City environmental officer retires

Everyone who loves the environment is shedding a few tears following Environmental Officer Chuck Lesniak’s announcement. After 28 years with the city, Lesniak is retiring. Even though he told the Austin Monitor that this was his “dream job” when he spoke to us on the radio, he said that it was time to leave due to personal reasons. Through his tenure with the city, Lesniak has seen the population double and the results that a rapidly changing city has had on environmental regulations and the Land Development Code – even as the citizens of Austin become more attuned to the environment that they interact with every day. Lesniak was the city’s environmental officer for the last half-decade, but that position will now be filled by Chris Herrington, who was formerly the data analysis and decision support manager for the Watershed Protection Department.