the initial concept for the bluebonnet
12 came from John Avila at this table at some point
13 over a year ago. So I guess at least informally
14 it will be the John Avila plate.
15 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: He'll like
16 that.
17 MR. SANSOM: I would look forward to
18 seeing them on all the vehicles at the Thos.
19 S. Byrne Company.
20 AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: BRIEFING - FINANCIAL
21 REVIEW.
22 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Okay. We're
23 going to move on from this subject before it just
24 starts really going downhill. The second item is
25 a briefing item, a financial review from Suzy
.
11
1 Whittenton. Suzy?
2 MS. WHITTENTON: Thank you. I'll
3 keep this pretty brief today. I'm just going to
4 update you on where we are on the revenue status
5 year to date and then briefly update you on the
6 appropriations process and what to expect next.
7 In the state parks' account revenue
8 is down 18 percent, when you compare it to the
9 previous year for the period September through
10 December. It was particularly off in November.
11 We were down 30 percent in November. We think
12 that's largely due to the cold weather, cold, wet
13 weather that we had across the state.
14 We're not all that concerned about
15 being off on our -- from previous years at this
16 point because the fall and winter are not the big
17 revenue generators in the parks' account, anyway.
18 So we could easily make up this lost ground in the
19 spring and summer.
20 And as it turns out, our original
21 estimate for the year still looks reasonable in
22 this account. Last year's revenue came in higher
23 than usual. And we had made our current year's
24 projections before we knew the final results of
25 last year's revenues. So we're still on target
.
12
1 with the estimate, and we don't need to make any
2 kind of revenue adjustment there.
3 Now, looking at Account 9, revenue
4 for boat registrations and titling fees and
5 license sales, boat fees are coming in at a slower
6 rate than expected, but again, this is not the
7 period of the year when most boat purchases occur.
8 So we think that an adjustment in the estimate
9 would be premature at this time. We'll know a lot
10 more, of course, in the spring and summer how
11 those fees are going to come in.
12 And the good news is that total
13 license revenue is up by $1.3 million over last
14 year's. And when you look at the total number of
15 licenses sold, super combo sales are up 19 percent
16 while combo sales are down 12 percent. And then
17 overall combo sales are up 5 percent.
18 Both resident and nonresident
19 hunting sales are up. But the total primary
20 hunting sales are down around 3 percent. Special
21 resident sales are down, which is what causes the
22 overall number to be down.
23 Fishing license sales are down.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Suzy?
25 MS. WHITTENTON: I'm sorry?
.
13
1 CHAIRMAN BASS: Before, you go on,
2 if you aggregate all hunting licenses of any type,
3 resident, nonresident, et cetera, what does that
4 come out versus last year?
5 MS. WHITTENTON: They're down 3
6 percent, approximately.
7 CHAIRMAN BASS: That's that 2.8.
8 MS. WHITTENTON: Uh-huh. And in
9 looking at all the different types of hunting
10 licenses, the only one that is really -- where you
11 see a big difference is the special resident
12 hunting license numbers which were down. And this
13 is not a big -- it's not a big number, 3 percent
14 difference. I'm not sure what that's attributed
15 to. And the revenue was up because of -- I guess
16 it's the fee increase.
17 CHAIRMAN BASS: I'm sorry. Does
18 that figure include sales that were made in August
19 for this hunting season?
20 MS. WHITTENTON: Yes, it does. It's
21 the license.
22 CHAIRMAN BASS: Last year we sold a
23 million hunting licenses. And this says down
24 2.82, 472,000.
25 MS. WHITTENTON: Let's see.
.
14
1 CHAIRMAN BASS: What I'm asking is
2 the total, total everything.
3 MS. WHITTENTON: That's the total
4 number sold so far, is 400 and -- that can't be
5 right. No. That's not right.
6 COMMISSIONER WATSON: Not at 2.8
7 percent.
8 MS. WHITTENTON: Okay. Those are
9 just the primary license sales.
10 MR. SANSOM: That's just the
11 $19 dollar license.
12 CHAIRMAN BASS: My question is
13 everything, all hunting licenses of all types
14 aggregated, where are we versus last year?
15 MS. WHITTENTON: I'll have to pull
16 that separately. They come in a whole list, so
17 I'll just pull them out. We'll get that for you
18 later.
19 CHAIRMAN BASS: So you can aggregate
20 that for us. Thank you.
21 MS. WHITTENTON: On the fish --
22 CHAIRMAN BASS: And while you're
23 doing it, do the same for fishing. Thanks.
24 MS. WHITTENTON: Fishing sales are
25 down approximately 15 percent at this point in the
.
15
1 year. And again, I think we sell most of our
2 fishing licenses later in the year. But in terms
3 of number of resident fishing licenses, number of
4 saltwater stamps and in total primary fishing
5 licenses, sales were down about 15 percent.
6 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Suzy, just for
7 everybody's knowledge, when you say down, down
8 relative to --
9 MS. WHITTENTON: Down relative to
10 the previous year.
11 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Previous year
12 at this date?
13 MS. WHITTENTON: Yes. When you look
14 at year to date comparing as of -- and these are
15 January 10th. As of January 10th of 2000, we were
16 off --
17 COMMISSIONER HEATH: What then is
18 the difference between last year and this year
19 that leads us to be comfortable with being down
20 15 percent.
21 MR. SANSOM: They are moving to
22 super combo.
23 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Okay. So
24 again, the aggregate that the Chairman is asking
25 for will give us the picture that we're looking
.
16
1 for.
2 MR. SANSOM: Right. I think you'll
3 see in a moment that she's reflecting here is a
4 really strong migration to super combo.
5 COMMISSIONER HEATH: And I think
6 that's my point. My point is for everybody to
7 understand and the public to understand that these
8 numbers in and of themselves can be misleading
9 numbers.
10 MS. WHITTENTON: Right.
11 COMMISSIONER HEATH: And so we will
12 come back to those numbers.
13 MS. WHITTENTON: And when you look
14 at total revenue from license sales, all license
15 sales were up $1.3 million, which is about
16 5 percent. Is that 5 percent? I didn't bring my
17 backup sheets. Well --
18 COMMISSIONER HEATH: By the end of
19 the day today, if we could -- however the Chairman
20 wants to handle it, just reconvene this committee
21 or whatever to identify this, just so, again, the
22 public is not misled as we go through what appear
23 to be down numbers, down numbers, down numbers,
24 it's because there's been an adjustment in what we
25 are selling.
.
17
1 MS. WHITTENTON: Right.
2 COMMISSIONER HEATH: But overall
3 sales up $1.3 million?
4 MS. WHITTENTON: Right. Super combo
5 sales were up by 19 percent, which is a
6 significant number.
7 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Right. Okay.
8 MS. WHITTENTON: And at this point,
9 we've collected about 80 percent of what we
10 originally estimated in our revenue from all of
11 these licenses through the outdoor connection.
12 It looks like our original estimate
13 will be a little bit low. But again, we're not
14 asking for a revenue adjustment. And that's all
15 we have on revenue at this time. And we'll get
16 back with you on the additional information.
17 I just wanted to let you know that
18 we requested our last installment on the revenue
19 bonds, on the original $60 million of revenue
20 bonds, and we expect it to be issued next month.
21 You'll remember that we had $60 million, and now
22 with the interest that's been accumulated, we'll
23 actually get a total of $63 and a half. The other
24 three and a half is added into this last
25 installment. And I think Scott Boruff will be
.
18
1 briefing you on where we are on the projects and
2 in spending those revenue bonds and the
3 infrastructure.
4 CHAIRMAN BASS: We get to keep the
5 interest and spend it?
6 MS. WHITTENTON: We do. And lastly,
7 I just wanted to update you on our appropriations
8 request for the next biennium. Since we last met,
9 the Legislative Budget Board released their
10 recommendations on our budget request, and those
11 recommendations were then forwarded to the
12 Appropriations Committee and the Finance Committee
13 for consideration. And of course, as you know,
14 the hearings have begun.
15 The Legislative Budget Board focused
16 their recommendations primarily on base level
17 funding. They didn't address exceptional items in
18 most cases. And what they recommended for Texas
19 Parks and Wildlife was a cut in the base level
20 funding due to what they deemed were one-time
21 project expenditures. Those total $2.8 million in
22 the first year and $2.5 million in the second
23 year.
24 And those special projects were
25 conservation projects and the Texas Tech study
.
19
1 that they considered one-time only projects. And
2 as I said, they didn't make any recommendations on
3 our exceptional items.
4 The Governor's budget office also
5 puts out a budget proposal, and Governor Perry's
6 budget included a recommendation for
7 $15 million in general obligation bonds for Parks
8 and Wildlife. These would look much like the
9 revenue bonds that we currently have, that we're
10 currently using to reduce the backlog in critical
11 repairs.
12 You remember the Infrastructure task
13 force report that identified the $75 million in
14 needed repairs. We got the $60 million in '98,
15 and now, the Governor's office is recommending
16 that we get the other $15 million as part of a
17 general obligation bond package that would have to
18 be voted on by the public, if it passes the
19 Legislature.
20 Items that they didn't include in
21 our recommendation, they didn't include from our
22 request were the two and a half million in
23 conservation and education projects, the
24 entrepreneurial rider that we had asked for that
25 would allow us to spend -- give us authority to
.
20
1 spend funds that we earned throughout the year,
2 the 300,000 from the tech study. And they also
3 made a change in the funding source for some
4 in-house -- they think that we should charge some
5 of our Infrastructure staff costs to the bonds,
6 which actually result in a net decrease in funding.
7 And they didn't make the requested
8 changes to the riders that we had asked for.
9 These were the exceptional items they didn't
10 address or the operations and maintenance
11 enhancements to repairs for scheduled facility
12 repairs and enhancements to the parks services,
13 nor did they address the commercial fishing
14 license buyback authority that we had asked for.
15 The committees, of course, have the
16 authority to make the decisions. And as Andy
17 mentioned, we had a good hearing yesterday, and
18 we'll be sending additional information to the
19 committee in response to their questions that they
20 had.
21 We're scheduled now for a House
22 Appropriations hearing on February 1st, and then
23 we don't expect to go back to the Senate until
24 they do their markup hearing, where they will come
25 out with what they recommended. And then we'll,
.
21
1 I'm sure, see the appropriations side a couple of
2 times, as well. And we'll just keep you informed
3 as we go through that process on what happens.
4 COMMISSIONER WATSON: Well, Suzy, I
5 don't know what your take was yesterday, but I
6 believe that Senator Lucio is going to draft
7 numerous bills, and one of them, I think, is going
8 to suggest that we go to annual licenses. And I
9 would think that we ought to get ready to respond
10 to that and see what sort of an impact, you know,
11 that's going to have.
12 But I got the distinct impression
13 that that's not an if or a maybe, but that he's
14 going to -- right, he's going to do that. And I
15 don't know how that impacts on -- you know, on our
16 revenue strength, but I think we'd better get
17 ready.
18 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: What would be
19 the impact of that?
20 COMMISSIONER WATSON: I don't know.
21 COMMISSIONER AVILA: What is he
22 talking about?
23 COMMISSIONER WATSON: I mean, if you
24 bought a license March 1st, it would be good until
25 the next March 1st.
.
22
1 MR. SANSOM: It would have a
2 significant impact on revenue, and you couldn't do
3 it with a current tagging system, I think, would
4 be the two principles.
5 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: I guess I'm
6 wondering -- what I meant to ask was why would he
7 want to do that.
8 MS. WHITTENTON: I think he probably
9 doesn't realize that it would come out with a
10 negative fiscal impact, I'm assuming. We are
11 going to address that in our response to him on
12 all the questions that came up during the hearing.
13 I know we have already prepared some estimates on
14 what that would do to our revenue.
15 CHAIRMAN BASS: My guess is it's
16 probably driven more by the fishing
17 constituencies.
18 MS. WHITTENTON: That's what it
19 sounded like.
20 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: I don't know
21 how you could do it practically. You are going to
22 have a change in regulations during period, and
23 would that be reflected in the license?
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: I think where some
25 people feel impinged upon is in the middle of July
.
23
1 they buy a fishing license, and it's really only
2 good for six weeks. That's -- that's the place, I
3 think, that the complaints might be driving --
4 COMMISSIONER HENRY: That's the kind
5 of example he used.
6 CHAIRMAN BASS: -- are originated.
7 COMMISSIONER WATSON: Well, it's
8 going to happen. So I think the more information
9 we can get to him, maybe we can discourage him,
10 sap some of his enthusiasm for that idea.
11 MS. WHITTENTON: Okay. On your
12 question about the hunting licenses, we've got
13 some numbers. When you look at the primary
14 hunting license purchases and the combos, last
15 year in fiscal year 2000 we -- or in license year
16 2000, we sold 978,000. In the current license
17 year, we've already sold 989,000 -- oh, I'm sorry.
18 That's for the same time of year. That's when you
19 pulled numbers as of January 10th. You look at
20 during the same time period. We've sold 11,000,
21 nearly 12,000 more licenses than we did last year.
22 CHAIRMAN BASS: And that's including
23 all types of hunting license, both resident and
24 nonresident, combo?
25 MS. WHITTENTON: That's including
.
24
1 the resident hunting, the special resident
2 hunting, general nonresident, nonresident five-day
3 and then the combinations.
4 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Overall is --
5 MS. WHITTENTON: So that's primary
6 hunting licenses and the combinations. There are
7 some other small ones, but that's the vast
8 majority.
9 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So we are up
10 slightly?
11 MS. WHITTENTON: We are up.
12 CHAIRMAN BASS: There are other
13 types than the six you named?
14 MS. WHITTENTON: Small ones. I'd
15 have to find -- we don't look at them a whole lot
16 because they're not very big numbers, and they're
17 not much revenue.
18 On the anglers, on the fishing
19 licenses, this time last year we had sold just
20 over a million, 1,003,155. For this current
21 license year we've sold 948,000. Fishing was up
22 last year over the previous license year quite a
23 bit at this time of the year, if you'll remember.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: That could also be
25 somewhat due to cold weather.
.
25
1 MS. WHITTENTON: Yeah. It's been
2 bad for parks. And then the revenue is -- we're
3 basically up on both the hunting license revenue
4 and the fishing license revenue. The hunting
5 licenses were up about $2 million or just under
6 $2 million. And then in the fishing, it looks
7 like we're pretty close to even. It's up maybe
8 $300,000 because of the increase to the saltwater
9 stamp fee.
10 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you very much.
11 MS. WHITTENTON: That was all for my
12 presentation unless you had any other questions.
13 COMMISSIONER HEATH: No further
14 questions. Thank you very much, Suzy.
15 AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: ACTION - HISTORICALLY
16 UNDERUTILIZED BUSINESS (HUB) PROGRAM RULES.
17 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Item Number 3
18 is an action item. Debra Pendley will talk to us
19 about the historically underutilized business
20 program rules. Hi.
21 MS. PENDLEY: Good morning. I'm
22 here to present for your consideration the
23 proposed adoption of General Services Commission's
24 historically underutilized business program rules.
25 Senate Bill 178 of the 76th
.
26
1 Legislature codified the HUB program under the
2 Government Code Chapter 2161. The bill mandated
3 the GSC develop and adopt new rules under the
4 Texas Administrative Code.
5 Section 2161.003 requires state
6 agencies to adopt GSC rules as their own agency
7 rules. They proposed new Section 51.171,
8 concerning the HUB programs necessary to comply
9 with this requirement. The proposed rule adoption
10 was published with no comment in the December 1st
11 issue of the Texas Register. Current procedures
12 adhere to GSC rules, and there's -- adopting the
13 rules wouldn't change any of our current
14 practices.
15 Staff recommends that the Texas
16 Parks and Wildlife Commission authorize adoption
17 by reference the rules of the General Services
18 Commission contained in Title 1 of the Texas
19 Administrative Code, Sections 111.11-111.28. This
20 item is eligible for the consent agenda if no
21 comments are received.
22 That concludes my presentation.
23 I'll be happy to answer any questions.
24 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Any questions,
25 Commissioners? If there's no questions, then this
.
27
1 requires a motion, and I'd suggest this be a
2 motion for the consent agenda tomorrow. Have a
3 motion?
4 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So moved.
5 (Motion passed unanimously.)
6 AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: ACTION - LOCAL PARK FUNDING
7 AND INDOOR RECREATION GRANTS.
8 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Agenda Item
9 Number 4, local park funding and indoor recreation
10 grants, Tim Hogsett. Tim?
11 MR. HOGSETT: Good morning,
12 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. For
13 the record, I'm Tim Hogsett, Director of
14 Recreation Grants Program in the State Parks
15 Division.
16 We're tomorrow going to present to
17 you recommendations for funding for the indoor and
18 outdoor recreation programs. In brief, for the
19 outdoor recreation grants programs, for all
20 applications received as of July 31st of 2000. We
21 had 46 applications requesting $17,322,833.
22 We have ranked -- scored and ranked
23 ordered all of those projects, and you can find
24 those in Exhibit A of Item number 2 in the public
25 hearing item. We are recommending, with the
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28
1 available funding of $5.5 million the approval of
2 the top 12 projects. You will notice that the
3 last project is recommended for partial funding,
4 since we don't have enough money to fully fund it.
5 We've contacted the sponsor, and they are
6 satisfied with that recommendation or are willing
7 to take that amount of money.
8 So with that, tomorrow our
9 recommendation will be for the funding of the
10 projects as listed in Exhibit A in the amount of
11 $5,511,794, and the individual project
12 descriptions can be found at Exhibit B. Would you
13 like me to go ahead with the next one and take all
14 of it together?
15 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Let's go to the
16 second one, and then we'll ask any questions.
17 MR. HOGSETT: Indoor recreation
18 applications. We take these applications only
19 once a year. These are all the applications which
20 were received by the July 31st deadline. We had a
21 total request of $7,088,373. Those 14
22 applications were again all scored and rank
23 ordered. And you can find your rank ordering in
24 Exhibit B in Item number 3 of the public hearing
25 agenda. We did site visits on all of those. And
.
29
1 we're recommending funding for the top six
2 projects.
3 Again, the lowest project is
4 recommended for partial funding, and the sponsor
5 has been contacted and is pleased to take that
6 recommended amount. So the recommendation for
7 indoor recreation grants tomorrow will be the
8 funding for projects listed in Exhibit A in the
9 amount of $3,325,000 is approved, as described for
10 individual projects in Exhibit B. I believe these
11 are eligible for consent item, but typically we
12 have public comment.
13 COMMISSIONER HEATH: I think we'll
14 probably leave this for public comment. I've just
15 got a couple of questions, Tim, if I might. How
16 are communities informed that this money is
17 available to them?
18 MR. HOGSETT: Through numerous
19 public hearings that we do when we do rule making.
20 We did a total of 12 public hearings over the
21 period of about a year a couple of years ago,
22 through the councils of governments, through mass
23 mail-outs of brochures.
24 As you can probably tell, we're not
25 lacking for business.
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30
1 MR. SANSOM: Texas Municipal League?
2 MR. HOGSETT: Texas Recreation Parks
3 Society published an article recently about the
4 program in the Society's magazine. Typically,
5 we'll do outreach presentations through a
6 contractual organization in their annual
7 conference.
8 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: And in that
9 same vein, I was curious about how the volume of
10 applications has fired from year to year in terms
11 of numbers of applications and the dollar amount,
12 both.
13 MR. HOGSETT: There continues to be
14 a slight increase in both of the programs and the
15 numbers of applications and the amount that we're
16 receiving. Part of that is probably due to the
17 economy and increased expense.
18 But what we are finding,
19 interestingly, particularly in the last two
20 reviews and particularly in the outdoor program,
21 is that competition is much, much more keen than
22 it has been in the past. The top three projects
23 in the outdoor recommendations are the highest
24 scores in history.
25 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Do you have
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31
1 any feel for the percentage of those that don't
2 receive approval that come back for subsequent
3 years?
4 MR. HOGSETT: More than half of them
5 are coming back and resubmitting, in some cases
6 more than one resubmission, and most of them
7 eventually being funded.
8 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Would you
9 judge from that that they are reasonably satisfied
10 with the process, then?
11 MR. HOGSETT: I think so. We found
12 that in the public hearings. We think there was a
13 lot of satisfaction. The problem is just the
14 amount of resource available doesn't meet the
15 need.
16 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Has it ever
17 been higher than 46, Tim, the sponsored requests?
18 MR. HOGSETT: We've had as many as
19 60 projects in years past. But it's been pretty
20 consistent, between 45 and 50, in the last several
21 years in the outdoor program.
22 COMMISSIONER HEATH: So you're
23 pretty confident. Andy, I assume you're confident
24 that we're communicating with the necessary people
25 in local communities that they know this is
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32
1 something they can apply for?
2 MR. SANSOM: Yes, sir. The one
3 concern that I have -- and Tim is going to speak
4 to that -- is that because of the overall lack of
5 resource and because of the increased ability of
6 the larger communities to compete, that we're
7 seeing a concentration at the top of the scale.
8 So ergot, my concern is that you're
9 seeing a potential drop-off in smaller communities
10 who may, in fact, be sort of giving up. So Tim
11 has got a proposal for you that would address
12 that.
13 MR. HOGSETT: The thing that we
14 heard most --
15 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Boy, we're
16 smart. We're just right on it, I'm telling you.
17 MR. HOGSETT: The thing that we
18 heard most commonly in the public hearings that we
19 did a year and a half or so ago to revise the
20 rules of the program that we have not addressed as
21 of yet is that small communities and communities
22 who simply wanted one or two facilities, someone
23 who just wants to build a ball field and don't
24 want to do a half million dollar project, they
25 didn't feel that they were able to be competitive
.
33
1 in the -- particularly in the outdoor recreation
2 program.
3 So to address that we're asking your
4 permission to try a pilot project which would set
5 aside an amount of money for a pilot in the amount
6 of $500,000 total, which is equivalent to one of
7 our full-sized outdoor recreation grants that we
8 currently give, and pilot that program for
9 projects of communities of 50,000 or less in
10 population and applications of no more than
11 $50,000 in matching funds, or, in other words, a
12 $100,000 development project. We hope to make it
13 a very simple application process.
14 We've just completed a draft of an
15 application manual that's less than 20 pages long
16 and, hopefully, is easy to read and doesn't take
17 a -- you know, an expensive consulting firm to put
18 the application together. And we will go through
19 a pilot. With your permission, we will take
20 applications through requests for proposals
21 beginning next month and probably bring a group of
22 applications back to you in this pilot program for
23 approval consideration in August.
24 And if it's found to be popular and
25 to be needed and the response is good, then we
.
34
1 will probably come forward with some draft formal
2 rules to adopt this as a formal program.
3 COMMISSIONER HEATH: I certainly
4 like that concept. May I suggest that if the
5 Commission agrees to do that, that we set up the
6 criteria in advance of what success means, so that
7 we --
8 MR. HOGSETT: We intend to have in
9 this pilot a scoring system that is somewhat
10 similar to what we've had in the outdoor and
11 indoor programs.
12 COMMISSIONER HEATH: But the
13 objective being clearly to do what?
14 MR. HOGSETT: To make available
15 through a simple and easy process grant funds to
16 small communities who have either a multipurpose
17 project that is relatively inexpensive or a single
18 purpose project, things that they need to do
19 locally which they don't have the resources to do
20 locally but cannot be competitive in our current
21 outdoor recreation program.
22 COMMISSIONER HEATH: I personally
23 think that's an extremely good idea, and would
24 like, frankly, to see, assuming that we set up the
25 criteria, we meet the objectives, that the amount
.
35
1 expands. I've always felt that we're -- when I
2 look at 46, frankly, applications, I think it's a
3 surprisingly small number. And I've always
4 thought that number has been kind of a small
5 number. I'd like to really see us broadening.
6 And I think part of the answer to my
7 question is, is that maybe it's not that people
8 don't know that it's there, but people don't think
9 it -- communities don't think it's achievable.
10 And I find that bothersome, and I'm delighted to
11 see that you've got a proposal for this.
12 MR. HOGSETT: We would agree with
13 that.
14 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Commissioner
15 Henry?
16 COMMISSIONER HENRY: When we say
17 small communities, specifically what do we have in
18 mind, numbers of population?
19 MR. HOGSETT: Numbers of population.
20 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Any particular
21 figure we have in mind?
22 MR. HOGSETT: 50,000 or less.
23 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Secondly, when
24 we communicate with a city, for example, that's
25 requested a grant and you say, the recommendation
.
36
1 does not support recommendation of grant funds, is
2 that specifically what we call that requester?
3 MR. HOGSETT: At this point in time,
4 prior to the Commission's action on the projects,
5 that's what we tell them. We also tell them that
6 they are eligible to resubmit that application.
7 We give them a month in which to do that, make
8 whatever changes that they would like to make. We
9 offer to meet with them and go over point by point
10 how their project was evaluated, and scoring
11 system, and offer suggestions on where they can
12 make changes, and then place them back in the next
13 review. And that's where we have those typically
14 successful resubmissions coming back to us.
15 MR. SANSOM: Tim, I would like to
16 ask you to look real strongly, as you go through
17 this pilot, at that population figure. There's
18 many parts of Texas, in which 50,000 is a really
19 big city.
20 MR. HOGSETT: You're right.
21 CHAIRMAN BASS: I was thinking
22 similarly. I think we're on the right track, and
23 I think we would be getting ahead of ourselves by
24 overcomplicating it at this point. But I wouldn't
25 be surprised if the logical conclusion of this
.
37
1 process is having three or four categories that
2 may be based on things other than just population.
3 It could be just, you know, the nature of the
4 request, being from a larger place, that it is a
5 more simple single purpose or grant we're looking
6 for rather than a big, half a million dollar
7 complex one.
8 You know, I think we've really
9 almost driven people to apply for full half
10 million dollar grants by our process.
11 Secondly, this is something that I
12 may be suffering from a bad memory on. But I note
13 in this round Keller comes in at 13th, and we've
14 run out of money, and they have a score of 101
15 points. It seems to me that in the not too
16 distance past we've had rounds where scores in the
17 mid to low 80s received funds.
18 MR. HOGSETT: You're absolutely
19 correct.
20 CHAIRMAN BASS: And it's -- a lot of
21 this is almost luck of the draw of when they
22 apply, what cycle they're in, to where -- you
23 know, we're trying to get this money out on an
24 expeditious basis, doing it twice a year. You do
25 let people come back and reapply. But if Keller
.
38
1 had applied -- you know, gotten their application
2 in just a few months earlier or a few months
3 later, they may have been at the top of the heap.
4 And I don't know what kind of a leveling process
5 we might be able to bring to this.
6 MR. HOGSETT: We're concerned about
7 that. We're thinking about --
8 CHAIRMAN BASS: But at the end of
9 the biennium we need to have gotten the money out
10 there into the communities or at least granted to
11 them, committed to them. But if you come in -- if
12 you happen to come in, you know, with a weak field
13 and, therefore, a weak score relative to what
14 might be in another cycle, I don't -- I don't
15 quite know the approach, but I think you
16 understand what I'm saying.
17 MR. HOGSETT: Yes, I do. Thank you
18 very much.
19 CHAIRMAN BASS: There might be a
20 concern that some of the better applicants are not
21 getting funded simply because they had the bad
22 luck, you know, of getting in the heat with a
23 bunch of fast runners.
24 MR. HOGSETT: There are a couple of
25 projects that were in the high 90s that were
.
39
1 resubmissions. Lago Vista is one that comes to
2 mind that was in the last review in the 60s. They
3 came in and improved their score remarkably, and,
4 unfortunately, we don't have enough money to reach
5 them. So that's of a concern to me as well.
6 CHAIRMAN BASS: Do we have grade
7 inflation going on here?
8 MR. HOGSETT: I don't know.
9 COMMISSIONER IDSAL: One question.
10 Population of 50,000, would that be an
11 incorporated city or a county?
12 MR. HOGSETT: Cities or counties,
13 municipal governments of 50,000 or less. The only
14 thing we're thinking about not doing in that arena
15 would be municipal utility districts because those
16 are typically in the urban areas --
17 CHAIRMAN BASS: It would be the
18 inclined entity --
19 MR. HOGSETT: Correct. That is
20 correct, yes. So if a county's entire population
21 was 50,000 or less and the county submitted an
22 application, they would be eligible. There are a
23 few of those counties in the state.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: Oh, yeah.
25 COMMISSIONER AVILA: The 5-million-5
.
40
1 that we're giving, how is that fairing over the
2 last few years?
3 MR. HOGSETT: That is a little less
4 than we gave in the past reviews predominantly
5 because due to the legislative mandate we were
6 required to put $500,000 into the Odessa meteor
7 crater this last year, and where we had to take it
8 was from the local park fund.
9 COMMISSIONER WATSON: Tim, speaking
10 of that, how did you improve the World Birding
11 Center in Harlingen and turned down the one in
12 Edinburg?
13 MR. HOGSETT: That application will
14 be coming back to us in the next review.
15 Mr. Sansom and I have already discussed that.
16 Hopefully, the city will be able to put a better
17 foot forward in their next application.
18 COMMISSIONER AVILA: The Chairman
19 alluded to it forced people to almost go to
20 $500,000. How does that happen?
21 MR. HOGSETT: One of the criteria
22 that is very highly ranked in the scoring system
23 is diversity, the numbers of the -- the numbers of
24 types of facilities that they ask for, different
25 types of recreation opportunities.
.
41
1 And also another highly ranking
2 criteria is whether or not they have a local
3 master plan and if they ask for the highest needs
4 in that master plan. And typically in a local
5 community, particularly the larger communities,
6 their high needs and their master plans are
7 expensive, things like swimming pools and ball
8 field complexes or large conservation
9 acquisitions, that sort of thing.
10 MR. SANSOM: And members, it's worth
11 pointing out here, an aspect of this program at
12 the other end of the spectrum that you're not
13 seeing today but you saw in the last cycle was the
14 regional park program which does provide a new
15 opportunity for the larger metropolitan areas, but
16 it also provides for a stronger kind of
17 conservation component to those grants. So this
18 particular series of applications doesn't
19 represent the full spectrum of what this program
20 represents now.
21 And I would, frankly, like to see
22 more migration at the top of the scale toward
23 those kind of projects as the legislature has
24 directed us.
25 COMMISSIONER AVILA: That's a
.
42
1 different pot of money.
2 MR. SANSOM: Right. Well, it's this
3 money, but we've got it in a different category.
4 COMMISSIONER AVILA: They gave us
5 that additional money.
6 COMMISSIONER HEATH: And you'd like
7 to see what, Andy?
8 MR. SANSOM: Well, what -- what the
9 Legislature did in the last session was to allow
10 us to use some accumulated interest in this
11 program to fund large regional park projects which
12 involve multiple partners, where two cities would
13 get together that encompassed the large
14 conservation areas, one that we funded as a --
15 like a 22-mile bio preservation project in
16 Houston. One of them is a river -- large river
17 park in El Paso.
18 So it -- so I think we're improving
19 at the top of the scale, as well, in terms of
20 what, I believe, the intent of our board and the
21 Legislature and the constituents want to see this
22 program go.
23 COMMISSIONER AVILA: It's fair to
24 say it's providing greenbelts in cities.
25 MR. SANSOM: Exactly.
.
43
1 COMMISSIONER AVILA: As opposed to
2 ball parks in a small community.
3 MR. SANSOM: Right.
4 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Have we ever
5 surveyed the potential recipients to see what
6 their thinking about the process is?
7 MR. SANSOM: We do it almost
8 continuously. Tim has an excellent program. As
9 he mentioned, he had 12 public hearings with
10 principal constituents in the last 18 months. So
11 we talked to them -- in fact, Commissioner Watson
12 and I met with that group of constituents this
13 morning. Walt and Tim and I were there. So we
14 have a pretty much constant dialogue with them.
15 And right now I'd say they're pretty enthusiastic.
16 MR. HOGSETT: The inclusion of the
17 indoor recreation program was as a result of that,
18 the regional park grant program and now this small
19 community's initiative. It's coming straight from
20 the constituents. That's what they're telling us
21 they want.
22 MR. SANSOM: And the outreach
23 program.
24 MR. HOGSETT: Yes, and the outreach.
25 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Well, I think
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44
1 the program has been wonderful. All this
2 discusses is just how you stretch the dollar.
3 MR. SANSOM: Which is forming up, as
4 Chairman Bass has commented, in that it's becoming
5 more diverse. There's more ways to iterate.
6 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Well, and as I
7 say, maybe we're not matching 50 percent. Maybe
8 you could get a formula where that diversity
9 doesn't carry as much or causes you to give
10 $500,000, or another way to do it just is we are
11 only going to give 30 percent.
12 CHAIRMAN BASS: Or if they only
13 ask -- if they bring a bigger match, then that
14 gives them bonus points or something.
15 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Right. And
16 that way it would stretch that list of however
17 they got in there.
18 MR. HOGSETT: That's what we've done
19 in a way, in the past as well when we've lowered
20 the ceiling on what people can ask for. We've, at
21 one time or another, had a higher ceiling than
22 $500,000 in the indoor -- I mean, the outdoor
23 program.
24 CHAIRMAN BASS: I know we need to
25 move along. But one thing that I would like to
.
45
1 note that I sincerely appreciate is the way this
2 program has been run for the last 12 years is,
3 it's been a completely nonpolitical program. Very
4 rarely have local or state political issues
5 impinged and put pressure on the Department or for
6 the Commission to deviate from the standard system
7 that deems to be fair rules by all parties and
8 they're willing to participate in.
9 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Remarkable.
10 COMMISSIONER AVILA: It is
11 remarkable.
12 CHAIRMAN BASS: I think that's a
13 reflection -- a very positive reflection on how
14 the system has been run in terms of how Department
15 personnel have dealt with the applicants. Because
16 they all seem to obviously feel like they get a
17 fair hearing and fair treatment and have recourse
18 other than running to their elected officials to
19 try to do an end run. So thank you. It makes it
20 much easier for us sitting up here to deal with
21 these vast sums of money that we pour out the
22 front door here twice a year.
23 MR. SANSOM: The final note,
24 Mr. Chairman, is that we will also have about four
25 and a half million dollars of land and water
.
46
1 conservation fund money from Congress, and it's
2 our intent right now to target as much as half of
3 that toward this program.
4 COMMISSIONER HEATH: One further
5 question. Matching funds, when I've read through
6 these and look at how funds are matched and they
7 take about private donations, et cetera, how do we
8 know the matching funds are, in fact, in place?
9 When do they need to be in place?
10 MR. HOGSETT: At the time they
11 submit an application to us, they certify in that
12 application that those monies are either available
13 or that the firm commitment of those resources is
14 available. And if it's things such as a land
15 donation, we will require them to submit a letter
16 from the landowner saying that they are a willing
17 donor of that property.
18 If it's a donation of materials or
19 labor, the same sort of thing will be asked for.
20 We are very concerned about having projects
21 getting underway and then suddenly they tell us,
22 oh, we don't have our match. That rarely happens,
23 but it does on occasion happen. So we're very
24 sensitive to that.
25 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Good. One
.
47
1 final suggestion, then, Tim, from the number of
2 questions that have arisen here from the
3 Commission, of which I've got six or seven listed
4 here, I would propose that -- Andy, that there be
5 briefings throughout the year on what we are going
6 to look for in the overall system to make sure
7 that the needs that we were looking at in the past
8 are the same needs that we have today. We tend to
9 hear from Tim once a year, is kind of my
10 recollection. I have lost a little memory here
11 along the way. But that tends to be my
12 recollection. So great job, Tim.
13 MR. HOGSETT: Thank you.
14 COMMISSIONER HEATH: I second what
15 the Chairman said about how this has been
16 operated. Thank you.
17 This requires a motion for approval
18 for consideration in the full Commission agenda.
19 May I have a motion?
20 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: Move approval.
21 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Second.
22 COMMISSIONER HEATH: All in favor?
23 (Motion passed unanimously.)
24 AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: BRIEFING - AUDIT STATUS
25 REPORT.
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48
1 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Item 5 is the
2 briefing on the audit status report, Dennis
3 O'Neal. Welcome Dennis.
4 MR. O'NEAL: Thank you, Commissioner
5 Heath. Yes, I am Dennis O'Neal. I'm the Internal
6 Audit Director. The first audit I'm going to talk
7 about is the audit by the State Auditor's Office
8 of our commercial fisheries program. I think
9 Commissioner Watson and Henry heard some comments
10 about that audit yesterday in Senate Finance.
11 That audit has been completed, and a
12 report has been issued. I know that Hal Osburn
13 has prepared a detailed action plan to address the
14 recommendations in the auditor's report. I don't
15 know if y'all want to talk about any of those
16 issues today or not. If you all received a copy
17 of the report?
18 COMMISSIONER HEATH: I think let's
19 just receive a copy of the report and stay away
20 from the questions. We have a limited amount of
21 time today.
22 MR. O'NEAL: Yes, a limited amount
23 of time.
24 Okay. The second item I'm going to
25 discuss is an audit that was requested by
.
49
1 Representative Junell. He asked the State
2 Auditor's Office to determine if agencies were
3 reporting their ending fund balances correctly.
4 And again, Commissioners, y'all heard about that
5 yesterday also in your Senate Finance meeting.
6 And we were included in that audit. And that
7 project is almost complete. And we should be
8 getting the results of that work in the next two
9 to three weeks.
10 I have talked to the auditors, and
11 it appears -- and I can't say -- nothing is final
12 in an audit report until it's published. But it
13 appears they are going to report that our fund
14 balances were reported correctly at the end of
15 fiscal year 2000. So I think that's some great
16 news.
17 The third audit I'm going to discuss
18 is the audit of our Administrative Resources
19 Division. We told you during the last meeting we
20 would probably have a report this month, but
21 that's going to be pushed back now because the
22 auditors had to work on this Junell request, the
23 same auditors that were out here. So now I'd say
24 it will probably be April or May before we get a
25 final report from them on that work.
.
50
1 The fourth audit from the State
2 Auditor's Office -- and it looks like we're
3 keeping them in business pretty well -- is an
4 audit of our Sportfish and Wildlife Restoration
5 federal funds. That audit is almost complete.
6 They have tested all the requirements except for
7 one, and so far there's not any issues. And we
8 should have, you know, the final results pretty
9 quickly on that.
10 Finally, within Internal Audit
11 itself, we're right now conducting some audits at
12 state parks. And we're also doing an audit of our
13 Information Resources Division. We're looking at
14 our security policies to make sure those are
15 adequate over our information and data. And
16 that's all I have unless y'all have any questions.
17 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Questions of
18 Dennis? Thank for you that briefing. Appreciate
19 it.
20 MR. O'NEAL: Thank you.
21 AGENDA ITEM NO. 6: ACTION - MEMORANDUM OF
22 UNDERSTANDING - TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF
23 TRANSPORTATION, TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE
24 DEPARTMENT, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC
25 DEVELOPMENT, TEXAS COMMISSION ON THE ARTS, AND
.
51
1 TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
2 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Item Number 6,
3 it's an action item, Memorandum of Understanding,
4 and Lydia Saldana will give us a presentation on
5 that.
6 MS. SALDANA: Hi, I'm Lydia Saldana,
7 Director of Communication. I also represent the
8 agency on the Tourism Advisory Committee, and in
9 that role, I've been involved in the development
10 of the Tourism Memorandum of Understanding --
11 let's see if this is going to work for me today.
12 There we go -- Tourism Memorandum of
13 Understanding which calls for the agencies to do a
14 better job of cooperating and coordinating efforts
15 in marketing and promoting Texas. The agencies
16 involved are the Texas Department of Economic
17 Development, the Texas Department of
18 Transportation, our agency, of course, the Texas
19 Commission on the Arts, and the Texas Historical
20 Commission. A few highlights of the MOU.
21 Again, it's just to have all the
22 agencies do a better job of coordinating our
23 efforts. A big part of that is just facilitating
24 better communication among the key people of the
25 agencies involved in promoting and marketing.
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52
1 We'll also be developing a unified annual tourism
2 marketing overview. It's been a rather casual
3 thing up until now. And what will be a product of
4 this MOU will be an actual marketing overview that
5 includes all the agencies.
6 There is an increased emphasis on
7 the Web site for promoting marketing and tourism,
8 and we'll be doing a better job of making sure
9 that the sites link to each other well, and that
10 we're just doing the best job we possibly can of
11 promoting Texas and Texas sites.
12 One of our concerns and one of the
13 things that we brought to the table, is that we
14 needed to have an increased emphasis across the
15 board on state-operated sites. A lot of the
16 marketing efforts for TDED are involved in all
17 sites. But again, the state sites, particularly
18 state parks, wildlife management areas, historic
19 sites, that will be receiving increased emphasis
20 through this MOU.
21 We recommend adoption of the MOU,
22 and I believe this item is also eligible for the
23 consent agenda. Do you have any questions?
24 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Questions for
25 Lydia? This is an action item. As she said,
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53
1 requires motion for approval and it's a candidate
2 for the consent agenda. So I'd ask for a motion
3 to approve for the consent agenda, please.
4 VICE-CHAIR DINKINS: So moved.
5 (Motion passed unanimously.)
6 AGENDA ITEM NO. 7: ACTION - AMENDMENT TO
7 ARTWORK APPROVAL.
8 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Item Number 6
9 is an action item -- Thank you very much, Lydia --
10 Amendment to the Artwork Approval, and Frances
11 Stiles. Number 7. Excuse me.
12 MS. STILES: Good morning. My name
13 is Frances Stiles, and I'm with the Administrative
14 Resources Division. This item, the Amendment to
15 Artwork Approval, should be a brief housekeeping
16 item. At the November Commission meeting, there
17 were four pieces of artwork presented for approval
18 from Collectors Covey. Shortly thereafter,
19 Mr. Quinn encountered a conflict with the use of
20 the nongame artwork. The nongame artwork had been
21 offered to a Canadian publishing company to
22 Collectors Covey at about the same time.
23 The publishing firm did purchase
24 that artwork, and that created a conflict with the
25 copyright use for Collectors Covey. To
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54
1 accommodate Collectors Covey, the artist did offer
2 three additional prints to Collectors Covey as a
3 substitute.
4 And out of the three items this item
5 here is the Loggerhead Shrike was accepted by
6 Collectors Covey as the substitute for the nongame
7 artwork. The previous nongame artwork was the
8 Loggerheaded -- not the Loggerheaded -- it was the
9 Long-Billed Curlew. And if the Commission
10 approves the substitution, the print artwork from
11 Collectors Covey would consist of the four items
12 that are up on the screen. That's about it. If
13 all have any questions...
14 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Comments or
15 questions from the Commission?
16 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: I move
17 approval of the change.
18 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Second.
19 COMMISSIONER HEATH: I have a motion
20 and a second, and I would ask that those be for
21 the consent agenda.
22 CHAIRMAN BASS: Consent agenda.
23 COMMISSIONER HEATH: Thank you. All
24 in favor? All opposed?
25 (Motion passed unanimously.)
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55
1 COMMISSIONER HEATH: And that's our
2 last item. Item number 8 is just other business.
3 Is there any other business to come before this
4 committee? If not, the Finance Committee adjourns
5 and Mr. Chairman?
6 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you.
7 *-*-*-*-*
8 (MEETING ADJOURNED.)
9 *-*-*-*-*
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56
1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 STATE OF TEXAS )
3 COUNTY OF TRAVIS )
4 I, MELODY RENEE DeYOUNG, a Certified
5 Court Reporter in and for the State of Texas, do
6 hereby certify that the above and foregoing 55
7 pages constitute a full, true and correct
8 transcript of the minutes of the Texas Parks &
9 Wildlife Commission on JANUARY 24, 2001, in the
10 commission hearing room of the Texas Parks &
11 Wildlife Headquarters Complex, Austin, Travis
12 County, Texas.
13 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a stenographic
14 record was made by me at the time of the public
15 meeting and said stenographic notes were
16 thereafter reduced to computerized transcription
17 under my supervision and control.
18 WITNESS MY HAND this the 24th day of
19 February, 2001.
20
21
MELODY RENEE DeYOUNG, RPR, CSR NO. 3226
22 Expiration Date: 12-31-02
3101 Bee Caves Road
23 Centre II, Suite 220
Austin, Texas 78746
24 (512) 328-5557
25 EBS NO.