Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee
November 6, 2002
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
7 BE IT REMEMBERED, that heretofore on the 6th day of
8 November, 2002, there came on to be heard matters under the
9 regulatory authority of the Parks and Wildlife Commission
10 of Texas, in the Commission Hearing Room of the Texas Parks
11 and Wildlife Headquarters Complex, beginning at 2:15 p.m.
12 to wit:
13 APPEARANCES:
14 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
15 AD HOC INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE:
16 Katharine Armstrong, Austin, Texas, Commission
17 Chair
18 Joseph B.C. Fitzsimons, San Antonio, Texas
19 Ernest Angelo, Jr., Midland, Texas
20 John Avila, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas
21 Alvin L. Henry, Houston, Texas, Committee Chair
22 Philip Montgomery, Dallas, Texas
23 Donato D. Ramos, Laredo, Texas
24 Kelly W. Rising, M.D., Beaumont, Texas
25 Mark W. Watson, Jr., San Antonio, Texas
26 THE TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
27 Robert L. Cook, Executive Director, and other personnel of
28 the Parks and Wildlife Department
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1 CHAIRMAN ARMSTRONG: We will now open the Ad
2 Hoc Committee on Infrastructure meeting.
3 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Okay. Thank you.
4 I call the meeting -- to order the meeting of
5 the Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee this November 6, 2002
6 at 2:10 p.m.
7 The first item of business is the approval of
8 the Committee minutes from May 29, 2002, because I don't
9 believe we had a meeting the last Commission meeting.
10 Do I have a motion?
11 COMMISSIONER ANGELO: I would so move.
12 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Do I have a second?
13 COMMISSIONER RISING: Second.
14 COMMISSIONER AVILA: All in favor say aye.
15 (A chorus of ayes.)
16 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Bob, is there any update
17 to the Chairman's charges?
18 MR. COOK: Yes, sir.
19 On our charge to successfully complete existing
20 bond issue and prepare for and execute our upcoming bond
21 issue, Steve Whiston will report to the Commission on our
22 bond program.
23 We continue to make good progress in all areas
24 of our capital program, and I am particularly proud of
25 our response to the recent flood damage. State parks and
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1 wildlife management areas received over $4.9 million in
2 damages, but, because of quick response by facilities
3 staff, force account crews and the infrastructure staff,
4 we incurred only minimum loss in revenue and in most
5 cases were back up and operational within 48 hours.
6 Also, to track and appropriately manage the
7 Lonestar Legacy Development projects, I am happy to
8 announce that construction contracts for the Bentsen site
9 of the world birding [phonetic] center have been let and
10 that construction will commence as soon as the ground is
11 dry enough to go to work.
12 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Hallelujah. Okay. Thank
13 you, Mr. Cook.
14 Steve Whiston?
15 MR. WHISTON: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
16 Chairman Armstrong and Commissioners. For the record, my
17 name is Steve Whiston; I'm the Acting Director of the
18 Infrastructure Division. The purpose of today's
19 Committee briefing is to update you on our current
20 capital program.
21 Our focus for the beginning of this fiscal year
22 has been aimed at completing the $60 million revenue bond
23 program authorized by the 74th Legislature for statewide
24 critical repairs, as well as gearing up for the $36.68
25 million issue of general obligation bond program that was
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1 approved as a part of Proposition 8 last November and
2 initiating the planning for the '04/'05 bond issue that
3 will be considered in the upcoming legislative session
4 beginning in January.
5 Our first revenue bond issue, as you'll recall,
6 was made available to us in FY '98. We've completed the
7 original 89 projects that were funded with that original
8 $12 million issue. Using the savings that we realized
9 from those projects along with another $176,000 in
10 interest income that we earned over the life of those
11 bonds, the Department has funded an additional nine
12 projects that are underway and that we expect to be
13 complete this coming March in 2003.
14 A couple of examples of some of the projects
15 that we completed with the '98 issue include, first, the
16 replacement of seven screen shelters at Blanco State
17 Park. This was an $80,000 project accomplished by our
18 Parks and Wildlife Force Account crew. The existing
19 shelters were completely torn down and then rebuilt,
20 bringing them all into compliance with the Americans with
21 Disabilities Act.
22 We completed, as well, with these funds the
23 renovation of a $300,000 project, the wastewater
24 treatment plant at Huntsville State Park. This project
25 included the replacement of the treatment plant, sewer
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1 lift stations and all the associated piping with that
2 facility.
3 In January of FY '99, the Department was issued
4 $18 million in revenue bonds for the FY '99 program. As
5 with the '98 issue, we are substantially complete with
6 that program. Only eight of the 133 projects that remain
7 are in the final stages of construction and are all
8 scheduled to be closed out in January or February of this
9 coming year, 2003.
10 Some examples of some of the projects from our
11 '99 issue include our boat dock improvement program.
12 Using $400,000 of the '99 bond proceeds and a grant of
13 $900,000 from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife, we replaced 11
14 courtesy boat docks at Fort Parker, shown here, as well
15 as Cedar Hill, Lake Livingston, Lake Ray Roberts and
16 Possum Kingdom State Park, just to name a few, for a
17 total of $1.3 million worth of boat dock repairs.
18 '99 bond funds were also used for the
19 renovation of the GCCA Marine Development Center. This
20 facility is located in Corpus Christi and was a former
21 metal hatchery building. Being in its Gulf Coast
22 location, it was obviously subject to pretty extensive
23 corrosive conditions. The 4,900-square-foot facility
24 was, obviously, pretty badly deteriorated. The building
25 was completely reconstructed. The exterior siding and
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1 doors were then replaced with a fiberglass reinforced
2 plastic material to prevent any further deterioration and
3 protect that building for the long haul.
4 The interior spaces were totally renovated at
5 the facility. We replaced a single restroom in the
6 former building with new men's and women's restrooms and
7 showers and provided a new ADA-accessible lab and kitchen
8 area.
9 As this graph indicates, we are about 52
10 percent complete with our 2000 revenue bond issue. We've
11 completed 58 of the original 111 projects but, at the
12 same time, expended about 82 percent of the funds of that
13 issue, or about $16-1/2 million of that $20 million
14 issue. We are on target with the issue, and we expect to
15 complete all of the 111 projects by mid-summer of next
16 year.
17 Some highlights of that 2000 issue include a
18 new headquarters and visitors center at Lake Somerville
19 State Park. We are really extremely proud of this new
20 facility. If you'll recall, in August of 2001, the
21 headquarters of Lake Somerville was struck by lightning
22 and burned down. This new headquarters was designed and
23 constructed using sustainable building design techniques
24 and standards.
25 Using environmentally appropriate materials, we
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1 tried to focus our efforts on reduced energy consumption,
2 water efficiency and interior and exterior air quality.
3 The images on the left and in the center in this
4 particular slide show some of the rainwater collection
5 tanks that were incorporated into the building in the
6 project.
7 We anticipate, because of our collective
8 efforts on this project on behalf of Parks and Wildlife,
9 to receive a gold rating from the U. S. Green Building
10 Council for innovation and leadership in energy and in
11 environmental design. So we're really, as I said, just
12 very proud and feel really great about the result of that
13 project.
14 In about a week, one of our infrastructure
15 division force account crews is scheduled to complete the
16 renovation of the rec. hall, an historic CCC structure at
17 Caddo Lake State Park in northeast Texas. Our crew
18 replaced the roof, rebuilt the porch and entry, we
19 provided new H/V/AC electrical systems, new fire alarms,
20 and completely gutted and restored the interior to match
21 the original CCC construction, as well as making the
22 building accessible for ADA.
23 At the Devil's Sink Hole State Natural Area in
24 west Texas, our crew there constructed a new observation
25 platform, a really unique project that I thought you
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1 might be interested in seeing a little bit about, a new
2 platform to provide public access to view the sink hole
3 and watch the bat flights coming out of the sink hole.
4 This is a $110,000 project that also included new barrier
5 fencing, trail construction and new toilet facilities.
6 Our last revenue bond issue was made available
7 to us in FY '01 for 13.5 million. All of the 74 projects
8 in that issue are, as well, underway in design and
9 construction; 10 percent are complete, and we expect to
10 complete the remaining projects in early FY '04.
11 A couple of sample projects of the 2001 program
12 include the renovation of the Dickinson Regional Office
13 facility. This is an office facility for coastal
14 fisheries and resource protection divisions in the
15 Department.
16 This project included extensive exterior
17 repairs, as well as ADA improvements. It also included
18 the complete interior renovation of the facility to
19 provide new restrooms, new reception areas and lobbies,
20 conference and classroom space, as well as office space,
21 for a project cost of about $575,000. And this project
22 was completed last -- May of this year.
23 And last, but not least, another project we're
24 real proud of and wanted to share with you is the
25 renovation of the guest rooms at Indian Lodge at Fort
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1 Davis State Park, another great project executed by our
2 force account program, where they went in and removed all
3 the asbestos, restored all the original ceilings and wood
4 floors in the guest rooms at the lodge, provided new
5 operable wood shutters and remodeled the bathrooms.
6 In addition, our crews restored all the
7 exterior porches to some of the rooms, as well as to the
8 registration and gift shop; we constructed ADA walkways
9 and landscaped the facility with native plants. And it
10 turned out really well, we think. We're really proud of
11 it, as well.
12 To summarize our revenue bond program, we've to
13 date completed 68 percent of the total 409 projects
14 funded out of the revenue bonds totaling 63.5 million
15 that was made available to us. We've expended to date
16 $51 million of that issue. We are on course, as Bob
17 indicated, to complete all of the projects that are
18 currently funded with that issue in revenue bonds in the
19 summer of FY '04, and we'll be able to put that one to
20 bed.
21 I'd like to conclude the presentation with a
22 brief summary of our new general obligation bond program.
23 As you know, with the passage of Proposition 8, the 77th
24 Legislature authorized Parks and Wildlife to receive
25 101.5 million of general obligation bonds for statewide
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1 facility repairs, wastewater system renovations, ADA
2 compliance projects, as well as the construction of some
3 new state park facilities.
4 This matrix illustrates -- and I think you've
5 seen this before in previous presentations -- how that
6 $101.5 million is proposed to be funded out of this
7 current biennium and the two subsequent bienniums,
8 '04/'05 and '06/'07. The Texas Public Finance Authority
9 has issued to us already our first tranche, or the first
10 $430,000, last October -- mid-October for the 36.68 issue
11 that was approved by the legislature for the '02/'03
12 biennium. $31 million of that will be directed, as the
13 top two lines indicate, to infrastructure and facility
14 repairs for '03.
15 The remaining $5.68 million of those GO bonds
16 will be provided to fund the planning and the design and
17 the construction of Levi Jordan Plantation, Admiral
18 Nimitz, Sheldon Lake Environmental Education Center, the
19 San Jacinto Battleground and the Battleship Texas.
20 This is our GO bond expenditure strategy, and I
21 hope it'll give you a better idea of how we anticipate
22 the $101-1/2 million to roll out over the course of the
23 life of this program. We have been approved and are
24 underway with the '02/'03 appropriation of 36.68 million.
25 With the legislative approval this coming
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1 session, we expect to begin rolling out funds in FY '04
2 for a total issue of $16.3 million in revenue bonds
3 beginning in September '03. And then, likewise,
4 beginning each September of each year through FY '07, we
5 anticipate receiving another issue of general obligation
6 bonds, for a total of $101 million. Each subsequent
7 issue will take about three years to fully expend, so we
8 anticipate being able to complete this issue sometime at
9 the end of September in 2009 -- calendar year 2009.
10 With that, that completes my brief presentation
11 this morning [sic], and I'd be more than happy to answer
12 questions.
13 COMMISSIONER AVILA: This gives us a good
14 synopsis.
15 Does anybody have any questions?
16 CHAIRMAN ARMSTRONG: I have a comment.
17 COMMISSIONER AVILA: Okay.
18 CHAIRMAN ARMSTRONG: I was at the Indian Lodge
19 this summer and got to see a lot of what was done out
20 there, and I was very impressed. It looked beautiful,
21 and the new renovations were fantastic.
22 MR. WHISTON: Thank you. We appreciate it.
23 We're proud of what was done.
24 CHAIRMAN ARMSTRONG: Very exciting.
25 MR. WHISTON: I'm glad you had an opportunity
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1 to see them.
2 CHAIRMAN ARMSTRONG: Me, too.
3 MR. WHISTON: I invite everybody to take a
4 look.
5 MR. COOK: I just wish we had enough force
6 account crews to do more.
7 MR. WHISTON: Oh, yes.
8 MR. COOK: When you see the job those guys do,
9 it's incredible and fits the time period, whatever it is.
10 And they've done a great job, Steve, and we really
11 appreciate it.
12 MR. WHISTON: Thank you.
13 CHAIRMAN ARMSTRONG: Thank you.
14 COMMISSIONER AVILA: All right. If there's no
15 other business, this concludes the meeting of the Ad Hoc
16 Infrastructure Committee.
17 (Whereupon, the meeting was concluded.)
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1 C E R T I F I C A T E
2 MEETING OF: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
3 Ad Hoc Infrastructure Committee
4 LOCATION: Austin, Texas
5 DATE: November 6, 2002
6 I do hereby certify that the foregoing pages,
7 numbers 1 through 13, inclusive, are the true, accurate,
8 and complete transcript prepared from the verbal
9 recording made by electronic recording by Penny Bynum
10 before the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
11 12/10/02
12 (Transcriber) (Date)
13 On the Record Reporting, Inc.
14 3307 Northland, Suite 315
15 Austin, Texas 78731
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