Tip Sheet: Travis County Commissioners 12-16

The Travis County Commissioners Court meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda here. The County Clerk’s office posts a copy at its website.

Items of interest for Commissioners Court include:

13. CONSIDER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION ON THE PROPOSED CHAPTER 48, RULES OF TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS, FOR ON-SITE SEWAGE FACILITIES.
(Backup)

Monitor’s Take: Commissioners will consider adopting regulations for On-site Sewage Facilities that are more stringent that rules put forth by the state. Possible Executive Session item.

15. CONSIDER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION ON ITEMS RELATED TO THE PROGRAM YEAR 2013 CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION REPORT FOR THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROVIDED BY HUD:
(Backup)

Monitor’s Take: Commissioners will likely approve the final version of the annual CDBG report will vote to forward it to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. There were no comments received during the comment period.

21. CONSIDER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION REGARDING THE ENCROACHMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN TRAVIS COUNTY AND CITY OF AUSTIN FOR THE RONALD EARLE BUILDING LOCATED AT 416 WEST 11TH STREET.
(Backup)

Monitor’s Take: Commissioners would pay the city about $56,000 for an encroachment that would a allow a tunnel to be built under West 11th Street from the Ronald Earle Building to the Criminal Justice Center to allow DAs, witnesses and others to move securely between the buildings.

32. CONSIDER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION ON BUDGET REQUEST FROM TRAVIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE AND THE TRAVIS COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE FOR ADDITIONAL STAFF TO MEET DISCOVERY REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE MICHAEL MORTON ACT.
(Backup)

Monitor’s Take: The District Attorney and County Attorney are requesting to immediately hire 13 paralegals in order to comply with the requirements of the Michael Morton Act, which increases the offices’ discovery requirements. The request will ultimately add 17 staff members to the two offices and cost just over $500,000.

43. CONSULTATION WITH COUNTY ATTORNEY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES REGARDING STATE HIGHWAY 45 SOUTHWEST.  (COMMISSIONER DAUGHERTY)
(Backup)

Monitor’s Take: Commissioners, at the request of Pct. 3 Commissioners Gerald Daugherty, will discuss the environmental impact study underway on State Highway 45 Southwest with the County Attorney. Daugherty may want to try and close out the study before the end of the year, when he will lose his support on Commissioners Court for the project.