Texas Department of Transportation Commission Meeting
Special Commission Meeting
Commission Room
Dewitt Greer Building
125 East 11th Street
Austin, Texas 78701-2483
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
COMMISSION MEMBERS:
Ric Williamson, Chairman
Hope Andrade
Ted Houghton, Jr.
Ned S. Holmes
Fred A. Underwood
STAFF:
Michael W. Behrens, P.E., 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
MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning. It's 9:07 a.m.
MALE VOICE: Good morning.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Good morning. And I would like to call this special
meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission to order. It's a
pleasure to have all of you here this morning.
I'll note for the record that public notice of this special meeting
containing all items on the agenda was filed with the Office of the
Secretary of State at 4:12 p.m. on August 21, 2007.
Before we begin today's meeting, please take a moment to join with
me in placing your pagers, cell phones, and other electronic devices
on the silent mode, or page mode, or vibrating mode, or whatever
will not disrupt our testimony. Thank you very much.
We call this special meeting for the primary purpose of conducting
interviews with candidates for the position of executive director of
the Texas Department of Transportation. In a few minutes we will
recess this meeting and enter into executive session for those
interviews.
At the end of the round of interviews we will either name a new
executive director, select an interim director until a new director
is named, or defer action altogether. We will return to open session
at either a recess or at the conclusion of the interview process and
announce which of these actions we will take.
Does anyone have any questions about this process, or do the
Commissioners wish to make a comment?
MR. UNDERWOOD: I was looking over my notes. What's a DAT? I've
gotten drafts before, but never a DAT.
MR. BEHRENS: It's a special draft.
MR. UNDERWOOD: Okay. Thank you.
MR. BEHRENS: Yes.
MR. WILLIAMSON: What is a DAT?
MR. BEHRENS: It's a printer anomaly.
MR. SAENZ: It prints every other letter. The R and the F will
probably be on the next page.
MR. BEHRENS: Exactly.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Only TxDOT would come up with something like that.
MR. SAENZ: I don't know. That's a wild guess.
MALE VOICE: Blame it on our consultants.
MR. UNDERWOOD: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, sir, Mr. Underwood.
Any other questions or comments, Members?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. I have no comments other than to note for the
record the interview process, for those of you here watching it,
will be quite lengthy and I don't anticipate that we'll be back in
here until late in the evening.
Before we recess into executive session, there's one piece of
business on our agenda that we need to tend to.
Mike, if you would, please introduce Item Number 1 on the agenda.
MR. BEHRENS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You remember last week at our regular meeting we took care of Items
1(a) and 1(b), so we don't need any further action on those today.
And I'll call Amadeo up to talk about 1(c), which is dealing with
the removal of the state -- from the state system and transfer a
section of the State 121 in Dallas and Denton Counties.
MR. SAENZ: Thank you, Mr. Behrens.
Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, Amadeo Saenz, assistant
executive director for engineering operations.
The minute order before you provides for the removal from the state
highway system and the transfer to the North Texas Tollway
Authority, NTTA, a portion of State Highway 121 comprising of the
mainlanes only and the associated right of way that's needed for
those mainlanes from a point .23 miles east of Business 121 to the
ramp pair just to the west side of FM 2281. That's kind of from the
west side of Lewisville to the east side of Lewisville. It is
segment one of the 121 project.
We're only transferring a portion of the first segment of the 121
project at this time. This is the part that's already open to
traffic and is currently being tolled. Segment two under
construction and that will be transferred at a later time.
As part of the transfer process, we had to have a public hearing. A
public hearing was held on August 7 in Coppell, Texas, and on August
9 in Lewisville, Texas. We received no comments, both written or
oral.
Staff would recommend that you approve the minute order that would
remove State Highway -- this segment of State Highway 121 from the
state highway system and also transfer it to NTTA.
This would be subject to the Governor approving the transfer, and
would also be subject -- and based on the agreement, the actual
transfer would not happen till about 11 months from now after
segment two is completed, when we get -- that they get the actual
notice of beginning tolling on their part.
Be happy to answer any questions.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Members, you've heard the staff's explanation and
recommendation on this agenda item. Do you have questions or
comments?
MR. UNDERWOOD: Yes.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Mr. Underwood.
MR. UNDERWOOD: Yes, Amadeo, who receives the income from the tolling
that's taking place now?
MR. SAENZ: We do, sir.
MR. UNDERWOOD: Will we keep that income up until the time in which
it's formally transferred to them?
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir, up until the time that it's actually
transferred, which we believe is somewhere in July of 2008, we will
retain that income that comes --
MR. UNDERWOOD: And that will go back into Fund VI. Is that correct?
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir.
MR. UNDERWOOD: Thank you.
MR. HOUGHTON: It'll go back in that facility, will it not?
MR. SAENZ: Well, we don't have any debt on this facility.
MR. HOUGHTON: There's no debt?
MR. SAENZ: There's no debt on that facility.
MR. HOUGHTON: Okay.
MR. SAENZ: The facility was built with Fund VI.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, in order that I feel comfortable that the
answer Mr. Underwood received is clear in his mind, do we not have a
commitment to the region to retain and commit that revenue to the
region?
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir. Prior commitments that the Commission has made
is that toll revenues received that are considered surplus -- in
this case this is surplus revenue since there's no debt on it --
will go to the region for them to select more projects.
MR. WILLIAMSON: And through the RTC process they'll make a
determination of what money is to be --
MR. UNDERWOOD: So this would be beyond the actual NTTA payment,
these toll roads will be added to that then --
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes.
MR. UNDERWOOD: -- for them to be able to spend in their region.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, sir.
MR. UNDERWOOD: So the money is not leaving their region and going
into Austin. It will stay in that region.
MR. SAENZ: It just goes --
MR. UNDERWOOD: That's what I'm --
MR. SAENZ: -- into Fund VI. We --
MR. UNDERWOOD: -- getting at. Thank you for clarifying, Mr.
Chairman.
(Pause.)
MR. HOLMES: Amadeo, can you give me an estimate of what you think --
or what the current monthly run rate is on the toll revenues on the
portion of 121 that is already open?
MR. SAENZ: I will -- I don't have that information with me, but I
can have them give me a report and send it over to you all.
MR. HOLMES: Do we know whether it is under or over what the original
projected revenue might be?
MR. SAENZ: Since the project was originally -- construction started
before and we did not issue any debt, we did -- probably did not do
the full investment grade revenue, toll -- revenue studies.
So it's hard to tell because we -- you know, as I said, we were
going to -- we cleared it as a non-toll project, we re-evaluated the
environmental and converted this thing to a toll project.
We don't have the traffic and revenue studies to that high a level
to be able to have estimated what the actual traffic was going to be
projected to be -- not actual, but the traffic that was going to be
projected to be. So I don't have a comparison. But I can give you
some traffic numbers based on maybe some of the early studies so
that I can -- and I just have those calculations prepared.
MR. HOLMES: The actual monthly run rate would be interesting.
MR. SAENZ: We will get that to you.
MR. HOLMES: Now if I understand this correctly, the operating cost,
does that -- does the operating cost come out of the revenue that
then goes back to the RTC to --
MR. SAENZ: Yes.
MR. HOLMES: -- reallocate within the --
MR. SAENZ: Yes.
MR. HOLMES: -- region?
MR. SAENZ: We will consider surplus revenue anything above
operational and maintenance. Now as we transfer the project to NTTA,
they are then going to be responsible for the operation and
maintenance.
But right now the -- from the money that we're generating, we will
deduct the operation and maintenance costs for the system and then
the reminder will be surplus that will go to -- that we'll basically
allocate to the region for them to select projects from.
MR. HOLMES: And approving this now, basically is -- shows the action
of the Commission that will be accomplished at some point in the
future when the balance of the project is complete?
MR. SAENZ: Yes, sir. As they finish segment two, which we estimate
to be next July, then we will transfer segment two and that will be
considered the service commencement date for the agreement with NTTA,
and at that point forward we'll transfer segment two and segment one
follows with it, and then at that point they will then start
collecting the tolls.
But prior to that, when they close within the 45 days after
environmental is cleared, we will get the agreed amount -- the
agreed upon amount of $3.33 billion --
MR. HOLMES: Which presumably will be well in advance of next --
MR. SAENZ: Yes.
MR. HOLMES: -- summer.
MR. SAENZ: We hope that it's -- environmental -- I have not received
any other reports. I'm still going on the reports that we had last
month, or earlier this month, and we think that we will have
environmental clearance from the Federal Highway Administration by
the end of -- by the middle to the end of September, so the 45 day
window starts upon -- about -- let's say at the latest at the end of
September.
MR. HOLMES: Well, we look forward to that date.
MR. SAENZ: I hope they do too.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Other questions or comments, Members?
MR. SAENZ: Just, Mr. Chairman, just to make sure. Like I said, this
is still subject to approval of the Governor, and the Governor will
in essence finalize this transaction, and we will wait till we get
the closing on the project before we go forward with that
transaction.
Also, the -- we will have a tolling agreement -- or a transfer
agreement that we'll finalize, and then this minute order authorizes
the executive director to enter into that agreement, which would be
just a simple transfer agreement.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. Members, you've heard the answers to your
questions, and we've heard comments. What's your pleasure?
MR. HOUGHTON: So move.
MR. UNDERWOOD: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of
the motion signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you --
MR. SAENZ: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: -- Members. Thank you, Amadeo.
At this time we will now recess our open meeting to go into
executive session under Section 551.074 of the Government Code to
interview and discuss the election of the executive director of the
Texas Transportation Commission and/or to appoint an interim
executive director. It is now 9:17 a.m.
(Whereupon, the Commission went into executive session.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: The meeting of the Commission is called back to
order. We are back to order at 2:20 p.m. At this time we'll be
taking a break from executive session in order to have lunch, and
we'll recess this meeting until approximately 3:00 p.m. Thank you.
(Whereupon, at 2:20 p.m., the meeting was recessed, to reconvene
later this same day, Wednesday, August 29, 2007.)
A F T E R N O O N S E S S I O N
Time: 3:05 p.m.
MR. WILLIAMSON: The meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission
is reconvened. We're back from recess for lunch.
We will now recess the meeting and reconvene into executive session
to continue the interview and discussion process for the election of
an executive director or to appoint an interim executive director.
It is now 3:06 p.m. We came back in at 3:05 p.m., it's now 3:06 p.m.
We're in executive session.
(Whereupon, the Commission reconvened into executive session.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: The meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission
is reconvened. For the record, the time is 6:31 p.m.
The Commission has concluded in its executive session that it made a
grievous mistake in accepting the retirement letter of Michael
Behrens, and we have decided to withdraw the acceptance of that
letter.
Can we do that? No?
MR. BEHRENS: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Oh, well, I was just kidding.
We announce the following action. We need to select an interim
executive director.
Mr. Serna, do you have a recommendation for us?
MR. SERNA: Good evening. My name -- for the record, my name is Ed
Serna. I'm the assistant executive director for support operations.
Mr. Chairman, Members, staff recommends that current deputy
executive director Steve Simmons be appointed interim executive
director. In addition, we recommend that the executive -- the
interim executive director be compensated at 192,500 a year for the
period that he serves as interim.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you, Mr. Serna, for being so quick to respond
to my request.
Members, you've heard Mr. Serna's explanation and recommendation. Do
we want to ask Mr. Simmons if he's willing to assume this
responsibility, or do we want to just assume that he will?
Mr. Simmons, would you come forward, please?
MR. SIMMONS: Yes, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WILLIAMSON: You heard Mr. Serna's recommendation. Are you
willing to serve in the capacity of interim --
MR. SIMMONS: For the record, my name is Steve Simmons. I'm deputy
executive director of the Department. I'd be honored to fill the
position of interim executive director for the Department.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Questions for Mr. Simmons, Members?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Thank you. We appreciate your willingness to do
that, Mr. Simmons. It may be months and months and months before we
break this log jam.
Okay. You've heard staff's recommendation. Do I have a motion?
MR. HOUGHTON: So move.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Mr. Serna, I'm sorry; Mr. Houghton withdraws his
motion.
MR. SERNA: We'll make the appropriate change, sir.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, we're approving at 192.
MR. SERNA: Yes, sir. Just so you get that --
MR. WILLIAMSON: Yes, we're approving --
MR. SERNA: We'll make adjustments to --
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. Mr. Houghton has moved. Do I have a second?
MR. HOLMES: I second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of
the motion signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: The motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Serna.
MR. SERNA: Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMSON: As announced, the Commission took no action and made
no decisions during its executive session. We will no doubt meet
again soon at a time and a place to be announced through the normal
channels prescribed by law.
Anything else we need to do, Mr. Jackson?
MR. JACKSON: No.
MR. WILLIAMSON: Okay. Is there any other business to come before the
Commission?
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: There being none, I will entertain a motion to
adjourn.
MR. HOUGHTON: So move.
MR. HOLMES: Second.
MR. WILLIAMSON: I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of
the motion signify by saying aye.
(A chorus of ayes.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: All opposed, no.
(No response.)
MR. WILLIAMSON: Motion carries. Thank you, Members. We're adjourned
at 6:35 p.m.
(Whereupon, at 6:35 p.m., the meeting was concluded.)
C E R T I F I C A T E
MEETING OF: Texas Transportation Commission
LOCATION: Austin, Texas
DATE: August 29, 2007
I do hereby certify that the foregoing pages, numbers 1 through 18,
inclusive, are the true, accurate, and complete transcript prepared
from the verbal recording made by electronic recording by Sunny L.
Peer before the Texas Transportation Commission.
8/30/2007
(Transcriber) (Date)
On the Record Reporting
3307 Northland, Suite 315
Austin, Texas 78731
125 East 11th Street . Austin, Texas 78701 
Copyright 2012. Texas Department of Transportation. All Rights Reserved.
