(Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee
Jan. 16, 2002
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
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5 BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on the 16th day
6 of January 2002, there came on to be heard matters
7 under the regulatory authority of the Parks and
8 Wildlife Commission of Texas, in the Commission
9 Hearing Room of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
10 Headquarters Complex, Austin, Texas, beginning at 9:00
11 a.m. to wit:
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APPEARANCES:
13 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
AD HOC INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE:
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CHAIR: Katharine Armstrong Idsal, San Antonio, Texas
15 Donato D. Ramos, Laredo, Texas
Philip Montgomery, III, Dallas, Texas
16 Ernest Angelo, Jr., Midland, Texas
John Avila, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas (Absent)
17 Alvin L. Henry, Houston, Texas (Absent)
Mark Watson, Jr., San Antonio, Texas (Absent)
18 Joseph Fitzsimmons, San Antonio, Texas
19 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
Robert L. Cook, Interim Executive Director, and other
20 personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department
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ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
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1 JANUARY 16, 2002
2 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: I will convene the
3 Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee.
4 CHAIRMAN IDSAL: Hold on. Donato Ramos
5 will chair the Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee today.
6 Mr. Avila will be arriving after the meeting today.
7 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: I call the -- I
8 convene Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee meeting to
9 order. And the first order of business is the
10 approval of the committee minutes from the previous
11 meeting, and I'll entertain a motion regarding that.
12 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: Approved.
13 COMMISSIONER MONTGOMERY: Second.
14 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: All in favor, say
15 Aye.
16 ALL COMMISSIONERS: Aye.
17 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: None opposed.
18 (No Response.)
19 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Okay. The second
20 item of business are the Chairman's Charges.
21 Mr. Cook?
22 MR. COOK: Thank you very much. Ad Hoc
23 Infrastructure Committee, one of our charges was to
24 prepare for and execute the upcoming bond issue. And
25 Mr. Scott Boruff is going address that very topic with
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 us as our single agenda item.
2 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Okay. Go ahead,
3 Mr. Boruff.
4 MR. BORUFF: Madam Chair and
5 Commissioners. My name is Scott Boruff, Director of
6 the infrastructure division. I want talk to you today
7 about Proposition 8 a little bit and let you know
8 where we are.
9 Briefly to set the stage historically
10 here, as you probably are aware, back in 1996 in light
11 of about a decade of virtual total neglect of our
12 facilities there was a task force assembled. That
13 task force identified $75 million in critical backlog
14 capital repairs that were necessary to bring the
15 facilities of the parks and wildlife management areas
16 and fisheries up to par.
17 The 75th Legislature authorized issuance
18 of $60 million of those bonds over four years. The
19 last of those were just issued in January. So we're
20 using up the last of that $60 million, which, of
21 course, left a $15 million balance relative to that
22 particular Infrastructure Task Force report. And as
23 you know, we were lucky enough on November the 6th to
24 have the voters approve a constitutional amendment
25 authorizing General Obligation bonds. And out of that
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 particular GO bond we will receive $101.5 million.
2 There really are two sets good news here
3 as far as I'm concerned. Of course, the first is that
4 we have $101 million to continue the critical repairs
5 and to try to address the major capital issues that
6 are facing us here. And as you see here, the
7 Legislature did fund the remaining $15 million. It
8 also gave us an additional $54 million for ongoing
9 scheduled repairs that have accumulated since 1996.
10 I think there's a particular interesting
11 point here. And that is, I think, particularly in the
12 last session, but in both the last two sessions we've
13 been trying to aggressively educate the legislature to
14 the scope of our capital needs within the agency. And
15 the number that we've been using down there is about
16 $10 million a year is the infrastructure division's
17 estimate as to what it would take to maintain the more
18 than half a billion dollars in assets that are sitting
19 on 120 state parks, and 52 wildlife management areas,
20 and eight or nine fisheries. And so I think there was
21 some pretty good recognition there; we must have made
22 a dent, because that $54 million represents a
23 five-and-a-half-year time span, which they recognized
24 about a $10 million a year accumulation of additional
25 capital needs.
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 So we got the $15 million to wrap up the
2 old $75 million; we got $54 million to address the
3 repairs that have grown up in the last five years; and
4 then they also gave us $32.5 million for specific
5 parks that they identified, and those parks you'll see
6 on this slide. There are five of them. Probably, the
7 two largest in terms of the dollars that were
8 forwarded to us through Proposition 8 are the
9 Battleship $12.5 million; the San Jacinto Monument
10 $12.25 million roughly; Lake Sheldon $2.5 million;
11 Admiral Nimitz $1.1 million; and the Levi Jordan
12 Plantation $4.1 million.
13 This money will come to Parks and
14 Wildlife in three different traunches, if you will, or
15 three different issues. The first would be this
16 coming September. And you can see the breakdown
17 there. They are giving us the $15 million for the
18 critical backlog immediately this September. You'll
19 notice in there, again, reflected in the scheduled
20 repair line -- and we've broken this down, as you can
21 see, by biennium. And so they essentially gave us
22 $8 million a year in the first biennium, that's 16
23 that you see; the second biennium they gave us
24 $9 million a year; and then the third biennium they
25 gave us $10 million a year. There again, I think this
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 is good news for us in, at least, somebody heard us
2 talking down there in terms of about a $10 million a
3 year need.
4 And then you can see the way the money
5 for those five specific project falls out. And I
6 won't take time to identify that; that's in your
7 packet there. But the bottom line is, we should this
8 September get about $36.5 million; the following
9 September $34.2 million; two Septembers after that in
10 '05 we'll get the remaining $30 million.
11 As for process, this April in a couple
12 months here the final -- we are -- we have currently
13 received the list from all the divisions for their
14 capital wish list, if you will. Those lists are being
15 prioritized at this point and will be finalized in
16 April and forwarded to Mr. Cook in the executive
17 office for approval. The following month at the May
18 Commission Meeting that list will be coming to you for
19 approval.
20 We then in June go to TPFA and the bond
21 review board to make sure that they give final
22 approval on those projects. Then we will come back to
23 you in August for your final endorsement on that, and
24 then the first traunch of money will be released in
25 September. That's it. How's that for a briefing?
ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Very impressive to
2 have those funds available. Any comments?
3 Questions?
4 COMMISSIONER FITZSIMONS: What a
5 difference a bond makes.
6 CHAIRMAN IDSAL: Any questions?
7 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Any questions from
8 anyone?
9 (No Response.)
10 COMMISSIONER RAMOS: Okay. That was a
11 briefing item, so that concludes the Committee
12 report.
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ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 THE STATE OF TEXAS )
COUNTY OF BEXAR )
2
3 I, DICIE LEE EYTCHESON, a Certified
4 Court Reporter in and for the State of Texas, do
5 hereby certify that the above and foregoing 7 pages
6 constitute a full, true, and correct transcript of the
7 minutes of the TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION on
8 JANUARY 16, 2002, in the Commission Hearing Room of
9 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters Complex,
10 Austin, Travis County, Texas.
11 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a
12 stenographic record was made by me at the time of the
13 public meeting and said stenographic notes were
14 thereafter reduced to computerized transcription under
15 my supervision and control.
16 WITNESS MY HAND this the day of
17 , 2002.
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20 DICIE LEE EYTCHESON, Texas CSR 5392
Expiration Date: 12/2002
21 7800 IH-10 West, Suite 100
San Antonio, Texas 78230
22 (210) 377-3027
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ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.
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1 _______________________
DONATO D. RAMOS, CHAIR
2
3 ______________________
JOSEPH FITZSIMONS
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5 ______________________
ERNEST ANGELO, JR.
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______________________
8 PHILLIP MONTGOMERY, III
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______________________
10 KATHARINE ARMSTRONG IDSAL
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ESQUIRE DEPOSITION SERVICES, INC.
7800 IH-10 WEST, SUITE 100, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78230
(210)377-3027 (800)969-3027 FAX (210)344-6016
.