NACo Offers Free Online Renewable Energy Seminars

As part of its continuing campaign to help counties become more environmentally friendly and energy efficient, the National Association of Counties announced two free fall “webinars” open to county officials and employees.

Webinars are online seminars that require only a high-speed Internet connection and a phone line. NACo has created a Web site for its Green Government campaign that includes other upcoming events and information on energy efficiency at www. greencounties.org, as well as past webinars for officials to view. The first Internet seminar is on “Linking Renewables and Demand Responses” and will discuss how energy buyers can purchase alternative wind, solar, biomass or hydroelectric alternative energies without significantly changing their energy programs. It will include information on how to earn payments for curtailing energy usage and programs that provide financial rewards for using less energy on days when regional power grids are under stress. That Webinar is scheduled for Oct. 21 from 1-3 p.m. Texas time.

The second presentation is on “strategies for purchasing renewables” and will discuss how to make smart choices regarding renewable power purchases and the how to maximize those investments. That Internet seminar is scheduled for Dec. 8 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Texas time.

Those interested in attending the online forums must register first by going to www. greencounties.org. Reminders will be sent out to registrants closer to the time of the event. Officials and employees who are interested in finding out more information about how counties across the country are becoming more energy efficient and ‘green’ can contact Kelly Zonderwyk at kzonderwyk@naco.org or visit the Green Counties site, which includes a Green Government database, bimonthly newsletters and other resources.

County, TAC Earn National Communications Awards

The National Association of County Information Officers, an affiliate of the National Association of Counties, honored County with several annual awards, including a first-place “Superior” designation for feature writing. In all, TAC earned six awards from the association. NACIO’s communications awards are divided into several categories, with one “Best of Class” award given in each category. Other award designations are assigned based on quality and merit. The 2008 NACIO Awards of Excellence competition generated more than 450 entries from across the country.

County Managing Editor Maria Sprow earned the sole first-place “Superior” feature writing award for a best practices description of Kaufman County’s S.T.A.R. community service program for at-risk youth, Make Them a S.T.A.R., published in the May/June 2007 issue. She also earned an “Excellence” second-place designation for an informational safety-related article Tracing the Root Cause of Accidents, published in September/ October 2007.

TAC Communications Director Jim Lewis earned an “Excellence” designation for his tribute to the late TAC Executive Director Sam Seale, A Legacy for Counties, published in the March/April 2007 issue. He was also awarded with a third-place “Meritorious” designation for his feature on government-funded lobbying The Real Watchdogs, published in May/ June 2007.

In addition, TAC graphic designer Deann Guia earned a first-place “Superior” award for a display on Texas courthouses, showcased at the TAC first-floor lobby in Austin, and the Communications Department and graphic designer David Garcia earned a “Meritorious” award in the annual reports category for its 2006 Member Report.

Also, Connie Watson of Williamson County earned a “Meritorious” award in the Special Projects category for the county’s courthouse rededication ceremony.

Health Pool Bumps Up Renewal Credits

County officials on the TAC Health and Employee Benefits Pool (TAC HEBP) Board agreed for the second year in a row to issue performancebased renewal credits to its member counties, increasing the amount of the credits returned to counties by 50 percent compared to last year. In addition, the board bucked the national trend in health insurance costs by establishing an average rate increase of 2.86 percent, significantly lower than the 7 to 9 percent average increases seen around the country. “Our pool has become a better bargain than ever for our local taxpayers,” noted Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook, HEBP board chair.

“This renewal credit rewards counties not only for their loyal membership in the pool but also credits individual county members for their contributions to the pool’s surplus.” In 2007, the TAC HEBP board agreed to issue credits totaling $6 million to counties that renewed their medical coverage. In June of this year, the board reviewed its financial statements and recommendations from the TAC staff and the independent actuarial firm of Rudd and Wisdom and concluded it could safely increase the credits to $9 million total, bringing the total renewal credits for the past two years to $15 million. Judge Cook attributed the pool’s fiscal health to its positive claims experience in recent years as well as to savings generated by negotiations with drug and medical service providers.

The amount of the credit for each group depends on how long it has carried health coverage with TAC HEBP and how much it has contributed to the surplus. Each group’s rates are different, based on the type of plan it offers, the demographics of the group, and the group’s size.

TAC Program Administration Director Jim Jean said the board opted to issue Health Pool Bumps Up Renewal Credits monthly credits rather than reduce overall rates because of the need for rates to reflect anticipated claims for the year. “If the basic rates don’t reflect what we expect to pay out in claims, that could require the board to increase rates dramatically next year. We do whatever we can to maintain stability for the sake of effective planning on the part of counties.”

Bill Norwood, manager of the TAC HEBP program, cautioned counties not to expect the renewal credits to be issued every year.

“Considering the fluctuations of the health insurance market nationwide, we know we can expect the claims in some years to be much higher than others,” Norwood said. “We’ve had a good run of low-claims years, but one thing you can count on is that some years, luck turns against you.” But because the TAC pool is owned by its members, the county officials on the board were able to return the unexpected surplus back to the counties, he said. “A private insurance carrier in that situation is very likely to use that money to reward their corporate investors. TAC’s reward goes to the counties in the pool.”

The credits will be issued on each monthly invoice beginning with the group’s anniversary date. Groups must have been a member for at least one full year to qualify.

Judge Cook said the board was also pleased to be able to keep its actual rate adjustment to 2.86 percent.

“TAC has been a leader in developing programs to encourage healthy lifestyles and to get our employees with chronic conditions to take care of themselves responsibly,” the judge said. “That’s paying off.”

Also, the board was informed at the meeting that a ranking by Business Insurance magazine listed TAC HEBP as the nation’s largest employee benefit risk pool operated on behalf of public entities. “I think that’s an admirable reflection of the responsible business decisions made by our board members and TAC staff,” Judge Cook said.

Census Bureau Offers Interesting Pre-Season Hurricane Statistics

With the 2008 hurricane season now well underway, the U.S. Census Bureau offers some food for thought using pre-season statistics:

• As of last year, there are 35.3 million Americans living on the coast from North Carolina to Texas, the portion most threatened by Atlantic hurricanes. That’s 12 percent of the nation’s population.
• That portion of the coast has grown 247 percent since 1950, when the coastal population was at 10.2 million.
• The coast includes three of the nation’s most populated metropolitan areas. Houston-Baytown-Sugarland is considered the most populated coastal area threatened by Atlantic hurricanes.
• Approximately 50-100 people are killed by hurricanes in an average three-year period.

Hurricane weather is almost impossible to accurately predict, but the Climate Prediction Center predicted “a 65 percent probability of an above normal season” with 12-16 named storms, including two to five major hurricanes.

TAC Completes 2008 Salary Survey

The 2008 version of TAC’s annual survey of county officials’ salaries is now available online.

The survey includes salary information on all elected county official positions from county judge to justice of the peace, as well as the county auditor. It also lists 2008 annual county budgets. It is available in a PDF format on the TAC Web site at www. county.org/resources/countydata/financl. asp.

County officials wanting a printed version of the salary survey can contact TAC’s County Information Project Senior Analyst Tim Brown at timb@county.org or 800-456-5974.

Rural Officials Encouraged to Give Policy Suggestions

The Office of Rural Community Affairs is asking locally elected officials to give ideas on ways to improve the quality of life in rural communities.

“We would like to hear your thoughts, suggestions and ideas for specific policy recommendations that we can offer the Texas Legislature,” OCRA stated in an announcement.

In particular, OCRA is spending the legislative interim studying four key focus areas: economic development, community development, healthcare and housing.

OCRA has set up a Web site for officials’ ideas and thoughts at www. orca.state.tx.us. Officials can click on the “policy recommendation” link along the site’s left-hand menu.

TAC Risk Management Pool Board Expands Coverage

The TAC Risk Management Pool (TAC RMP) Board of Directors voted in June to expand its Public Official/Law Enforcement coverage of counties and their employees in circumstances where a crime may have been committed.

Until now, the TAC RMP coverage documents excluded any claim that arose as a result of a criminal act. In practice, the pool has provided defense (with a reservation of rights disclaimer) up until the time a person has been convicted of a crime – then the RMP pool’s obligation would end.

Future policies, however, will provide that in most cases, the TAC Risk Management Pool coverage document will provide a defense for the county and innocent supervisory personnel even after the charged person has been convicted (but coverage of the convicted individual would end at that point). The policy will continue to exclude payment of all fines, penalties and judgment awards for claims involving criminal acts.

The new coverage will provide up to $50,000 per occurrence and $100,000 aggregate for the member.

“This new coverage will help those situations when an employee commits a crime and for some reason, the county or innocent supervisor gets caught up in a lawsuit as a result. Previously, anything related to a crime was an automatic exclusion,” said TAC Program Administration Director Jim Jean. “After looking at the needs of the counties the board felt it was important to at least provide for the defense of the innocent supervisor or the county itself in these situations.” In other action, the board voted to offer its property coverage with no increase in the “base rate” per $100 of value. Individual county costs will be determined by the county’s claims history, the type of construction on the buildings covered, county location and total insured value.

Task Force Updates Report on Creating Public Defender Offices

The Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense has updated its report on how to establish whether creating a public defender office makes fiscal sense in a particular region or county. The original Blueprint for Creating a Public Defender Office in Texas was released in 2004. Since then, eight new public defender offices have opened in Texas, bringing the number to 15. Data from the new offices is represented in the updated report. “The new blueprint incorporates all that we have learned over the last four years in helping to create eight new public defender offices in Texas and provides the best possible information to jurisdictions,” said Task Force chair Sharon Keller, the presiding judge on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

The new public defender offices have included a wide range of designs, to meet the needs of both small and large counties. Public defender offices have been created for misdemeanor courts, appeals courts, mental health courts and capital murder trials.

The Blueprint includes the advantages and possible disadvantages of creating a public defender office, as well as information on how to conduct a feasibility study for such an office, steps to creating an office and overviews of each of the 15 offices already in existence.

Creating a public defender office may save counties money, and the Blueprint will help officials determine if that’s the case in their area.

“Public defender offices have proven to be an efficient method of providing required representation to poor criminal defendants,” said Jim Allison, general counsel for the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas. “The revised Blueprint is an excellent resource for other counties considering switching to that system.”

The Blueprint and more information about public defender offices can be found via the Task Force Web site at www.courts.state.tx.us/tfid.

Last Chance to Register for 2008 Annual Conference

TAC’s 2008 Annual Conference will focus on building a partnership between all levels of government and will feature a legislative track, vendor expo, Best Practices awards, spouse activities and dynamic speakers.

Conference topics will include working with the legislature, building relationships between the state and counties, subdivision regulation, investment strategies and portfolio management, eminent domain and cooperative purchasing. In addition, the executive directors of the Florida Association of Counties and the Association of Indiana Counties will share their experiences of how tax caps have impacted their counties.

TAC’s 2008 Annual Conference will be held Aug. 27-29 at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin. Registration is available online until Aug 15. On-site registration is also available. For more information on the conference, see page 40 or visit www.county.org.

Criminal Justice Integrity Unit Announced

Two elected district attorneys will sit on the board of the newly established Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit, established by the Court of Criminal Appeals in June.

The purpose of the Integrity Unit is to explore issues related to the criminal justice system and wrongful convictions. Topics open for discussion include how to:

• Improve the quality of defense counsel available for indigent defendants;
• Improve eyewitness identification procedures;
• Eliminate improper interrogations and to protect against false confessions;
• Reform the standards for collection, preservation, and storage of evidence;
• Improve crime lab reliability;
• Improve attorney practices and accountability;Adequately compensate the wrongfully convicted; and
• Implement writ training.

“While more government does not necessarily mean better government, reflection and willingness to improve does respond to the needs of our system and our citizens,” said Judge Barbara Hervey in a statement on behalf of the Court.

Besides Hervey, appointed members of the unit include:

• Texas Sen. Rodney Ellis;
• Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins (D-Houston);
• El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza;
• Texas Rep. Jim McReynolds (D-Lufkin);
• Mary Anne Wiley, deputy general counsel to Gov. Rick Perry;
• Bill Allison, law professor and director of the University of Texas Criminal Defense Clinic;
• Texas DPS Crime Lab Director Pat Johnson;
• Texas Police Chief’s Association Executive Director James McLaughlin;
• Dallas Criminal Defense Attorney Gary Udashen;
• San Antonio District Judge Sid Harle; andTexas Task Force on Indigent Defense Executive Director Jim Bethke.

Supreme Court Gives Opinion on When Fair Trial Right to Counsel Attaches: Magistration

The United States Supreme Court last month gave its opinion in the Texas-born case Rothgery v. Gillespie County. In an 8-1 opinion, the Supreme Court declared that a person’s right to court-appointed counsel begins when a person learns of the charges against them — and not when official charges have been filed.

“We merely reaffirm what we have held before and what an overwhelming majority of American jurisdictions understand in practice: a criminal defendant’s initial appearance before a judicial officer, where he learns the charge against him and his liberty is subject to restriction, marks the start of adversary judicial proceedings that trigger attachment of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel,” Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion.

The opinion upsurps the Texas Fair Defense Act, which states that a county does not have to provide counsel for a defendant released on bail until after official charges have been filed.

But Rothgery, who was arrested in Gillespie County for unlawful possession of a firearm after he was seen walking around his former worksite carrying several weapons and was eventually released on bail, believed that he should have been assigned a court-appointed attorney after his magistration, even though he was out on bond.

If he had been provided an attorney, Rothgery argued, he would have been able to prove that he was not guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm, the accusation mentioned at his magistration and for which he was arrested six months later.

The Supreme Court gave its opinion on June 23. According to Supreme Court rules, mandates begin 25 days after a judgment has been made, though additional time is given if either side petitions for a rehearing.

During that time, county representatives are working with the Task Force on Indigent Defense and others to determine whether and how current procedures need to be altered to comply with the opinion.

“It appears likely that defense attorneys will be appointed sooner in some cases as a result of this opinion,” read a statement made by the Texas Asssociation of Counties after the Court issued its opinion. “Accordingly, there will be some fiscal impact that should be considered during preparation of the county’s annual budget. While it will be difficult at the outset to determine the severity of the fiscal impact, your

“A criminal defendant’s initial appearance before a judicial officer, where he learns the charge against him and his liberty is subject to restriction, marks the start of adversary judicial proceedings that trigger attachment of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.” local prosecutors and trial judges may be able to provide helpful information.”

The Supreme Court’s opinion will likely only impact Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, since other states have different judicial procedures in place that have required them to appoint counsel quickly.

While the Supreme Court’s opinion mostly settles the debate about when a person’s Sixth Amendment (fair trial) right to court-appointed counsel begins, the justices did not state exactly when the state or county must actually appoint counsel. In other words, while the Justices agreed that magistration triggers a person’s right to counsel, they did not state that counsel must be appointed during magistration, or immediately following the procedings, or within 72 hours or one month.

The Supreme Court’s opinion was narrowly focused and stated that they were not finding that Rothgery’s Sixth Amendment rights were violated; only that those rights were necessary upon magistration (at which point Rothgery had temporarily waived his right to counsel). The Supreme Court also did not make a finding as to whether Rothgery suffered any harm from not having recieved a lawyer. Those decisions will once again fall to the district court.

“Whether the right has been violated and whether Rothgery has suffered cognizable harm are separate questions from when the right attaches, the sole question before us,” Souter’s majority opinion stated. “We do not decide whether a six-month delay in appointment of counsel resulted in prejudice to Rothgery’s Sixth Amendment rights.”

That means that Texas legislators, by way of county leaders and the Task Force on Indigent Defense, will likely have to come up with an answer themselves as far as when to assign court-appointed attorneys to defendants who have been released on bond. It’s possible certain court procedures or practices will have to be changed in some jurisdictions to ensure that counties aren’t spending money on court-appointed attorneys for people who the state does not intend to charge with a crime.

As for Rothgery and Gillespie County, the lawsuit is not over. While the Supreme Court gave an opinion on an aspect of Rothgery’s case, it did not necessarily favor Rothgery’s argument: that his rights were violated and that he should be awarded compensation for those violations. That decision is once again before the district court.

Information about the history behind the Rothgery case is available in the May- June issue of County. The Court’s opinion is online at www.supremecourtus.gov.

Travis Officials Celebrate Courthouse, County History

The Travis County Commissioners Court wanted to find a way to proudly celebrate the county’s history.

Then one day workers came across court transcripts from a desegregation trial that led to the United States Supreme Court ruling in which the Justices determined that separate is inherently unequal.

Three years ago, the commissioners court renamed the courthouse after the complaintant in that case, Heman Marion Sweatt, a black man who was denied admission to the University of Texas School of Law back in 1946.

Sweatt didn’t need a law degree to file a lawsuit against the university. At the District Court level, a judge ordered the State of Texas to build a law school for black students, but the lawsuit still made its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which disagreed with the District Court’s conclusion. While the District Court had believed a separate institution would be equivalent to the University of Texas law school, the Supreme Court determined that the separate schools would still be unequal. The lawsuit, Sweatt v. Painter, established the framework for Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which forced the desegregation of America’s school system.

Last month, the commissioners named June 24 as a day to celebrate that history, as well as other county-related history.

Dozens of community members turned out for the event at the courthouse. Travis County History Day featured historical documents on display, ranging from photographs of the two previous county courthouses to minutes documenting commissioner court meetings in the 1800s to documents from a lawsuit between famous Texans Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston to the Sweatt trial transcripts. The Sweatt trial transcripts were written by Thurgood Marshall, at the time an Austin lawyer who would later become the first black appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We said that we want to continue to do our part to bring our community together by building a bridge between our past and our future through preserving our important historical heritage. This is an important example of us trying to do just that,” Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe told the crowd.

The festivities were the result of a collaborative effort between the commissioners, the Travis County Historical Commission, the Austin Bar Association, the Black Lawyers Association, the Austin Hispanic Bar Association and other county officials, including County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir, District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza and Court-at-Law Judge Eric Shepperd.

“This has been a really fun project for me. I’ve been involved in it from the beginning,” said Rodriguez-Mendoza while introducing keynote speaker and historian David Gracy II, considered by many to be the expert on the state Capitol city’s history. “I attribute my interest and certainly my appreciation of records preservation to (Gracy). He has taught me to view records as a potential historical document and to treat them with care.”

Those who attended the celebrations heard a lively and enthusiastic account of the county’s history, and the history of county-provided services.

The Republic of Texas established Travis County on January 25, 1840, though the county had actually began offering its services the year before in order to help keep the peace in the area, Gracy said. “The county actually began operating in 1839 responding to the need for a court and a jail,” Gracy said. “Operating out of wherever it could — a convenient store, a convenient home. With the lawless element under some control, the first Travis County government devoted itself also particularly to raising volunteer militia to defend the county against Indian raid parties.”

Gracy also discussed the significance of the county’s courthouses — why they were placed in their various locations, why they were moved and how they were designed.

The county’s first courthouse was a two-story stone building erected in 1855. But after Austin became the western-most terminal for a railroad, the population boomed and the city’s activity center changed. The jail, built behind the courthouse, became inadequate. The second courthouse was built in the 1870s, closer to the state government. It was larger because of newly established county offices and the expanding emphasis on record collection and documentation. But that wasn’t to be the county’s permanent home, either.

“The second empire-style courthouse, the 1876 courthouse, was very modern for its time but in spite of its beauty the elaborate window framing … and towers proved to be a haven even then for bats and birds. The odor became so bad they removed the towers and eventually just gave the building to the state,” Gracy said.

The final Travis County Courthouse was erected in the 1930s. Back then, it cost the commissioners court $75,000, which would be $925,000 today. “This is a great building that has stood the test of time on its own merits and better than its two predecessors,” Gracy said. It is “worthy of the history which has transpired within its walls.”

Part of the purpose of the event was to tie the county’s past to its present. Speakers talked about the courthouse and the history it holds. The courthouse “represents hope. Hope in the rule of law, hope that the rule of law can be used to change the circumstances for everyone. Hope that an individual’s courage, perseverance, and sacrifice will be cherished. Hope that the confidence that we have in the justice system and in our fellow citizens will not only be rewarded but also remembered,” said Court-at-Law Judge Shepperd.

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