Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee
April 5, 2000
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 5th day of April 2000, there came on to be heard
9 matters under the regulatory authority of the
10 Parks and Wildlife Commission of Texas, in the
11 Commission Hearing Room of the Texas Parks and
12 Wildlife Headquarters complex, Austin, Travis
13 County, Texas, beginning at 4:55 p.m., to wit:
14
15
APPEARANCES:
16 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
AD HOC INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE:
17 Chair: John Avila, Jr.
Lee M. Bass (absent)
18 Carol E. Dinkins
Dick W. Heath
19 Nolan Ryan
Ernest Angelo, Jr.
20 Alvin L. Henry
Katharine Armstrong Idsal
21 Mark E. Watson, Jr.
22 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director, and other
23 personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department
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25
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1 APRIL 5, 2000
2
3 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Thank you. I
4 call to order the meeting of the Ad Hoc
5 Infrastructure Committee. The first order of
6 business is I need approval of the committee
7 meeting minutes from our last Commissioners
8 Meeting. Do I have motion?
9 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So moved.
10 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Second.
11 COMMISSIONER AVILA: All those in
12 favor, say aye.
13 COMMISSION MEMBERS: Aye.
14 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Those opposed,
15 say nay. The motion carries.
16 Steve Whiston will give us a
17 briefing on our projects and expenditures.
18 ITEM NO. 2 - BRIEFING - CAPITAL PROGRAM UPDATE.
19 MR. WHISTON: Thank you,
20 Mr. Chairman and Members. My name is Steve
21 Whiston. I'm the Deputy Director of the
22 Infrastructure Division.
23 In the interest of time, I'll try
24 to be as brief as possible, but please don't
25 hesitate if you need more detail or have questions
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1 to speak. Please speak up.
2 I'm pleased this afternoon to be
3 able to brief you on and share with you a summary
4 of our progress with the $60 million bond program
5 as well as the status of the Department's total
6 capital program. That includes all active
7 projects funded from both bond and non-bond
8 funding sources.
9 As you know, 91 projects were
10 funded with the first issue of $12 million in
11 March of '98. Sixty-one of those projects are now
12 complete, and 26 are nearing the final stages of
13 construction. Only one project still remains in
14 design. And today we've expended from that issue,
15 that original issue, $9.3 million.
16 The '99 bond program was issued in
17 January of last year and consisted of 142 projects
18 for a total of $18 million. $5.3 Million has been
19 expended to date. That represents 13 projects
20 that are now complete, 65 in construction, 53 in
21 design, and 11 projects that are currently being
22 bid are in the pipeline. All these projects that
23 make up this issue are on schedule and should be
24 completed within the 30-month expenditure period
25 for this issue.
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1 The third and most recent issue of
2 $20 million that you approved last August as a
3 part of the 2000 capital program was made
4 available this past February. Of the 125
5 projects, already three have been designed and are
6 in construction; five are out for bids currently;
7 and 65 projects are now being designed by outside
8 consultants or by our in-house staff.
9 This, as I'm sure you will note, is
10 the busiest time for us over the course of this
11 bond program, this $60 million issue. We are
12 concurrently managing three separate issues at
13 this point, as our staff does have their hands
14 full, but I feel like they're being very
15 successful with it.
16 Next I'd like to report on the
17 total capital program to date. We currently have
18 a total of 686 active projects budgeted at almost
19 $82 million. If you recall, we set a goal for
20 ourselves to spend $20 million this fiscal year.
21 To meet that goal, we projected an expenditure
22 requirement of $9.8 million by the end of March.
23 Luckily, we have been able to spend $12.2
24 million, which represents a $2.4 million increase
25 over our goal.
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1 Based on our progress today, we
2 fully expect we will well exceed our year-end goal
3 of $20 million by this August. And in doing so, I
4 really feel like it's important that I commend my
5 staff and commend, as well, and equally as
6 importantly, the staff of all the other divisions,
7 both at the Headquarters and in the field, who
8 have worked together with our staff as partners in
9 getting this program done and accomplished; and
10 they have all done a very remarkable job.
11 I guess lastly I'd just like to
12 conclude by sharing a couple of brief slides of a
13 couple of upcoming projects.
14 If you're in the neighborhood of
15 the project, we're getting ready to start by a
16 $175,000 cabin roof repair at Bastrop State Park.
17 And, lastly, later this summer by
18 contract we're going to engage in the renovation
19 of the Headquarters at Enchanted Rock State Park.
20 So if you're in the vicinity, I would certainly
21 invite you to stop by and take a look at some of
22 the progress and our opportunity to fix these up
23 right.
24 I'll be happy to answer any
25 questions.
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1 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Steve, I only
2 have two, and that was on the next fiscal. Would
3 that be the funding of the remaining $10 million
4 of the $60 million, and then --
5 MR. WHISTON: Yes, sir.
6 COMMISSIONER AVILA: And the
7 (inaudible) will continue building that, so it may
8 be a year, another year or 18 months, even, to
9 spend it all?
10 MR. WHISTON: Yes, sir, another two
11 and a half years after this final issue, which we
12 anticipate to be made available to us January a
13 year from now.
14 COMMISSIONER AVILA: And, of
15 course, I'm sure we want to go to the Legislature
16 to see whether we can get some --
17 MR. WHISTON: Yes, sir, that's our
18 hope.
19 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Okay. And
20 then are we currently using outsourcing by CM to
21 help put some of this in place?
22 MR. WHISTON: Yes, sir, we are. In
23 fact, I appreciate the question. We are in the
24 process right now of finalizing an agreement with
25 MHMR, a cooperative agreement, interagency
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1 agreement, with that agency to provide us with
2 additional construction management and project
3 management assistance to be concentrated in two
4 geographic areas of the State, primarily up in
5 Northeast and North Central Texas. But yes, sir,
6 we are trying to take full advantage and
7 leveraging these funds to be able to continue to
8 increase the amount of help and outsourcing to get
9 these done.
10 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Andy, do you
11 want to say something?
12 MR. SANSOM: I was just going to
13 say that the other part of this effort that I
14 think it's critical to keep reminding ourselves is
15 that when we went to the Legislature together and
16 got the funding for the critical repairs, we also
17 received additional funding that we are now
18 incorporationing into our annual budget --
19 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Right.
20 MR. SANSOM: -- for repairs, so
21 that hopefully we will not get back in that
22 situation again where we have such a large backlog
23 of critical repairs. And that funding has been
24 ongoing and is reflected in current capital
25 budget.
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1 MR. WHISTON: Yes, sir.
2 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Right. And
3 for my fellow members, that's the last charge that
4 goes with the capital program expenditures.
5 MR. WHISTON: Correct.
6 COMMISSIONER AVILA: So you don't
7 get the $60 million -- it's not just $60 million.
8 It's the other add-on.
9 MR. SANSOM: It's ongoing.
10 MR. WHISTON: Yes, sir.
11 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Okay. Thank
12 you, Steve, for a good briefing and an excellent
13 job reviewing.
14 Any questions? All right.
15 (SESSION ENDS)
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