City boards, commissions and task forces empower Austin citizens to participate in local government and help impact public policy. If you’d like to be more involved in local government, serving on a board or commission might be right for you. You can find a list of the city’s boards and commissions, a description of what each of them does, and their web addresses here. You can read more about the responsibilities and training requirements here. As the city website says, your job will be “to support the democratic process by considering the broadest set of perspectives on issues. You will no longer just consider your own perspective, but must consider the perspectives of all the stakeholders involved in any particular issue.” Still interested? The city is currently accepting applications for boards and commissions and you may apply online.

Austin’s Chief Financial Officer Elaine Hart has appointed Belinda Weaver as new city treasurer, in charge of the Treasury Office. Weaver has been with the city for 12 years, most recently serving as interim treasurer since April 2018 and assistant treasurer for seven years prior. According to a press release from the city, “Under her leadership, the city completed $1.4 billion of debt issuances during 2019 to support general government, Austin Energy, and Airport capital improvements. One of the city’s more complex and innovative bond transactions (funding for acquisition cost of the Nacogdoches Biomass Facility for Austin Energy) earned the Bond Buyer’s 2019 Deal of the Year for the Southwest Region and is being considered for Overall 2019 Deal of the Year. Belinda also serves as a Trustee on the Boards of the Austin Police Retirement System and Austin Firefighters’ Relief & Retirement Fund. Prior to joining the city in November 2007, she worked as an underwriter for a regional financial institution.”

With the majority of City Council’s discussion about public camping hopefully behind us, it’s time for the city to turn its eyes back to the review of the draft Land Development Code, which is scheduled to move forward posthaste. According to an update posted on the City Council Message Board by Mayor Steve Adler, Council will next take up the draft code on Monday, Nov. 18 in a work session (Adler suggests this could also serve as “staff’s deadline for flagging topics that need further policy direction from Council) and again in work sessions Dec. 3 and 4. The first Council public hearing will take place on Saturday, Dec. 7, with Council’s first opportunity to vote on the draft Dec. 9. While the scope of those hearings is still being sorted out, Council members Paige Ellis and Greg Casar have both indicated a preference to hear changes to the Save Our Springs Ordinance separate from the LDC rewrite.

Whether you’re into polka dots or polka dancing, there will be something for everyone at the sixth annual Polkapocalypse, a free festival celebrating Oktoberfest held at the Elisabet Ney Museum. There will be five polka bands, a polka-dotted costume contest and many other festive activities as well as a chance to cast your vote for the Ney to win a $50,000 National Trust Grant and $150,000 in preservation grants. (Vote online here.) Sunday, Oct. 27, noon-5:30 p.m., Elisabet Ney Museum, 304 E 44th St.

Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir gave students and staff at East Austin’s Overton Elementary a chance to put the county’s brand-new touch-screen voting system through its paces. In a press release, DeBeauvoir said, “It’s the first time voters have seen a voting system with a paper trail. Voters seem very happy, the ones we’ve talked to at the polls. They love the paper trail. They’re very happy with it, so we’re delighted that it seems to be so well received in the community.” She noted that Texas is expected to see about a 13 percent turnout for the Nov. 5 general election and Travis County is expected to see higher numbers than that. “We don’t think it’s going to approach 20 percent turnout – we would love it if it did,” she said. “Nevertheless, we want to invite everybody to come out for early voting. You can vote anywhere that it’s convenient for you and early voting runs from now through Nov. 1 and it will shut down at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1.”

The St. John Neighborhood Association, Council Member Greg Casar and the UT School of Architecture are hosting a public conversation about transforming the Home Depot site into a major community benefit. Hundreds of people have already participated in meetings and surveys, giving their feedback on what they’d like to see done with the 20-acre property in North Austin, which was purchased by the city more than 20 years ago. Snacks and interpretation service in Spanish will be provided. Monday, Nov. 4, 6-8 p.m., People’s Community Clinic, 1101 Camino La Costa. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can submit feedback online here.

With summer festival season finally over, the city is girding itself for fall festival season, which gets underway this weekend with the opening of the Texas Book Festival, the Austin Film Festival and Mexic-Arte Musuem’s 38th Annual Viva La Vida Parade & Festival. Fortunately, thousands of festival attendees all heading downtown on the jam-packed day of Saturday, Oct. 26 doesn’t have to mean traffic gridlock and frayed tempers, thanks to Capital Metro’s free Commuter Day pass, which is designed to take the stress out of navigating busy streets and trying to find parking. Those who prefer to walk, cycle, carpool or take public transit should check out the options on GetThereATX.com.

Fred Lewis, a leader of the group promoting passage of Proposition B, which would require a public vote on any expansion of the convention center, told the Austin Monitor Tuesday he simply made a mistake when he filled out the most recent report for the political action committee Unconventional Austin. Mark Littlefield, who opposes Prop B, filed a complaint with the city clerk’s office calling Unconventional Austin’s Oct. 7 filing illegal because it failed to report the expenditure on time and on the correct form. As we reported Monday, Unconventional Austin reported in a campaign filing that Vici Media spent $3,000 on Facebook ads for the PAC on Sept. 12. It was labeled an “advertising expense.” Such an expenditure would have required the filing of a special form within two days of the expenditure. However, Lewis said Vici actually conducted a poll, which cost $2,000, and bought a Facebook ad to attract people to participate in that poll. Lewis provided an invoice from Vici Media to Michael Searle showing that Vici charged $2,000 for the Unconventional Austin poll page and $783.67 for the Facebook ad related to the poll. The invoice is marked paid. Searle, a former aide to Ellen Troxclair and a member of the board of the Austin Independent Business Alliance, received the bill as CEO of Aro Group, LLC. However, Lewis said the organization paid the bill, not Searle. According to Unconventional Austin’s Oct. 7 report, Searle loaned the PAC $9,200 on Sept. 26. Lewis told the Monitor he plans to file a correction to the Oct. 7 report to make clear that Vici Media was just a vendor, not a donor, and that the money was primarily for a poll, not advertising. Lewis said the complaint was filed to call attention to the use of the Republican pollster because of Austinites’ tendencies to see things in terms of their different tribes. Other contributors to the PAC include former Council Member Ora Houston and neighborhood leader Mary Ingle.

Voting by mail is easy, convenient, fast and private. Applications to vote by mail in the Nov. 5 election need to arrive by Friday, Oct. 25. Who is eligible to vote by mail? If you are registered to vote, over 65, ill or disabled, jailed but eligible to vote, or will be out of the country on Election Day, you can apply to vote by mail. Just print the application online, fill it out and mail it to your local election official. This is not just any old election: On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Texans will be voting on 10 proposed amendments to the state constitution. The League of Women Voters has an excellent bipartisan voters guide, which comes in English and in Spanish. If you need more election information, visit VOTE411.org.

The Texas Department of Transportation has created a long-range plan called the Texas Transportation Plan 2050, or TPP 2050, that outlines the future of transportation in the great state of Texas. According to TxDOT, the plan “will help inform the direction for the future of Texas’ multimodal transportation system. This will guide TxDOT’s planning and programming for the next 30 years and set long-range goals for all forms of transportation.” The department is hosting a round of public meetings to gather input on the plan. The next meeting is Wednesday, Oct. 30, 5:30-7 p.m., at TxDOT Headquarters, 200 E. Riverside Dr. If you can’t make it in person, you can participate in an online interactive survey.

Austin Transportation is collecting feedback from the community on a proposal to create bikeways on streets in the Cherrywood, Wilshire Wood/Delwood 1, and Schieffer Willowbrook neighborhoods. According to the department, “Neighborhood bikeways are local streets with lower speeds and volumes of car traffic where the safety and comfort of people bicycling, walking, and playing is a priority.” The project would include some changes to Wilshire Boulevard, Cherrywood Road, Schieffer Avenue, and the IH-35 crossing. To participate, visit the project website and submit your feedback on the online survey, which closes Sunday, Oct. 27.

Politicians like to remind the public that they are real people. One of their favorite ways of doing this is by rolling up their sleeves and doing some dirty work. Thus was hatched the event, “City Council Cleans the Pool Day,” which takes place at Barton Springs Pool and features Mayor Steve Adler and Council members Ann Kitchen, Leslie Pool and Alison Alter doing some spit-and-polishing of the pool. The event, held by Friends of Barton Springs Pool and the Barton Springs Conservancy, includes a tour of the pool and historic bathhouse, and shows off the Upper Dam and some new tree plantings and aquatic plants. The mayor will discuss the Land Development Code changes regarding improved water quality for Barton Springs and other watersheds. The Council members will deliver some remarks on the use of Hotel Occupancy Tax funds for the bathhouse. 9 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 24,Barton Springs Pool, 2131 William Barton Dr.