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Social service contracting in Austin is turning out to be a messy business. This week, City Auditor Kenneth Mory’s staff informed the Council Audit and Finance Committee that the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department has not been adequately…
City Council is one step away from amending the city’s Anti-Lobbying Ordinance to make competitive processes for social service funding exempt from the law. However, several Council members remain unconvinced those changes will do enough to silence the complaints that…
Mayor Lee Leffingwell used a speech at the Real Estate Council of Austin on Wednesday to pitch his proposal for single-member districts, as well as four-year concurrent Council terms and a permanent move to November elections. That pitch was…
Last week, Texas Speaker of the House Joe Strauss (R-San Antonio) released his list of interim committee charges – topics for House committees to take up before the next session – including “finding ways to address…our water challenges” as one…
Travis County has erred on the side of caution in setting out groundwater regulations for county development, looking to other counties for guidance. That’s not unusual for the county when it comes to environmental regulations. Travis County typically has…
Last week’s delay in the sale of the Lower Colorado River Authority’s water and wastewater utilities has left the members of a coalition of Central Texas municipalities with some hope. “I’m encouraged by the board’s decision and hopeful that…
After extended negotiations, and two votes, the Zoning and Platting Commission came to a compromise, and approved amended variances for a property that currently has over two and one-half times the amount of impervious cover allowed. The site is…
Travis County officials say that if the county’s costs for the Labor Day weekend wildfire are at least $3 million, it would qualify for grant money to cover some of the cost of cleaning up after the disaster. However, Emergency…
A Planning Commission subcommittee has tightened up the language in a short-term rental proposal one more time before sending it off to the legal department for drafting an ordinance the full commission will consider. Commissioner Danette Chimenti guided stakeholders…
During more than six hours of discussion, dissension and compromise at two meetings last week, the advisory Electric Utility Commission (EUC) approved a long list of recommendations that largely concurred with Austin Energy’s proposed electric rate package. But the…
More than six months after opening the door to debate over the issue of fluoridation of the city’s water supply, the Council Public Health and Human Services Committee continues to deal with the fallout of that decision. For an hour…
Austin is in dire need of maintenance staff for its parks, according to a report by the Urban Parks Stakeholder Group. City Council created the stakeholder group in November 2009 in order to determine what it would take to…
