Commissioners Court - Regular Session

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31.

Meeting Date:	01/31/2012
WCCF delegations and authorities and Commissioner Court role
Submitted For:	Gary Boyd	Submitted By:	Gary Boyd, Parks
Department:	Parks
Agenda Category:	Regular Agenda Items

Information

Agenda Item

Discuss and take appropriate action on establishing a hierarchy of actions to come to Commissioners Court from the Williamson County Conservation Foundation.

Background

At its January 11 meeting the Williamson County Conservation Foundation (WCCF) board voted unanimously to submit a plan for approval on protocols for handling actions coming to the Commissioners Court. This action follows several meetings between the County Judge’s office and the WCCF staff including counsel for both the county and the WCCF. The purpose of this plan is to clarify when certain actions of the WCCF should come to the court for approval, what actions should take the form of ratification of a WCCF action, and what actions taken by the WCCF board should come to the court for acknowledgement or as an advisory.

For first level, or approval items, the determining factor is the effect upon funds or assets of the county or actions intended to express the will or consensus of the court. Actions reaching this level are considered to be the purview of the court and shall be placed on the court’s regular agenda for approval.

On a second level are actions for ratification or affirmation and may be placed in the consent agenda. Such items as appointments to the WCCF board, items outlined and conforming to WCCF bylaws, or expenditures out of funds attributed to the WCCF from normal business operations for assets to be held in trust by the county fall into this category.

The third category of actions would be those arising out of the regular operations and defined mission of the WCCF with those items coming to the court for acknowledgement.

The following is a proposed list of actions and recommended protocol:
Approval items:
• WCCF issued Determination Letters and Participation Agreements for Williamson County road projects requiring mitigation.
• Yearly tax benefit financing enrollments for properties participating in the habitat conservation plan (HCP).
• Mitigation determinations by the WCCF requiring holding of real estate by the county; e.g. land in lieu of cash mitigation payments.
• Use of county funds for WCCF/HCP purposes; e.g., payments to third parties for mitigation credits.

Ratification items:
• Appointments to the WCCF board.
• Expenditures out of WCCF generated funds for purchase of assets to be held by the county in trust for the Foundation.

Acknowledgement and Advisory Items:
• Issuance of work authorization or contract with all funds out of WCCF corpus.
• Determination letters for non-county mitigation activities including delegation for signature of Participation Agreement to the WCCF board or, at its discretion, to WCCF staff.
• Expenditures made out of WCCF funds on behalf of the county at the request of the Commissioners Court; e.g., request for a study on effects of a potential listing of a species.
• Regular operational expenses and minor capital expenditures (if not previously budgeted) our of WCCF funds.
• Study, research, outreach and similar activities for WCCF mission related activities.

Fiscal Impact

From/To	Acct No.	Description	Amount

Attachments
No file(s) attached.

Form Review

Inbox	Reviewed By	Date
County Judge Exec Asst.	Wendy Coco	01/26/2012 11:56 AM
Form Started By: Gary Boyd		Started On: 01/26/2012 09:51 AM
Final Approval Date: 01/26/2012