Jerry Rusthoven, the city’s chief zoning officer, got choked up when saying goodbye to his friends and colleagues Thursday. The occasion was his final appearance at City Hall after 29 years with the city. But he confided to a number of people that he’s not going very far. He has accepted the job of planner for the small city of Sunset Valley, which is only eight minutes from his house, he told the Austin Monitor. He will be the only planner for Sunset Valley and he’s looking forward to that. Rusthoven told colleagues in an email how much he values their friendship. He noted, “Public service can be very challenging and not well compensated, but all of us have chosen to do this because we want our city to be the best it can be, right now and for future generations.” He thanked former bosses George Zapalac, Alice Glasco and Jackie Goodman and former city managers Jesus Garza and Toby Futrell. And he singled out Kay Gudea, who has helped both staff and Council members for more than 40 years with hot food and good advice.

The city and county are working on reviewing the FCC’s new National Broadband Map, an interactive map that “shows where high-speed internet service is or is not available, based on information the FCC received from internet service providers.” County residents and business owners are urged to look up their addresses on the map to see if the information listed is accurate. If any of the list info is not correct, residents and businesses may file a challenge. As Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez pointed out, high-speed internet is critical for most people, yet, “in 2021, 32,347 homes in Travis County still did not have internet subscriptions, and 11,403 pre-K-12th grade students in the county did not have computers or internet subscriptions.” While the county is committed to improving internet access, reviewing the map thoroughly will “help us ensure internet availability in our county is documented correctly and help the FCC identify communities most in need.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, hospitalizations due to Covid-19 are up 15 to 20 percent nationwide since Thanksgiving. And according to Austin Public Health, Covid cases “are trending upward locally as well.” In AHP’s latest newsletter, the health department says while our Covid Community Level is low, another metric called Community Transmission Level is now considered high. “Community Transmission is one of many metrics health officials and epidemiologists monitor. It’s related to the presence and spread of the virus that causes Covid-19. Community Level is a framework used to consider the impact of Covid-19 in terms of hospitalizations and health care system strain. Transmission factors into Community Levels and when disease transmission is high, the CDC recommends masking in health care settings.” What this adds up to is a strong recommendation to use the preventive measures – masking, avoiding big indoor gatherings with strangers, and getting up to date on your vaccinations and boosters – that we know so well from the last few years.

Construction on a project to extend East Braker Lane 0.75 miles from Dawes Place to Samsung Boulevard is set to begin in fall 2023. The draft environmental assessment for the project is now available for review. The city and the Texas Department of Transportation, which are partners in the project, are holding a public hearing to give community members a chance to review materials and offer feedback. The in-person hearing will be held Jan. 5, 6-8:30 p.m. at 8900 Cameron Road. A virtual meeting will also be available on the same date, including a pre-recorded video presentation and the draft environmental assessment. For more details, visit the project website.

Community members are invited to attend an online meet-and-greet with the finalists vying to manage the Parks and Recreation Department’s aquatic division. Attendees will hear about the hiring process and the candidates’ backgrounds, and have the opportunity to provide feedback on each candidate. The selected candidate “will manage 45 public aquatic facilities; work with diverse populations and communities, including interacting with individuals from a variety of social, cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds; provide guidance and support to 24 full-time staff and approximately 800 part-time staff; and oversee aquatic safety and certification programs,” according to the job description. Thursday, Dec. 15, 6-7 p.m. Register for the Zoom meeting.

The city is organizing a community job fair to offer job seekers the opportunity to “meet face-to-face with representatives from city of Austin departments and local private employers committed to hiring and assisting individuals from all backgrounds, including justice-involved individuals, those who are 50+, veterans and people with disabilities.”Among the long list of participating employers is the Austin Convention Center, the public library, the post office, police and fire departments, UPS, the UT Austin facilities department, Meals on Wheels, FedEx, Habitat for Humanity and many more. Find more information and job seeker registration at austintexas.gov/jobfairs. Tuesday, Dec. 13, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Workforce Solutions Capital Area (North), 9001 N. Interstate 35, Suite 110.

The Travis Central Appraisal District announced Monday that it has been hit once again with a ransomware attack that is impacting the agency’s level of service. The district works to appraise property for tax purposes for each taxing unit in the county. The TCAD website had a notice Monday afternoon letting people know that the agency’s phone lines and chat function were down. However, TCAD chief appraiser Marya Crigler said the online property search function and email were operating. Property tax bills and payments to the Travis County tax office were not affected by the TCAD problem. TCAD spokesperson Cynthia Martinez confirmed that the agency had previously been hit by ransomware in 2019. She said via email, “We have since adopted numerous security measures that are allowing us to continue our operations and assure property owners that their personal information was not accessed during this attack. It may take longer than usual for property owners to have their TCAD-related issues addressed while we recover from this situation. We appreciate their patience.”

This month’s webinar installment of the popular Wild Neighbors Speaker Series gets festive with Tyler Miloy’s “The History of the Christmas Bird Count.” Miloy, a naturalist and longtime birder, has compiled the results of Austin’s Christmas Bird Count over the past six years. He’ll relate some of the fascinating history behind the annual count (e.g., it started as a bird hunt, not a count) along with several little-known facts about the event. Register here for the webinar on Friday, Dec. 16, noon-1 p.m. Speaking of bird counts, Austin’s actual, in-person Christmas Bird Count, conducted by Travis Audubon Society, is coming up and everyone is invited to participate. You don’t have to be a birder or have any experience. This year’s count will take place on Saturday, Dec. 17. Find registration info for the bird count here.

In their monthly report, officials at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport say passenger traffic in October “was up 31.57 percent compared to October 2021 with 2,002,078 passengers flying during the month.” That mind-boggling number explains why AUS officials are urging travelers to get to the airport as early as possible for flights over the upcoming holiday and to plan ahead for everything, parking included. Bon voyage!

As of Saturday night, early voting numbers for Travis County show about 3 percent of registered voters had cast ballots in runoffs for mayor and City Council seats in districts 3, 5 and 9. In Williamson County, that number was 1.45 percent. Altogether, 19,263 voters had weighed in on their choices for the Dec. 13 election. The Ben Hur Shrine Center, always a popular early voting location, has seen the most voters with 2,814 ballots cast, followed by the Balcones Woods Shopping Center with 1,873, the Austin Oaks Church with 1,580 and Southpark Meadows with 1,421. Travis County also reported receiving 2,257 mail ballots. Early voting continues through Friday at 17 different locations. Check out your options here.

The Development Services Department has scheduled a workshop on Tuesday, Dec. 6, to help businesses and developers learn about the city’s new process for installing charging stations for electric vehicles. Substantial increases in EV use are one component of the city’s Climate Equity Plan, which calls for the charging infrastructure for those vehicles in anticipation of that shift. The department is launching a quick-turnaround service to move qualifying charging projects through the approval process more quickly, with eligible projects potentially completing the process in a week or less. The workshop starts at 10 a.m. at the Permitting and Development Center on Wilhelmina Delco Drive, with the Commercial Building Plan Review team outlining the process and the criteria for fast approval. Register here.

Outgoing mayor Steve Adler held a press conference yesterday outside of City Hall before heading in to vote in this month’s runoff elections. Adler, who is a resident of District 9, said he would be endorsing and voting for Zo Qadri in the City Council District 9 race. Qadri was at the press conference and the two voted together after the mayor’s remarks. Adler said that while he could not vote in the District 3 runoff, he would endorse marketing strategist José Velásquez. Though Adler said he would not make an endorsement in the race for his successor, he noted his long history and good relationships with former Austin mayor and state Sen. Kirk Watson and state Rep. Celia Israel, and he said either one of them “is ready to be mayor.”

On Nov. 29, District 5 Council candidate Stephanie Bazan sent out a press release announcing her endorsement by former District 5 candidates Ken Craig, Bill Welch and Brian Anderson. Similarly, a coalition of former District 9 candidates including Tom Wald, Zena Mitchell, Ben Leffler and Danielle Skidmore endorsed Qadri on Nov. 22.