TipSheet: Travis County, 12.18.18

Travis County Commissioners Court will convene Tuesday morning for its final voting session of the year. Below are some of the more interesting items featured on the agenda this week. The entire agenda can be found at the Travis County website. For those following closely, last week’s discussion on the merger between the District Attorney and County Attorney’s offices is being pushed into January and will not be taken up this meeting.

1. Approve resolution recognizing Fred Gilliam on his induction into the American Public Transportation Association Hall of Fame. (Commissioner Gómez)

Monitor’s Take: Travis County will congratulate Capital Metro’s former CEO, Fred Gilliam, on his induction into APTA’s Hall of Fame. Gilliam was the longest-running CEO in the agency’s history, holding the position from 2002 to 2009. His career in transportation spanned five decades in a number of agencies across the nation. APTA inducted five individuals into its Hall of Fame on Sept. 25 at this year’s annual meeting in Nashville.

7. Receive presentation on updates to jail diversion initiatives in Travis County. (Commissioner Gómez)

Monitor’s Take: At the court’s request, Justice Planning created an asset map consolidating all of Travis County’s criminal justice programs and services, which was presented to the court on July 31. This will be an update, also requested by the court, on expanded diversion options available to Travis County residents.

16. Consider and take appropriate action regarding Commissioners Court comments on the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) Regional Arterials Plan and the MoKan/Northeast Subregional Plan. (Commissioners Travillion & Shea)

Monitor’s Take: CAMPO has held a series of open houses in previous weeks soliciting public comment on its RAP and the MoKan/Northeast Subregional Plan. Transportation and Natural Resources attended three of those public meetings and has put together a list of comments concerning the public outreach process as well as the plans themselves. Among other concerns, TNR staff members believe the plans to be misleading, stating, “The public may feel there are viable network solutions where in actuality existing policy, natural resources protection, recreation infrastructure and topography make many proposals impossible to implement.” The court will be discussing these issues and may forward comments to CAMPO before the public comment window closes on Dec. 31.

20. Set a public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, to receive comments regarding the temporary closure to reconfigure the intersection for an extension of Vail Divide Road to the south, beginning on or after Jan. 15, 2019, and continuing through Dec. 31, 2019, or until construction is completed of Vail Divide Road, in Precinct Three. (Commissioner Daugherty)

Monitor’s Take: Through traffic will be closed on a section of Vail Divide Road while construction begins on a project that will extend to the southern tip of Vail Divide Road straight south from its intersection at Cinca Terra Drive. The current Vail Divide Road that extends southeast will become Vail Divide Court. This individual project only involves the reconfiguration of the intersection at Cinca Terra and Vail Divide and does not include the major project extending Vail Divide Road south to Hamilton Pool Road.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.