July 31 Transcript
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July 31 Transcript Texas Department of Transportation Commission Meeting Dillard College of Business Administration Building Auditorium, Room 101 Hampstead Lane at Council Drive Wichita Falls, Texas Thursday, July 31, 2008 COMMISSION MEMBERS: Deirdre Delisi, Chair Ted Houghton, Jr. Ned S. Holmes Fred A. Underwood STAFF: Amadeo Saenz, Executive Director Steve Simmons, Deputy Executive Director Bob Jackson, General Counsel Roger Polson, Executive Assistant to the Deputy Executive Director Dee Hernandez, Chief Minute Clerk PROCEEDINGS MS. DELISI: Good morning. It is 9:03 a.m., and I would like to call the July 2008 meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission to order. Note for the record that public notice of this meeting, containing all items on the agenda, was filed with the Office of the Secretary of State at 2:50 p.m. on July 23, 2008. First, let me say how pleased we are to be holding this month's Transportation Commission meeting here in Wichita Falls. It's our practice to take the commission meetings on the road outside of Austin three or four times a year. It's a valuable opportunity because it gives us the chance to see firsthand how our local partners are addressing their own transportation challenges. It also provides some valuable insight to the local community and citizens about how we conduct our business. This is only the second time in the 91-year history that this commission has met in Wichita Falls, and it's been more than twelve years since our last meeting here, so hopefully we can return again before another twelve years pass. I'd like to thank the folks here at the Dillard College of Business and Midwestern State University for hosting us in this beautiful new facility. In fact, we've already received a hearty welcome from everyone. I would especially like to thank State Representative David Farabee for hosting the reception yesterday, and Mayor Lanham Lyne for helping make last night's dinner with TxDOT employees a great success. And I'd also like to thank our TxDOT employees who have been working very hard to make our visit here enjoyable and very productive. We've had a great time in our visit to Wichita Falls and I look forward to having a productive meeting here today. Now, as is our custom, we'll open with comments from the other commission members, beginning with Commissioner Bill Meadows, followed by Fred Underwood, Ned Holmes and Ted Houghton. Commissioner Meadows. MR. MEADOWS: Thank you, Madame Chairman, I very much appreciate it. And I just want to express my appreciation, like I know others will, for all the hospitality that we've been shown here in Wichita Falls. Mayor, Representative Farabee, everybody has just gone all out to welcome us and it has been an enjoyable and informative time, and we appreciate it. I'd just like to add one other thing which has to do with the fact that as we were sweltering up here in North Texas -- I live in Fort Worth -- in our hot and dry climate, a couple of weeks ago I think there was an event in South Texas, Hurricane Dolly struck and caused significant damage and widespread flooding. You know, throughout that event, the commissioners were kept informed as to the activities of our employees, and I was really impressed, Amadeo, with the effort to which this department, very much behind the scenes for us and the other citizens of the state, stepped up. I mean, they are the backbone of a recovery effort and you really see it. The transportation system is the lifeline and they got the system back up and running in a remarkable fashion, and not only do I appreciate their work, I appreciate being kept informed as to what it is that they did. Anyway, thank you all for having us here today. MR. UNDERWOOD: I want to associate myself with my fellow commissioners' comments. Also, to the people of Wichita Falls, you've given a new meaning to Texas hospitality. It's a much higher level than we've seen where we've traveled, and I really appreciate it. Thank you very much for your hospitality; look forward to a good, productive meeting. MR. HOLMES: I'd also like to add my thanks for a warm welcome and hospitality. Representative Farabee, Mayor, county judges, commissioners, city council members, all the civic leaders have turned out in force to showcase your fine community, and we appreciate the time and effort that you've put into making this visit so enjoyable and informative. Look forward to hearing more and hearing your comments in a few minutes. This is a fabulous facility too. Thank you. MR. HOUGHTON: And thank you all, folks up in this part of the world, Wichita Falls and the great state of Texas. I was reading some of the information earlier about being the gateway, economic gateway. This is the northern gateway to the great state of Texas coming in from Oklahoma and the heartland, they would say, of this country, and I live on the western gateway and it's a lot of fun being called gateways. And I want to thank you all for your hospitality and all that you've done for us and made it a great meeting. Once again, thank you very much. MS. DELISI: Let me remind everyone if you wish to address the commission at today's meeting, we'll ask that you complete a speaker's card at the registration table in the lobby. To comment on an agenda item, we ask that you fill out a yellow card. If it's not an agenda item, we'll take your comments during the open comment period at the end of the meeting. For those comments, we ask that you fill out a blue card. Regardless of the color of card, we request that each speaker limit their comments to three minutes. Now, Amadeo, I'll turn the meeting over to you to begin working through today's agenda. MR. SAENZ: Thank you, Madame Chair, and good morning. As is customary when we travel out of Austin, we want to hear from our local transportation district as well as our local transportation partners, and I'm going to call up Larry Tegtmeyer, our district engineer for Wichita Falls District. And first, Larry, I want to thank you for the hospitality. You and your folks did a great job last night, good food, good eating, good times, and thank you for the work, also, that your people are doing. Of course, Larry oversees this district that runs along the Red River here in North Texas. He's going to tell us a little bit about what's going on in the district and then also introduce some of the leaders that he works closely with as they develop the transportation programs in this area. Larry, I'll turn it over to you. MR. TEGTMEYER: I appreciate those comments, Mr. Saenz. I guess I wish to welcome you, Madame Chair, commissioners, administration to the great city of Wichita Falls and to the Wichita Falls District. I'm excited that the commission has chosen Wichita Falls to conduct this commission meeting. It is a great opportunity for the district, community and region to interact and discuss transportation issues with the leaders in state transportation. So far I hope you have enjoyed your stay here and I hope that you'll have pleasant and lasting memories of your visit. At this point in time, there's a couple of individuals in the audience that I'd like to recognize. Senator Estes's office staff, Lewis Simmons, will be able to make a comment shortly. David Farabee is going to make a comment as well. Rick Hardcastle, our state representative, is unable to make it here today, and his staff member, Mike Lytle, is here today, so I just wanted to make mention that Rick Hardcastle is represented here today. Also, we do have several district engineers here: Walter McCullough from the San Angelo District, and Terry Keener from the Childress District. I'd also like to recognize all the Wichita Falls District employees that are here, as well as the VTR employees and the travel information center, so if you will please stand real quickly. Thank you for coming this morning. There's obviously many, many dignitaries here this morning, and if I were to try to recognize them all, I'd leave someone out, so I apologize that I'm not going to be able to recognize them all, but I do appreciate the attendance here this morning, and thank you for your participation in this great event. The host for this meeting is Midwestern State University and at this point I'd like to bring Dr. Jesse Rogers, the president of MSU to come up here to provide a few welcoming comments. Dr. Rogers. DR. ROGERS: Thank you, Larry. I am Jesse Rogers, and it's my pleasure to serve this great institution as its president currently. I have just one introduction that I'd like to make, I'm sitting by him, I never give him enough credit, my colleague and good friend, Dr. Howard Farrell, who is our vice president for development. And I hate to start off like this, but I just want you to know this institution recognizes the great support that we get from the State of Texas, the legislature, but we also help ourselves. Howard has helped us raise about $30 million for this institution in the last four years.