Texas State Library and Archives Commission
February 11, 2013

Minutes

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission met on Monday, February 11, 2013, in the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building, 1201 Brazos Street, Austin, Texas.

1. Approve minutes of December 14, 2012, meeting of the Commission.

Commissioner Holt moved to approve the minutes of the December 14, 2012, commission meeting. Commissioner McAfee seconded. Motion passed.

2. Introductions. Edward Seidenberg introduced recent agency Employees of the Quarter Sara Hayes, Tony Black, and Rick Petrich.

3. Public comment. There was no public comment at this time.

4. General announcements. Chairman Waters announced that he would call the commission into executive session at 1 p.m. to discuss security issues related to the display of the William Barret Travis “Victory or Death” Letter to be displayed at the Alamo. He also asked commissioners to consider dates for the fall commission meeting.

5. Conflict of interest disclosures. There were no disclosures.

6. Review of consent agenda: non-substantive corrections in other agenda items such as spelling, numbering, punctuation, grammar, or other revisions. One item was noted.

7. Consideration of commemorative resolutions.

Chairman Waters moved to approve a commemorative resolution for Peggy D. Rudd who retired from service as Director and Librarian after 13 years with the agency. Commissioner Pickett seconded. Motion passed. Chairman Waters introduced Aundrea Moore and read a commemorative resolution in honor of her eight years of service to the agency. Commissioner Carr moved to approve. Commissioner Holt seconded. Motion passed.

8. Review and approve Audit Committee recommendations.

Commissioner McAfee presented a Request for Qualifications to be posted on the Electronic State Business Daily for Internal Audit Services for FY 2014 and FY 2015 as approved by the Audit Committee. No second required. Motion passed.

At this point in the agenda, Chairman Waters took up Agenda Item 11.

11. Review and approve acceptance of grants, and gifts greater than $500.

Ava Smith presented five gifts received by the Talking Book Program from patrons or relatives of patrons totaling $12,500 as follows:

• $1,000 on December 11, 2012 from Connie Betenbough of Lubbock, Texas.
• $1,000 on December 11, 2012 from Virginia Lattimore of Fort Worth, Texas.
• $5,000 on December 20, 2012 from Leona O’Brien of Dallas, Texas.
• $500 on December 27, 2012 from Gloria Krueger of Bulverde, Texas.
• $5,000 on January 10, 2013 from Elsie Marie Fletcher of Weatherford, Texas.

Edward Seidenberg presented a gift valued at $2,600 from the Atascosito Historical Society of Liberty. The gift is a lithograph depicting the settlement of Champ d’Asile. A Society member purchased the historical lithograph at an auction and donated it to the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty.

Commissioner Carr moved to approve the gifts. Commissioner McAfee seconded. Motion passed.

12. Review and approve contracts greater than $100,000.

Jelain Chubb requested authorization to contract in a not-to-exceed amount of $500,000 with one or more qualified vendors to digitize 24,641 spoken-word cassette tape recordings of the Texas Senate’s proceedings between 1972 and 2006. The contract will be awarded upon approval of an exemption from the Texas Department of Information Resources. Commissioner Carr moved to approve the request. Commissioner Pickett seconded. Motion passed.

Craig Kelso requested approval to issue a Request for Proposal to procure software and hardware necessary to implement an integrated inventory, activity tracking, and billing system for the State
Records Center’s operations, in an amount not to exceed $200,000. Commissioner Pickett moved to approve the request. Commissioner Carr seconded. Motion passed.

At this point in the meeting, Chairman Waters took up Agenda Item 9.

9. Report of Legislative Committee.

Commissioner Carr recapped activities and meetings of the commission’s Legislative Committee.

Chairman Waters recessed the meeting at 10:33 a.m. for a break and reconvened the meeting at 10:40 a.m. Chairman Waters shared a video clip of public testimony at the Senate Finance Committee Hearing on February 5 when the committee heard public testimony on Senate Bill 1, the General Appropriations Bill. During the hearing a number of agency constituents testified in favor of the agency’s Exceptional Item requests.

Gloria Meraz thanked the commission for their hard work during these early stages of the legislative process. The commission discussed future plans for the Legislative Committee.

10. Review of the status of legislation, appropriations, and other issues from the Texas Legislature and the federal government for SFY 2014 and 2015.

Edward Seidenberg informed the commission of proposed budget recommendations affecting the agency and the differences between the agency’s Legislative Appropriations Request and the recommended funding for the agency in Senate Bill 1 and answered questions regarding the budget. Chairman Waters requested a report on the agency’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant for the next meeting.

13. Report of the Director and Librarian.

Edward Seidenberg provided a written report of agency activities and initiatives and answered questions regarding the report. Commissioner Freeman noted erroneous information in a January 31 San Antonio newspaper article regarding a facsimile of the Travis “Victory or Death” letter. The article stated that “archives staff” cropped the word aid from the scanned letter that is provided to the public. She said that this implied that TSLAC archivists made the error and noted that the commission and staff pride themselves on accuracy and professionalism of agency archivists. Mr. Seidenberg said it was not agency archivists who created the facsimile but other agency staff and agreed to specify this in the minutes of this meeting.

Chairman Waters asked for an update on funds allocated by the 82^nd Legislature for archival storage. Mr. Seidenberg said staff had identified options and will confer with legislative staff to provide a report at the next commission meeting on how the agency will meet the appropriation’s legislative intent.

14. Report on the State and Local Records Management Division.

Craig Kelso provided an update on activities in the State and Local Records Management Division and a report on State Records Center activities.

At noon, Chairman Waters recessed the meeting for lunch and called it back to order at 12:55 p.m. taking up agenda item 17.

17. Discussion of events related to the loan and exhibit of archival documents.

Jelain Chubb updated the commission on staff activities in preparation for the exhibit of the William Barret Travis “Victory or Death” Letter at the Alamo. Mark Loefflor appeared before the commission and briefed them on the arrival program schedule. After discussion, Chairman Waters announced the commission would go into Executive Session.

18. Executive session, as authorized by Texas Government Code §551.076, regarding security personnel.

As authorized by Texas Government Code §551.076, regarding security personnel, Chairman Waters called the commission into Executive Session at 1:15 p.m. The commission came out of Executive Session at 2:34 p.m. and resumed its regular meeting and took up agenda item 15.

15. Report on the Archives & Information Services Division.

Jelain Chubb provided an update on activities in the Archives and Information Services Division.

16. Reports on agency staffing and financial information.

Donna Osborne presented a TSLAC Employment Status Report and answered questions about the report which covered fiscal years since FY 2010. She also presented budget information organized by strategies within the budget. The commission requested that the expenditure and budget information be summarized at the agency level for future reports.

At this point in the meeting, Chairman Waters took up agenda item 19.

19. Approve appointment to the TexShare Advisory Board.

Deborah Littrell requested the commission appoint Larriann Curtis to a three-year term on the TexShare Advisory Board to fill a position vacated by Loriene Roy whose term expired. Ms. Curtis currently serves on the Texas PTA Board of Directors as the Parent Education Programs Committee Chair. Commissioner Carr moved to approve the appointment. Commissioner Givens seconded. Motion passed.

20. Authorization to adopt new rules 13 TAC 7.161.7.165 regarding local government storage.

Craig Kelso requested approval to adopt new rules 13 TAC 7.161. - 7.165 regarding storage of local government records. He noted that minimal changes were made in the rules based on the three comments received during the comment period. Commissioner McAfee moved to approve the rules. Commissioner Carr seconded. Motion passed.

21. Executive session, as authorized by Texas Government Code §551.071, and §551.074, regarding consultations with attorney and personnel matters, respectively.

Chairman Waters recessed the meeting at 3:45 p.m. and at 4:00 p.m. called the commission into Executive Session as authorized by Texas Government Code §551.071, and §551.074, regarding consultations with attorney and personnel matters, respectively.

At 4:30 p.m., the commission came out of Executive Session and having no further business before the commission, Chairman Waters adjourned the meeting.

Submitted by,

 

Edward Seidenberg

Interim Director and Librarian