TipSheet: Travis County, 10.29.19

The Travis County Commissioners Court meets every Tuesday at 9 a.m. To help our readers stay informed, each week we offer a selection of interesting items from the voting session agenda. The entire agenda is available at the Travis County website.

5. Receive an update from the Jail Population Management Group. (Commissioners Daugherty & Gómez)

Monitor’s Take: This is an opportunity for the Commissioners Court to grill representatives of the county’s corrections and law enforcement system on incarceration. While the county has seen a significant decline in its jail population in recent years, progressive leaders and activists in the county believe that there is room for much more progress in diverting people from jail into treatment or alternative rehabilitation programs. This issue will also likely play prominently next year in the races for district attorney and county attorney.

9. Consider and take appropriate action regarding Palm School restrictive covenants. (Commissioner Gómez)

Monitor’s Take: After significant input from the public – mostly from supporters of an activist group that opposes any sale of the Palm School property – the Commissioners Court will take a final vote on whether to approve a set of restrictive covenants aimed at ensuring the permanent preservation of the Palm School building. While the court is unanimous in supporting the covenants, some commissioners are more supportive of allowing the rest of the property to be purchased and developed by a private entity. So far it looks like County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and Commissioner Gerald Daugherty are the two most enthusiastic supporters of selling the property, while commissioners Margaret Gómez and Jeff Travillion have expressed varying degrees of reluctance over seeing the property redeveloped at all. Commissioner Brigid Shea appears to be somewhere between the two camps.

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