TipSheet: Travis County, 2.9.21

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. The meeting will be streamed live on the Travis County website and the Travis County YouTube channel.

Items 1 & 3: Receive comments regarding the petition to create Emergency Services District No. 17 and related issues.

Monitor’s Take: There will be a public hearing on whether to authorize a ballot referendum creating an additional emergency services district overlay – ESD 17 – in the Pflugerville and Hutto area. The overlay district is intended to serve some of the existing district’s (ESD-2) constituents with EMS services. Pflugerville firefighters and many residents feel the overlay is necessary to adequately serve the approximately 80-square-mile area’s emergency service needs. However, the original petition was shot down by the Pflugerville City Council, which resolved to bring in outside consultants to determine whether the overlay is really necessary. Last week, Austin City Council voted to authorize voters to decide on the next ballot. The county will make the same decision today.

COVID-19 Brief

Monitor’s Take: The Commissioners Court returns to normal today, as City Council will not be joining the meeting remotely. However, as usual, expect the Covid brief from Dr. Mark Escott to occupy a significant portion of time in the morning. So far, Covid case numbers have been declining for three weeks straight as vaccination infrastructure in the county is ramping up.

Item 14: Receive presentation of two County Best Practices awards from the Texas Association of Counties.

Monitor’s Take: The county will receive two awards from the Texas Association of Counties: one for a community fire drill in the Comanche Trail neighborhood, and one for the Silver Watch program, wherein county constables partnered up with Meals on Wheels to assist homebound seniors in Precinct 5. Presentations will be held on both programs.

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