City Council’s “summer break” is nearing an end, and we aren’t the only ones bracing for the upcoming city budget season. Yesterday, Mayor Steve Adler used the City Council Message Board to propose this year’s budget process, which, following a long tradition, will be slightly different than years past. According to that post: The proposed budget will come before City Council on Aug. 2, during a special meeting. At that time, the concept menu – which is a list of things that Council members wish to fund – will be up and running. Council members will be able to add to the (continually updated, online) concept menu, without a co-sponsor, up until Aug. 23. In a departure from previous years, department budgets will not be presented individually. Public hearings will be held on Aug. 17 and 31, with the final budget readings to take place Sept. 11-13. Adler’s proposal, which is not yet set in stone, also includes a new “fist-to-five” process, which he describes like this:

– Fist – a no vote – a way to move something off the list. ‘I need to talk more on the proposal and require changes for it to pass.’
– 1 Finger – ‘I still need to discuss certain issues and suggest changes that should be made.’
– 2 Fingers – ‘I am more comfortable with the proposal but would like to discuss some minor issues.’
– 3 Fingers – ‘I’m not in total agreement but feel comfortable to let this proposal pass without further discussion.’
– 4 Fingers – ‘I think it’s a good idea and will work for it.’
– 5 Fingers – ‘It’s a great idea and I will be one of the leaders in implementing it.’
— If anyone holds up fewer than three fingers, they should be given the opportunity to state their position or objections and the Council should discuss their concerns.
— The Council will continue the Fist-to-Five process until they achieve consensus (a minimum of three fingers or higher) or determine they must move on to the next budget concept proposal.

Sticking with its goals from last year for the most part, the Human Rights Commission did make some changes for the upcoming year at its July 24 meeting. The objectives for the previous year included community engagement, best practices, disparate access, engagement with the Austin Police Department, and to “address community issues specific to race, policing, and criminal justice plans and strategies for meeting these goals and objectives.” After some discussion about the difference between the fourth and fifth objectives, Commissioner Joe Miguez proposed that engagement with APD could be removed as a goal since the commission almost always interacts with the department on race issues, which he argued is covered in the fifth objective. In addition to Miguez’s amendment, best practices was changed to “best commission practices,” and “disparate access” was changed to “disparate impact.” The commission voted unanimously to approve the adjusted goals.

Hey, remember the Special Events Ordinance? According to a recent city update, the ordinance is almost ready, and the draft is currently scheduled to make its debut at City Council in August. As a refresher, the ordinance will create a city code specifically for special events and officially bestow the Austin Center for Events with responsibility for managing events (permitting, regulating) and limiting the number of permits given out (based on things like safety and capacity). According to the city, it will also deal with things like road closures, public safety and waste management and establish “four Tier Levels for special events based on impact of the event.” If you can’t wait until the Aug. 17 meeting, when Council is expected to vote on the ordinance, a briefing about it will take place at the Aug. 1 work session.

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors is tapping the brakes on a decision to move forward with the Texas Department of Transportation on plans for adding dedicated transit infrastructure to I-35. On Monday, a Capital Metro spokesperson told the Austin Monitor that the board will take up the vote at its Sept. 25 meeting. As the Monitor reported two weeks ago, the board was originally expected to decide the issue on Monday, July 31. At a work session earlier this month, agency staff told the board that TxDOT wanted a commitment from Capital Metro sooner rather than later to explore the possibilities of partnering to install several inline bus stations in the median of the highway. Those stations would be served by buses operating in the new tolled express lanes TxDOT will likely add to the roadway from Georgetown down to San Marcos. The so-called I-35 Bus Rapid Transit concept is among the various high-capacity transit alternatives being weighed by Capital Metro’s Project Connect planning process. However, that effort will not deliver its final recommendation until early late 2018, leading to activists’ concerns that Capital Metro is rushing the process by already taking action on I-35 BRT. When asked if there was any indication why the board opted to delay its decision, Capital Metro’s Amy Peck said, “It is early in the overall I-35 project as TxDOT is working through their design issues.”

The Austin Transportation Department announced on Monday that it is on the verge of activating a large batch of brand-new stoplights designed just for bicycles. The first new set of lights to go live can be found at the brand-new Rio Grande Street cycle track extension at West 24th Street. The Austin Monitor saw with our very own eyes city technicians turning the signals on early Monday afternoon. The lights feature bicycle-shaped beacons indicating when two-wheeled travelers can safely cross the intersection. Other new lights across the urban core “will be operational in the following weeks,” ATD announced. Those can be found along Third Street in downtown, on Airport Boulevard near Mueller, on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, at Fourth Street at Red River Street, and at North Lamar Boulevard and Morrow Street. The signals are part of a research study between the city and the University of Texas’ Center for Transportation Research. According to ATD’s press release, “The study will be measuring user compliance and safety on the road. Additionally, public perception and knowledge regarding bicycle signals will be included in the study.” That study should be delivered “in a few months” following the activation of the new stoplights.

Austin Public Library’s St. John Branch will be closed Monday, Aug. 7, through Wednesday, Aug. 9, for an annual cleaning. The branch will reopen on Thursday, Aug. 10, at 10 a.m. In the meantime, you might want to use the North Village or Windsor Park branches, but who knows? Maybe it’s an opportunity to library branch explore!

Do you miss former Council Member Don Zimmerman? Were you, just now, wondering what he thinks of rocker-turned-official-sage Andrew W.K.’s advice? The Austin Monitor has solutions.

The head of the city’s Watershed Protection Department told the Environmental Commission at its meeting Wednesday that he takes “very seriously” the issue of human waste and other pollutants resulting from homeless encampments in the greenbelts. However, explained Director Joe Pantalion, the issue underpinning the water quality problem demands a response far greater than his department can provide on its own. The Watershed Protection Department is “trying to pool resources” with other departments, such as the Austin Police Department, Austin Resource Recovery and Austin Public Health, “to try to come up with a strategic plan to address the root causes of homelessness.” The explanation was prompted by Commissioner Andrew Creel, who said that human waste “represents a significant portion of our water quality degradation.”

There is a group of scammers impersonating the Internal Revenue Service preying on Austinites. The caller tells the victim they owe money to the IRS and will be arrested – or worse – if they don’t immediately make a payment. The Austin Police Department, after fielding several calls, issued a warning last week. In that warning, the department references a page from the IRS website that says the real IRS will never call you demanding immediate payment, nor will they threaten you with the police if you are unable to pay. APD encourages anyone contacted by these scammers to hang up immediately and call the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484. The inspector general also has a form on its site where these scams can be reported.

As we noted last week, all city of Austin parkland is currently under burn ban restrictions. That means no fire building or grilling with wood or charcoal BBQ pits (and other related cooking devices) in city parks. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department reminds us that smoking cigarettes is always prohibited in its public parks. The city isn’t alone: Travis, Williamson and Hays counties are all under burn bans until further notice.

Interested in the very latest on proposed state legislation that could impact Austin’s tree protections? Don’t worry, the city arborist has you covered. The city’s arborist is covering Senate Bill 14, which would gut the city’s ability to protect trees, live on Twitter @CityArboristATX. They are also tweeting out helpful resources, like this Google map that displays all of the Texas cities that currently have tree ordinances (it’s not just Austin).

When the Austin Monitor asked David Foster, treasurer of the Texas Vote Environment political action committee, why he did not file a campaign finance report with the Office of the City Clerk for the first six months of 2017 like other PACs did, he responded that it was not necessary because he filed a report with the Texas Ethics Commission. He explained that, unlike PACs that are set up for special purposes like those working for local City Council candidates or specific bond elections, the law did not require a general PAC to file with the city clerk except when it had local contributions and expenditures. That was on Wednesday, two days after reports were due to the city clerk. On Thursday, after checking with the clerk’s office, however, Foster reported the following via email: “The city is telling me I need to file a report, even though we did nothing in this reporting period on Austin elections.” However, he went on to cite § 2-2-23 B of city code, which states: “A general purpose committee that makes contributions or expenditures in connection with a City election must file with the city clerk a copy of each campaign finance report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. This requirement shall apply to all reporting periods in which the general purpose committee makes 50 percent or more of its expenditures in connection with a City election, or makes an expenditure of $2,500 or more in connection with a City election. The filing date for filing with the city clerk is the date established under the Texas Election Code for filing with the Texas Ethics Commission.” Foster said his group did not work on any Austin-related issues or elections between Jan. 1 and June 30, so the report will show zero contributions and expenditures. Even though it isn’t clear why he has to file the documents, Foster said he would do so. He added that he hoped the city would clear up the confusion when it works on the campaign finance regulations again.