Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee
November 17, 1999
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
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8 BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on
9 the 17th day of November 1999, there came on
10 to be heard matters under the regulatory
11 authority of the Parks and Wildlife Commission
12 of Texas, in the commission hearing room of
13 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters
14 complex, Austin, Travis County, Texas,
15 beginning at 11:25 a.m. to wit:
16
APPEARANCES:
17 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
18 AD HOC INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE:
CHAIR: John Avila, Jr.
19 Lee M. Bass
Ernest Angelo, Jr.
20 Carol E. Dinkins
Dick Heath (absent)
21 Alvin L. Henry (absent)
Katharine Armstrong Idsal
22 Nolan Ryan
Mark E. Watson, Jr.
23
24
THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
25 Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director
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1 NOVEMBER 17, 1999
2 MORNING SESSION: 11:25 a.m.
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4 AD HOC INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
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6 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Thank you
7 and we'll move now to the infrastructure.
8 COMMISSIONER AVILA: I call to
9 order the meeting of the Ad Hoc Infrastructure
10 Committee. And we will start with a motion --
11 a request for a motion for approval of the
12 minutes from our last meeting.
13 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: So move.
14 COMMISSIONER WATSON: Second.
15 COMMISSIONER AVILA: I have a
16 motion and a second. All those in favor say
17 aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
18 (Motion passed unanimously.)
19 AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: BRIEFING - CAPITAL PROGRAM
20 STATUS REPORT.
21 COMMISSIONER AVILA: I'll hear a
22 briefing from Mr. Patton.
23 MR. PATTON: Mr. Chairman,
24 Committee Members, my name for the record is
25 Dan Patton. I'm the director of the
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1 infrastructure division. Today we'll be
2 giving a quick briefing on the Capital
3 Program, and then we have an action item at
4 the end of it.
5 (Brief pause - technical difficulties.)
6 MR. PATTON: All right. Let's move
7 on. We'll be talking about the Capital
8 Programs, some upcoming projects as we like to
9 talk about in some of our program highlights.
10 As you know, we are well into our bond
11 program. We've got two issues today of $30
12 million. We're looking at our next issue in
13 January or February of another $20 million.
14 The '98 bond issue of $12 million which
15 was issued last March is well underway. We've
16 completed over 47 projects, which is more than
17 50 percent of our total 91 projects. All of
18 our projects are in some phase of design or
19 construction.
20 FY '99 bond program of $18 million issued
21 this past January, 142 projects, we've got
22 almost half of them in design. We've
23 completed six of them to date. So we're very
24 confident of our progress in this area, too.
25 Last year, fiscal year, we had a goal of
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1 about $18 million to spend over that period.
2 We exceeded that by a million already. We
3 moved our goal up to $20 million this year,
4 and as you can see, we're already well ahead
5 of that projection for total expenditures.
6 As I mentioned, we've got -- y'all
7 approved the Capital Program for FY 2000 last
8 session. This is how it breaks out: A $50
9 million program, $21 million is major repair,
10 20 of that was that bond that will be issued
11 in February. A lot of this has already
12 started.
13 The FY 2000 Bond Program: $20 million,
14 which we anticipate will be issued in February
15 of 2000. We've already met with the TPFA for
16 our initial presentation. They have approved
17 expenditures or authorization of this bond
18 program.
19 Next step will go to Bond Review Board in
20 December. We have just -- what I'm showing
21 you here is a total of 127 projects and the
22 breakdown for each one of those.
23 When this money is issued, we'll have
24 over $90 million and over 600 active projects
25 that we'll be tracking as a division. And as
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1 I mentioned, this is just some highlights of
2 projects that are going on around the state.
3 As you travel out there to some of our Parks
4 and Wildlife management areas, fisheries,
5 please stop by and talk with our staff and see
6 what's going on out there. This is also in
7 your package.
8 Also, I want to take a few minutes just
9 to highlight some specific projects. When you
10 go out to Fort Davis at Indian Lodge, we have
11 about $750,000 worth of work going on out
12 there. We're renovating some work. We have a
13 force account crew out there. They are -- in
14 these slides here, you can see them doing some
15 work on the ceilings. They are actually
16 cutting cottonwood strips into lattillas and
17 binding them to the ceiling as was originally
18 constructed back in the '30's by CCC. This
19 also includes about $500,000 worth of asbestos
20 abatement.
21 Magoffin House in El Paso -- we've got an
22 El Paso contractor working on this removing
23 the plaster finish to its original
24 configuration. It's about $100,000. And that
25 is being contracted out.
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1 You'll get a tour after lunch hopefully
2 of our new fitness center that's outside.
3 It's significantly complete, other than just
4 some additional workout equipment. I wanted
5 to show you that majority of this, about 90
6 percent of this was done solely by volunteers
7 from this agency. We've had probably over a
8 hundred people show up over the past couple of
9 years to help out on this. So it's been
10 time-consuming, but it's more rewarding when
11 you see the finished product out there,
12 realizing that it was done by mostly
13 volunteers.
14 MR. SANSOM: We are going to ask
15 y'all after lunch to walk out and take a look
16 at the facility. It began with a surplus
17 house from Bergstrom Air Force Base that
18 was -- we acquired at no cost the house from
19 Bergstrom, and the employees have basically
20 built it to what is it today.
21 MR. PATTON: The picture you see up
22 top is the preparation, the groundwork. They
23 put in the utilities before the slab was
24 poured. And then the next slide, as Andy
25 mentioned, it was a house from the Bergstrom
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1 Air Force Base. You can see in the top left
2 corner how it was stripped out and its
3 condition when we first received it on site.
4 It was out of alignment, old materials that
5 had to be replaced, just it wasn't a pleasant
6 working environment the first few months. But
7 we gutted it, and then now you see the
8 finished condition. The only thing that's not
9 current in that picture is we do have a new
10 work surface, new floor in that workout area
11 on the right-hand side. It's a rubberized
12 material that it will make it easy on the
13 aerobics class and the free weight groups. So
14 we're in good shape.
15 We also have showers, men's and women's
16 showers in the rest rooms, three per side,
17 plus a handicapped shower for the men and
18 women's rest room. And you can see the work
19 that was done there.
20 And then moving on back to our field
21 customers. We did some work down in Galveston
22 Island State Park. This was a $1.8 million
23 wetland restoration, and it's a grant funded
24 field project. We're just leading the
25 contract and construction administration,
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1 working out with the field staff on this
2 project.
3 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: The grant is
4 growing. I looked at it. It's looking good.
5 MR. PATTON: And leading into your
6 trip for your retreat on Thursday, at
7 Commissioner Dinkin's request, we've set up a
8 tour of the site, the work that's going on out
9 there with the force account crew. Our
10 project manager, construction manager will be
11 on site to lead you through that with the
12 customer and give you some background. I
13 think the architect will also be out there and
14 talk about the historical significance, the
15 work that was done by CCC and how we've worked
16 to replicate what they did.
17 Any questions on the Capital Program?
18 We've got an action item that I'd like to
19 move into, if that's okay.
20 COMMISSIONER RYAN: Dan, let me ask
21 you about the ADA deal. When this project is
22 completely over, how many facilities you think
23 we're going to have that still aren't ADA
24 approved?
25 MR. PATTON: That's a little hard
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1 for me to address right now.
2 COMMISSIONER RYAN: Will there be
3 quite a few?
4 MR. PATTON: There's still quite a
5 few. We have been working with the ADA
6 community. That was asked at actually at the
7 TPFA board meeting. They asked will this
8 money address all of your ADA requirements. I
9 said -- I was honest with them -- I said it
10 wouldn't. We've identified five -- in the TF
11 report that was done three years ago, we
12 identified about $5 million of critical ADA
13 needs. We're funding about 4 and a half
14 million of those through this program.
15 What we're trying to do is reach a
16 compromise where we have at least one rest
17 room at a state park that's ADA accessible,
18 one campsite, or one or two campsites per loop
19 and things like that. And then we'll go in
20 with more money, and hopefully in the future
21 we're able to identify what those needs are,
22 shortfalls are and get more funding. We just
23 didn't have enough money with this bond money
24 to go around, address the critical repairs
25 plus the ADA needs.
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1 COMMISSIONER RYAN: But we will at
2 every site have some ADA accessibility.
3 MR. PATTON: That's what we're
4 working at. I don't know if I can guarantee
5 right now that every site has an ADA
6 accessible. But as we dealt with the video
7 conference that Lydia set up and the many
8 follow-up meetings that we've had with our
9 constituents, we've been focusing on a
10 facility ADA access where we look at -- we've
11 been looking at parking lots and rest rooms.
12 People want trails. They want the
13 interpretive loops and things like that. So
14 it's a much greater need out there than we
15 first anticipated.
16 MR. SANSOM: And the meaning of
17 that is that it really is like a moving
18 target. I mean, it's really not defined.
19 It's -- but we -- I think thanks to Dan and
20 Lydia and others -- a number of us went up to
21 Dallas the other evening to meet with the
22 members of the disabled community -- they feel
23 pretty good about at least the fact that we're
24 making an annual commitment to it of a
25 sizeable nature. And it's showing a
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1 difference in the facilities.
2 COMMISSIONER RYAN: Well, our focus
3 is on rest rooms and parking lots mainly?
4 MR. PATTON: That was what it
5 originally was, sir, but from these public
6 hearings, we've realized that we need to
7 expand or at least communicate. I think each
8 one of the divisions had its own ADA focus.
9 And what we've tried to do is consolidate
10 that, and we do have an ADA committee at the
11 agency level that I chair that receives all
12 this input.
13 But it is getting more into the
14 interpretive aspects of it at -- Brazos Bend
15 is a prime example. They want more of that at
16 other state parks. But from a facility
17 perspective and infrastructure, we've been
18 trying to get them out of the parking lots,
19 down the sidewalk to the visitor center, rest
20 room, and that's all we've gotten to. How do
21 they get out and enjoy what everybody else is
22 enjoying is their perspective.
23 Any further questions on Capital Program?
24 AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: ACTION - NEGOTIATED
25 CONTRACTS.
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1 MR. PATTON: The action item we
2 have is regarding negotiating contracts. And
3 as I think most of you know, we've had a
4 two-year strategy to improve our efficiencies
5 and organization in the contracting realm. We
6 sat down with head of our contracting Frank
7 Pulis, and Jayna's staff worked together to
8 put a strategy together this past legislative
9 session to get authority for negotiated
10 contracts. That was referred to as Senate
11 Bill 874, and that did pass in session.
12 It's two-pronged. It addresses my
13 division in particular as far as negotiated
14 contracts with consultants and contractors.
15 In our organization, we have what they call a
16 design-bid-build format. It's very
17 restrictive when we're trying to get the 600
18 plus projects that we're currently managing
19 when all that work has to come back into my
20 office. And so what we're trying to do is
21 find more efficient ways of outsourcing this
22 work. Construction management, project
23 management, design-build are those methods and
24 they're referred to as negotiated contracts.
25 So that does allow us to do that now.
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1 The next one was also confirming our
2 authority to negotiate or set up agreements
3 with other agencies, which already have with
4 TxDOT, TDCJ and several other state agencies,
5 but this just confirms our authority.
6 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Dan, let me
7 ask this question. Go back to the other
8 slide. By that, do we mean project
9 management, design-build, is that
10 design/design-build?
11 MR. PATTON: Design-build is one of
12 the methods. There are multiple methods.
13 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Okay. And
14 construction management.
15 MR. PATTON: Construction
16 management at risk.
17 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Construction
18 management agent.
19 MR. PATTON: Agent. We just want
20 to confirm that we have authority to enter
21 into any type of contract we chose in the
22 design construction process.
23 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Which mirrors
24 what UT is doing.
25 MR. PATTON: UT, private sector,
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1 federal agencies. Primarily it's aligned
2 after private sector and federal agencies.
3 There are some other state agencies that have
4 taken this initiative, but we just wanted to
5 have that flexibility.
6 MR. SANSOM: The way I guess, Dan
7 and John, and correct me if I'm wrong, it
8 allows us to bundle, you know, functions in
9 the construction process which previously we
10 would have to get in, rebid out, go through
11 procurement again and then go out again. So
12 it expedites our process by allowing us to
13 fund individual contracts.
14 COMMISSIONER AVILA: And it
15 leverages the staff of those private companies
16 and reduces the staff time of our agency.
17 MR. PATTON: Exactly. And just one
18 more clarification in the design-bid-build,
19 when we negotiated a contract with a
20 consultant, say for an architect or an
21 engineer, we can negotiate that contract, but
22 then those construction documents, the plans
23 and specifications have to come back into our
24 office, all hundred to several hundred of
25 them, and then we have to publicly bid those
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1 out. And so my contracting staff has to
2 review all that work, and our professional
3 staff has to review all that work and then
4 contract out, review the lowest bidder, sign
5 another contract and handle that.
6 This allows us to enter into a negotiated
7 contract up front with one entity, and they
8 manage it all the way through the entire
9 process with interface with our professional
10 staff.
11 COMMISSIONER AVILA: It transfers
12 the risk to them.
13 MR. PATTON: To some extent, yes,
14 sir. Under the terms of 874, it authorized us
15 to enter into the contracts as I mentioned,
16 and then also negotiate with other federal and
17 state governments.
18 There are several rules that were -- that
19 we have to implement. They were published in
20 the Texas Register on October 15th. They've
21 been published for 30 days. We have received
22 no comments to date, as of November 15th.
23 Copies of these proposed rules were furnished
24 in your packets. Hopefully you have those.
25 Staff recommends the following motion to
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1 be adopted.
2 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Is this a
3 candidate for the agenda?
4 MR. PATTON: Yes, sir. I was going
5 to recommend it for consent agenda.
6 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: I have a
7 question. It says in the provision about the
8 waiver that the -- when it is determined that
9 the work be accomplished by one or more
10 selected sources in accordance with
11 established approved criteria, where are those
12 established approved criteria?
13 MR. PATTON: I don't have that in
14 front of me. Is Frank here? Jayna can defer
15 to hers.
16 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: It's §61.21,
17 and it doesn't cross-reference where the
18 established criteria are, and I just wondered
19 do they exist already?
20 MR. PATTON: This is Frank Pulis,
21 director of contracting and project controls.
22 MR. PULIS: Good morning. The
23 section you're asking a question about is
24 actually not a part of the new rule. That is
25 a part of our previous rules. That is
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1 authority that Mr. Sansom had as the executive
2 director. Those criteria would be established
3 on a case-by-case basis and documented at the
4 time we chose to exercise that authority.
5 We have not used that authority for
6 projects over a hundred thousand. We've only
7 used it for projects under a hundred thousand
8 where we have the ability to waive sealed
9 bidding and go with selected sources as well.
10 COMMISSIONER AVILA: But an example
11 of that would be like University of Texas
12 system with the Blanton Museum, the criteria
13 was set up where it's -- the firm needs to
14 have done some museums and have museum
15 experience, must have done a project of $20
16 million or larger. And so you set individual
17 criteria for the project so that when we are
18 going out -- we're not being restrictive,
19 we're just being selective so that we're
20 getting an experienced firm for whatever their
21 project may be.
22 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: Who will
23 approve the criteria when they are
24 established?
25 MR. PULIS: The executive director
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1 would approve those and it would be a
2 case-by-case basis whenever we choose to
3 exercise that authority, but the -- that
4 authority has not been used to date, and we
5 anticipate using the negotiated authority
6 which is provided for under Senate Bill 874.
7 We think it gives us more flexibility and
8 allows us to use the best practices that are
9 used in the industry. We could -- and this
10 would take each case for us to establish a
11 special situation, outline the criteria and
12 run that through the staff here and get the
13 executive director's approval to do that, but
14 we would still have to bid the work in that
15 the intent under this section is although we
16 don't bid it in the absolute broad sense, we
17 still try to get more competition. We don't
18 go with just one source. It's a selected
19 source.
20 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: You said in
21 the past this has been for under $100,000.
22 MR. PULIS: No. If you'll -- and
23 I'm not sure which page it's on in your
24 presentation. Unfortunately, the materials
25 you have are just an extract of the rules, and
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1 the rule I'm referring to is not published in
2 your text.
3 COMMISSIONER DINKINS: But it will
4 apply or could be used over $100,000.
5 MR. PULIS: Yes. Yes. This rule
6 could be. We've chosen not to do that in the
7 past.
8 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Well, it's
9 going to apply to anything over $100,000.
10 It's going to have to.
11 MR. PULIS: The new rules which
12 allow for competitive negotiation, yes, sir.
13 In fact, it doesn't make sense to even
14 consider it on small projects. You've got to
15 be up well over a half million dollars before
16 it makes sense.
17 MR. PATTON: That was the intent of
18 the design-build and the construction
19 management. Large, new centers that we build,
20 million dollar projects, that's the efficient
21 time to use those.
22 COMMISSIONER AVILA: And those
23 projects that are under a hundred thousand,
24 we'll either be doing a force account or still
25 competitively bid.
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1 MR. PATTON: Still contracting
2 because we're out in remote sites and we need
3 to --
4 COMMISSIONER AVILA: And you won't
5 get the -- won't be a lot of people pursuing
6 those in a negotiated fashion. They just bid
7 it.
8 MR. PATTON: So the recommendation
9 still stands to adopt this motion with it
10 being moved to the consent agenda tomorrow.
11 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Do I have a
12 motion?
13 COMMISSIONER WATSON: So move.
14 COMMISSIONER RYAN: Second.
15 COMMISSIONER AVILA: All those in
16 favor. Opposed? Motion carries.
17 (Motion passed unanimously.)
18 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Anything else,
19 Dan?
20 MR. PATTON: I hope you-all enjoy
21 your trip to Caddo and see the work that's
22 going on. It's a great project.
23 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Any other
24 questions for the infrastructure?
25 Okay. Then that concludes our meeting of
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1 the Infrastructure Committee.
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5 AD HOC INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE ADJOURNED
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1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2
3 COUNTY OF TRAVIS X
4 THE STATE OF TEXAS X
5 I, Rachelle Latino, certified shorthand
6 reporter for the State of Texas, do hereby
7 certify that the above and foregoing 21 pages
8 constitutes a full, true and correct
9 transcript of the minutes of the Texas Parks
10 and Wildlife Commission on November 17, 1999,
11 in the commission hearing room of the Texas
12 Parks and Wildlife Headquarters Complex,
13 Travis County, Texas.
14 I further certify that a stenographic
15 record was made by me at the time of the
16 public meeting and said stenographic notes
17 were thereafter reduced to computerized
18 transcription under my direction and control.
19 Witness my hand this, the 8th day of
20 January 2000.
21
22
23 Rachelle Latino
Certified Shorthand Reporter
24 State of Texas
Certificate No. 6771
25 Expires: 12-31-01