This week, small municipalities in the county will receive an official contract outlining the direct funds that Travis County will provide to help bolster an economy rattled by the Covid-19 pandemic. “They’re anxious to see the document,” Commissioner Gerald Daugherty said at the June 9 meeting of the Commissioners Court. Last week, the Commissioners Court allocated $7.3 million, or $55 per Travis County resident, in the surrounding municipalities, excluding Austin. At Tuesday’s meeting, the commissioners finalized the interlocal agreement with the cities in order to provide them with direct relief, but limited the types of programming the funds are eligible to be used for. Municipalities will not be able to create rent, mortgage or utility assistance programs in order to avoid residents receiving aid both from the county and their respective city of residence. Commissioners explained that this limitation was to avoid a duplication of dollar expenditures as federal law prohibits aid dollars distributed under the CARES Act from being spent on duplicate programming. Small cities may, however, set up small business assistance programs as long as the cities do not grant financial relief to businesses that receive help from the county. “We don’t know everything that the local city mayors and management know about their local small business communities,” said Diana Ramirez, the director of the Economic Development Department. “As long as we coordinate, we think it’s going to work fine.”

Travis County needs poll workers – more than 700 poll workers, to be exact – to staff election day voting sites. The Travis County Elections Coordinator has partnered with the League of Women Voters Austin Area and OpenAustin to beat the bushes and sign up election day poll workers for the upcoming primary runoff and special elections on July 14. If you’re a registered voter, you may sign up to be an election day poll worker. The gig pays $10-12 per hour and comes with the warm feeling of participating in the democratic process. Sign up here. The Travis County Clerk will contact you about scheduling an hourlong online training session. Find more information about other temporary election positions here.

Austin ISD will hold virtual graduation ceremonies for seniors on Monday, June 15, and Tuesday, June 16, aired on AISD.TV and the district’s Facebook page. A district news release promises that the virtual ceremonies “will showcase many of the same things as traditional graduation ceremonies including speeches from the principal, superintendent, valedictorian and salutatorian.” The real fun is on June 23-25 when graduates will get the opportunity to experience in-person graduation walks in caps and gowns, to collect their diplomas on an outdoor stage in front of families and friends. In observance of social distancing protocols, graduates will be assigned staggered times to arrive and each graduate may invite four guests from the same household. Find the location and schedule for in-person graduation walks here.

Austin ISD officials are examining how effective remote learning is and how it can be improved for the 2020-21 school year. So the district has launched a survey for students in grades 6-11 in an effort to get feedback on this past spring semester. The 10-minute survey focuses on the “student experience,” and aims to find out what works and doesn’t work in the online classroom. Take the survey.

Austinites who voted for the mobility bond in November 2016 may be curious to know what their $720 million has accomplished. The answer is, a lot. The bond’s Year Three Progress Report, now available as a PDF on the bond website, offers a detailed snapshot of all the work completed with mobility bond dollars over the past three years. More than 200 projects have been completed, and many of the biggest ones are beginning construction soon. Many of the projects have enabled kids to walk and bike to and from school more safely. And it’s the gift that keeps on giving, providing funding “for safety and mobility projects citywide, including major regional and corridor projects, bikeways projects, sidewalks, urban trails, and more.” Sounds like progress to us.

Kids (and parents) who are looking at the prospect of a long hot summer stretching out in front of them may rejoice at this news: The Austin Parks and Recreation Department will be holding free summer programs starting July 6. A wide range of summer programming includes Stay Playful camps, Stay Creative camps, kayaking and biking, and family park activities. And for those reluctant to start in-person activities, the Austin Nature & Science Center has some online-only options weekdays in July. Since the summer camps are observing social distancing requirements, a lottery system will be used to select participants for weekly sessions. Austin residents may register online for the weekly lottery starting at 10 a.m. on June 15. Find more information about PARD’s summer camp programming, as well as registration details and schedules, here.

All Together Austin, the result of a partnership between Austin Community Foundation and United Way for Greater Austin, has opened applications for its second round of funding, which will distribute $1.5 million-$2 million to local projects. This round of funding for those impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic will go to those working on:

• Shelter and support for those experiencing domestic violence
• Closing the digital divide
• Mental health support
• Support for aging population
• Utility payment support

Grant applications and more information about the requirements can be found at AllTogetherATX.org/critical-needs-grants. Applications are due June 26 at 5 p.m. and grants will be distributed in early August. During the first round, the charity distributed $1.8 million to 97 local nonprofits to address immediate needs created by the pandemic.

CommUnityCare Health Centers is partnering with Quest Diagnostics and Centene Corporation to provide free Covid-19 testing for people who display no symptoms of coronavirus. Quest will provide CommUnityCare with up to 1,000 test kits each week. CommUnityCare CEO Jaeson Fournier explained in a news release, “The prevalence of asymptomatic carriers is one of the biggest challenges we are currently facing during this pandemic – especially for at-risk populations. A carrier of the disease who doesn’t know they have it is more likely to pass it to others without even knowing it. One of our strongest weapons in combating the coronavirus pandemic is increased testing.” Dr. Alan Schalscha, chief medical officer of CommUnityCare, said, “Knowing the status of anyone who comes in for testing helps us to identify positive cases and quarantine them so that the spread is contained. Most importantly we want to inform and educate our community of their status so that they may take actions to protect their families or others who they may come in contact with on a daily basis.” Insurance plans will cover the cost of the tests. Uninsured individuals will be tested free of charge. No appointment is required at drive-up test sites. To find a test site near you, call CommUnityCare’s Covid-19 hotline at 512-978-8775.

Austin is expected to see temperatures climb past the 100-degree mark today, so the opening of some city pools comes as welcome news. Today the city will open Barton Springs, Deep Eddy, Bartholomew, Walnut Creek, Garrison, Northwest and Mabel Davis pools, in a limited capacity due to the pandemic. Patrons must be screened before entering and must make reservations for a two-hour block of time. The reservations are free, and can be made at austintexas.gov/parksonline or by calling 512-974-9330 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. In addition to that system, a handful of pools will be open for free, with no reservations required. Big Stacy, Rosewood, Shipe and Govalle pools will be opened and cleared every two hours for cleaning. Swimmers are asked to get in line to reenter the pool after cleaning procedures are completed.

Cycling is always popular in Austin, but in the past few months, bicycles have assumed major importance as more and more Austinites ditch their cars to run errands and enjoy socially distanced exercise on two wheels. On June 11, City Council will be consider approving the creation of temporary protected bike lanes on Congress Avenue north of Riverside Drive in order to enable safer bicycling during the pandemic. The advocacy group Bike Austin is all in favor of this plan, of course; it just wants to take it a little further. The group has launched a petition urging the city not to stop the bike lanes at Third Street, as planned, but to extend them all the way to the Capitol, creating a protected north-south bicycling corridor. As of press time, more than 1,000 people had signed the petition.

Though approved by City Council in February 2018, Austin still has no paid sick leave ordinance. The Texas Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the city Friday, blocking the ordinance and upholding an earlier ruling that it conflicted with the Texas Minimum Wage Act and was therefore unconstitutional. Robert Henneke, general counsel for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which filed the suit, released a victory statement: “The Texas Supreme Court’s denial of the city of Austin’s appeal leaves undisturbed the Third Court of Appeal’s opinion that the Austin paid sick leave ordinance is unconstitutional because it is preempted by state law. Once again, Texas courts are unanimous that cities in Texas lack the lawful power to mandate paid sick leave that interferes with the ability of employers and employees to negotiate wages and benefits.” Council Member Greg Casar, who was the lead sponsor of Austin’s paid sick leave ordinance, told the Austin Monitor, “This is a reprehensible act from the Supreme Court in the midst of the worst pandemic in 100 years. We will not rest until every Texan has the basic right to paid sick time, a right guaranteed in every other wealthy country in the world.”

There couldn’t be a better time to let city leaders know your thoughts on how Austin should spend its money. Luckily, there’s a way to do just that, by taking the budget survey on Speak Up Austin. The city of Austin is “committed to an inclusive and transparent budget development process that utilizes resident and stakeholder feedback to ensure budget priorities are being met.” So view the virtual Town Hall Budget Presentation first, if you prefer, and then log on to the survey to share your thoughts on what priorities are most important to you. The budget survey is open until July 1.