CommUnityCare, which currently provides health care services at 23 locations in Travis County, will be integrating the Austin OB/GYN practice, founded by Dr. Jeff Hagen, starting on June 4. “Serving the Medicaid population has been a passion of mine my entire career,” said Dr. Hagen in a press release. “This partnership allows me the opportunity to continue to serve this population with the support of a primary care network that has the resources to meet the comprehensive needs of our patients.” The merge will allow CommUnityCare to expand its coverage area, explained Dr. Ashley Choucroun, CommUnityCare’s women’s health medical director. “The addition of these four medical practices, one located in Austin’s Riverside neighborhood, another in Austin’s Springdale area, one in Manor, and the last one in Bastrop, helps ensure that women residing within growing areas of Central Texas continue to have access to prenatal care, contraception, and gynecologic services,” she said. The release predicts a smooth transition, as “operations at these four Austin OB/GYN locations will continue as is. There will be no changes to phone numbers, medical records, and/or appointment processes, and most providers and staff will transition to CommUnityCare.”

All Austin Independent School District offices and schools will be closed on Monday, May 28, for the Memorial Day holiday. Regular business hours will resume Tuesday, May 29. Call the Department of Communications and Community Engagement at 512-414-2414 with any questions, and visit the district’s calendar for all upcoming events.

Two areas of the city in chronic need of better Fire Department service could get temporary or permanent fire stations within the next two years after City Council voted Thursday to make improving response times a priority. Council passed two votes – originally brought as one resolution by Council Member Delia Garza – to put together a plan by the end of June to determine how to add fire stations to the Travis Country neighborhood near Oak Hill and the Moore’s Crossing/Del Valle area in East Austin, which have been identified as being in the most severe need of a new station through a combination of response times and call volumes, among other factors. Garza, a former firefighter, sponsored the resolution in part because residents in Del Valle have seen their homeowners insurance premiums dramatically increase this year because much of the area experiences wait times of more than 10 minutes for fire or emergency medical service. The resolution also attempts to fast-track those stations, with the intent to begin construction within 12 months. In 2016 Council voted to build five new fire stations, but that effort stalled, and it was recently estimated the city would need 10 years to build the new stations, a finding that prompted Garza to push the issue. The issue sparked a debate between Garza and Council Member Alison Alter over whether the city should gather data on possibly fast-tracking two different stations from the five areas identified as being in the most need. An amended version of the resolution was eventually split into two questions that were approved; 7-3 for the first question, with Alter and Council members Leslie Pool and Ora Houston voting against it, and a unanimous vote for the second. Council Member Ellen Troxclair was absent.

By some measures, Austin’s rising housing prices and traffic congestion are starting to drag down the city’s once-hot reputation as the one of the best startup cities in America. A new study from FitSmallBusiness.com evaluated 41 metro areas in North America on a variety of factors – number of startups, amount of venture capital investments, growth of the local tech talent pool, population concentration of millennials, gross domestic product, college attainment rate, travel time to work and cost of living – that factor into a startup environment, and found that the Austin/Round Rock area ranks eighth, with Atlanta claiming the top spot. The Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington metro came in fifth overall, besting Austin in terms of venture capital investments, startup community size and affordability. Austin ranked 20th in commute time and 15th in the local cost of living index, of which the price of housing is a major factor. The report’s recent publication doesn’t appear to have factored into the most recent odds posted by Las Vegas book makers on what city will win the location selection process for Amazon’s HQ2 project. The website OddsShark.com has Austin ranked third, behind northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., which didn’t finish in the top 10 of the FitSmallBusiness.com rankings.

The city is looking to head off a further increase in the abuse of opioid use and related health issues, and will likely fund multiple programs with area agencies next budget year to combat that problem. An agenda item set for Thursday’s City Council meeting directs City Manager Spencer Cronk to compile a list of possible actions the city could take related to opioid abuse, which is a growing public health scourge in many areas of the country and shows signs of increasing in Austin. The plan is due in time to add funding for anti-opioid programs to next year’s budget. At Tuesday’s work session, Mayor Steve Adler said the data from 2015 to 2016 showed a fivefold increase in usage, adding to concern about the use of heroin, OxyContin and other opiate derivatives. The SIMS Foundation, which provides drug counseling and mental health services for Austin musicians, has seen a dramatic increase in drug treatment costs in the past year related to opioid abuse, with three recent musician deaths from overdose. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo said she’d like to see area librarians equipped with and trained to administer the opioid blocker naloxone because libraries are a public resource highly utilized by the homeless, who have a statistically higher risk of overdose death. Tovo said that method has been used in cities such as Denver to prevent overdose deaths from opioid abuse.

With City Council about to start its debate on CodeNEXT, the Austin Board of Realtors has publicly stated its endorsement of the proposed Land Development Code rewrite. CEO Emily Chenevert’s statement, released yesterday, said that the 13,000-member organization “remains strongly support​ive​ of the CodeNEXT process and the timeline laid out by Council.” She continued: “CodeNEXT is more than a zoning rewrite – it is designed to tackle some of Austin’s thorniest issues, including housing affordability and congestion. ABoR recognizes the CodeNEXT process as Austin’s opportunity to remedy these issues. We’re asking the community to join us in supporting the conclusion of the process so we can close the chapter on an effort that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and years of community input and review.” While Chenevert acknowledged that the current draft of the code “is not perfect,” she said, “we cannot let perfect get in the way of good.” In conclusion, she said, “The draft the Council will review in June is better than what we have today and paves the way for continued improvement as we move forward. CodeNEXT is built to continue to evolve right along with Austin. … Throwing out CodeNEXT not only squanders a huge amount of time and money, it sets a real rewrite back for years and Austin can’t afford to continue to operate under a code crafted over 30 years ago. Our community deserves better and has invested too much in this process to see it fail. In order to move the city of Austin forward, we need a land development code suitable for the nation’s 11th largest city, not the much smaller town of three and a half decades ago.”

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When Austin Energy releases its financial and performance reports to City Council, the reports become a matter of public record and should, therefore, be easily accessible to the public. However, Commissioner Michael Osborne pointed out at the May 21 Electric Utility Commission meeting that the comprehensive performance report has not been published on the Austin Energy website since 2015. “We’re three years behind on those now,” he said. Likewise, he noted that the quarterly financial reports do not have up-to-date postings. “That’s not consistent with the kind of utility Austin Energy wants to be,” explained Osborne. “I think the mark of good government is it communicates to the people what the numbers are, and what I see is a movement away from that, and that concerns me.” Chair Cary Ferchill pointed out that posting the financial reports is “something we could do ourselves,” since the commission receives them from staff. Osborne has brought up the matter at the last three commission meetings and has not received a response. Commissioner Karen Hadden echoed his concern and supported pushing for a resolution to get the financials posted online.

Hot, muggy summer days bring mosquitoes and other bugs to your backyard, which can really be a bummer for your evening porch beers. Austin Code has released a few tips for minimizing the bother. First of all, don’t let anything gather standing water: Flip over any buckets or plastic containers you have outside. The city suggests that you “donate larger items to a local shelter, take tires and other recyclables to a local recycling center. Do not throw them in your alley or create a dumping location.” In addition, keep lawns under 12 inches.

Austin police officers have now been working without a union contract for nearly six months, ever since City Council declined to approve a new contract in December over concerns that it did not include strong enough accountability measures for police misconduct. In the meantime, Council is trying to figure out what kind of accountability system it would like to propose in future contract negotiations. In a presentation to Council on Tuesday, interim police monitor Farah Muscadin highlighted various models that exist around the country. San Francisco and Washington, D.C., for instance, have civilian review agencies that investigate complaints against police officers and the police department. That contrasts with the model that exists in many other cities, including Austin, where a review board or monitor relies on the investigation done by the police department’s own internal affairs staff. Muscadin said that she plans to come back to Council next month with a preliminary report on establishing a new system, but that a final recommendation (based on input from various stakeholders) will not be ready until October. Council Member Delia Garza said the city needs to get a police contract approved as soon as possible, noting that without a contract, the Police Department is hiring based on a state test that consists of 100 written questions. That’s “not the best way to determine who are our police officers,” she said. Council Member Jimmy Flannigan said that he was open to approving an interim contract but that the police union rejected it. Council Member Pio Renteria blamed the bombings in March as distracting the city and department from contract negotiations.

The Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday gave unanimous support to a set of staff recommendations aimed at improving conditions for construction workers on county projects. The proposals, brought forward by the Purchasing Office’s Contract Compliance Program, augment the county’s Better Builder Program and will require contractors to certify commitments to safety and payroll practices. Jose Garza, executive director of the Workers Defense Project, a group that lobbied for the adoption of the recommendations, hailed the vote in a statement sent out on Tuesday afternoon. “We applaud Travis County for its commitment to Better Builder, and for leading the state through implementing these common sense reforms to help ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly in a way that creates good, safe construction jobs,” he said. According to the WDP, the new regulations will apply to 18 Travis County projects valued at $184 million through 2020. The court also voted to allocate $9,000 to pay the WDP to monitor two of those projects this year. According to a staff memo, the Purchasing Office has requested $677,290 in the upcoming budget to cover more WDP monitoring as well as six new full-time staffers to man the beefed-up Better Builder Program. Commissioner Gerald Daugherty made the motion to approve the $9,000 allocation but noted his unease with working exclusively with the WDP. “While I do think that Workers Defense provides a good service in this community for the goals that we are setting out for the Better Builder Program, I just want it to be known that I want to see how this thing is going to progress.”

The Leadership Exchange Program is happening this June in Toronto, and representatives from the Economic Development Department will be attending to discuss affordability in the creative sector. Amsterdam, London, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Warsaw will also be sending participants. The goal is to collectively brainstorm a shared list of “global best practices regarding retaining and growing affordable creative spaces in cities.” This is the first year for the conference, which is an initiative of the World Cities Culture Forum, a network of 35 cities established to promote collaboration and communication among city leaders about the importance of promoting culture. “The City of Austin recognizes the affordability crisis facing our citizens, including those in our creative community, and has identified this issue as a key priority,” said Meghan Wells, manager of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division, in a press release. “Participation in the Leadership Exchange Program will enable us to address this challenge with an eye toward what is working in other cities and develop creative solutions to add to our strategies and resources.”

The Hill Country Alliance is accepting submissions for its 2018 photo contest, “The Texas Hill Country: The Place and Its People.” It is now the 12th year for the contest that looks for “photography that captures the land, water and spirit of the Texas Hill Country.” Photographers of all skill levels are encouraged to submit their photos. The HCA will determine 13 winners of the contest. In addition, members of the public can vote for the “People’s Choice” award. All winners will be featured in the group’s 2019 calendar and will also receive a cash prize. The calendar will also include cameos of other submissions. Visit the contest page for submission rules and instructions or to cast your vote for the People’s Choice. An online form makes entry in the contest a breeze, and the deadline for photo entries is May 31.