An ordinance that strengthened the city’s regulation of “credit access businesses” (more commonly known as payday lenders) passed unanimously in less than one minute on Thursday. The changes are outlined in the ordinance below. Perhaps most significantly, the new ordinance will give the city the power to revoke businesses’ registration certificates if they are found in violation of city rules. The ordinance also requires that repayment be completed in four installments – not just the principal, but the total amount (including principal, fees and interest). In addition, such lenders are now required to display a city-approved poster that offers information about “extensions of consumer credit.”

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One week after a dramatic delay, the Travis County Commissioners Court agreed unanimously to direct staff to start searching for private partners in an ambitious mixed-use development project in north central Austin. Last week, with Commissioner Brigid Shea absent from the meeting, County Judge Sarah Eckhardt postponed the decision, saying she wanted the full court on hand to support the measure. The proposal for the property at 5325 and 5335 Airport Blvd. – part of the county’s North Campus – is to build a mixed commercial and residential project that would feature an as-yet undetermined number of below-market-rate housing units. On Tuesday, Shea noted that during this year’s failed campaign for $287 million in bonds to build a new civil courthouse in downtown Austin, several constituents asked her why the Airport Boulevard property wasn’t the chosen site for that project. She asked county staff to elaborate on the planning decisions behind both proposals. After peppering her with a laundry list of explanations, Mark David Gilbert of the Planning and Budget Office said of the courthouse, “The simple answer … is it doesn’t fit. It doesn’t come close to fitting. And this project does.” The court voted unanimously to release a request for proposals from private developers interested in working on the project.

At the most recent meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, discussion was postponed on an amendment that would prohibit fishing from the Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake. Board Member Mark Vane said he had been getting a lot of calls regarding this agenda item and requested it be sent back to the Land, Facilities and Programs Committee before bringing it back to the full board.

Austin is now an official member of the Creative Cities Network of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNESCO established the network in 2004 in order to “foster international cooperation with and between cities committed to investing in creativity as a driver for sustainable urban development, social inclusion and cultural vibrancy,” according to an announcement from the city. There are now 116 member cities all over the world, putting Austin in the company of such far-away locals as Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia; Budapest, Hungary; Kingston, Jamaica; and Sasayama, Japan. However, Austin is the only city this year to be awarded the specific designation of City of Media Arts, “a reflection of our reputation as an innovative city, and a representation of many artistic disciplines – including visual art, music, film, and digital gaming,” according to the announcement. The new designation, which brings with it membership in the Creative Cities Network, will facilitate international collaboration among creative industries in Austin and other member cities. “We look forward to leveraging our creative community, skill sets, and collective experience to strengthen international relationships and elevate all creative communities,” said Kevin Johns, director of the Economic Development Department, which helped lead the effort to apply for the honor.

At the dawning of the holiday season, law firm Armbrust & Brown has taken on a new member. According to a statement from the firm, “Tara Allen Esteves has joined the firm of Armbrust & Brown, PLLC as a member. Her practice primarily focuses on corporate and securities law, corporate formation and governance, and general commercial law.”

The City Council members present at a work session on Tuesday appeared to reach a consensus on the idea of splitting up the discussion on the short-term rental ordinance planned for this Thursday. Rather than consider all of the proposed changes to the ordinance, Council members discussed holding a public hearing and vote only on whether to remove the “testing the waters” provision of the current ordinance. They also discussed holding a vote on whether to set another public hearing for the remaining short-term rental proposals, to take place at the next Council meeting on Jan. 28. The “testing the waters” provision, which has proven controversial, allows potential short-term rental operators to advertise for a short-term rental before having obtained a license in order to gauge demand. “I would say that the ‘testing the waters’ provision would be a good one to take up on Thursday and delay the rest of it to January 28,” concluded Council Member Leslie Pool, eliciting no objection from her colleagues. Council members Don Zimmerman and Sheri Gallo were not present for the discussion.

A district judge’s recent decision to throw out a lawsuit against Travis County over its mass-gathering permitting guidelines might not be the final vindication the Commissioners Court was hoping for. That’s according to County Judge Sarah Eckhardt herself, who brought the suit up for brief discussion at the court’s regular meeting on Tuesday. The item had been flagged for possible discussion behind closed doors in executive discussion, a step the judge determined was unnecessary. “The case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” said Eckhardt. “So there’s really nothing to take into executive session except to say that it may come back on the legal question of whether or not the Commissioners Court has the ability to limit the duration of amplified sound for a mass-gathering permit.” Sherine Thomas, director of the county’s Civil Litigation Division, confirmed that the letter in which Judge Tim Sulak revealed his decision was not a final ruling. An attorney for Euphoria Music and Camping Festival, the outfit that launched the suit, has confirmed to the Austin Monitor that the festival is considering whether to appeal.

Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday amended an incentives package with investment giant Charles Schwab, accounting for a delay in the firm’s construction of a new regional headquarters in Austin. Katie Gipson, a strategic planning analyst with the Planning and Budget Office, told the Court that the firm met with permitting troubles with the city of Austin and was asking the county to adjust the time tables of the incentives agreement to reflect a year-long delay. The amendments also include Charles Schwab’s agreement to increase the total amount of its local investment by nearly half a million dollars, bringing the sum to more than $197 million. The company will also now pay its construction workers a minimum of $13 per hour, up $2 from the original agreement the court approved in 2014. The basic terms of the deal – $3.6 million in tax rebates in exchange for creating 823 jobs over 10 years – remain the same. County Judge Sarah Eckhardt noted that she very likely would not have voted for the plan in the first place had she been on the dais back then. However, she said most of the amendments improved the agreement and were worthy of her support. The item passed unanimously.

The North Village branch of the Austin Public Library announced on Monday the opening of a new public battery-charging station. Library patrons can use the high-traffic station to charge phones, tablets and other electronics. North Village was able to purchase the equipment because of a $1,000 grant it won in September after dominating the Battery Recycling Challenge hosted by Austin Resource Recovery and Call2Recycle. Competing against other area libraries, North Village collected 1,042 pounds of batteries to be recycled, more than any other competitor. In an announcement about the new charging station, North Village branch manager Michael Abramov said, “Since rechargeable batteries reduce the overall amount of battery waste, it seemed like an ideal way to spend the $1,000 won in the Battery Recycling Challenge.”

Austin Independent School District Board President Gina Hinojosa announced Monday that she will relinquish her position as president effective Tuesday. Hinojosa said she has decided to run for the District 49 seat in the Texas House of Representatives and recently submitted her election filings. If elected, her term would begin in 2017. “The law does not require me to resign as trustee, but I believe it is appropriate to withdraw as president,” she said Monday. Vice President Amber Elenz will serve as interim president until the board decides who will replace Hinojosa. Hinojosa was elected to the board in November 2012 and elected president by her fellow trustees in January 2015. Last week, Rep. Elliott Naishtat (D-Austin) announced that he would withdraw his name from the ballot. He has served in the District 49 office since 1991.

Editor’s note: For clarification, AISD At-Large Trustee Gina Hinojosa has resigned not from the board but from her position as president.

City Purchasing Officer James Scarboro broke the news at an Electric Utility Commission meeting on Monday that Oxford Advisors LLC has officially filed a protest to the city’s disqualification, under its anti-lobbying ordinance, of the company’s bid to be the consumer advocate in the upcoming Austin Energy cost-of-service study. Mark Dreyfus, the utility’s vice president of regulatory affairs and corporate communications, noted that Oxford filed the protest on Monday and that the city cannot release a new request for contract proposals while the protest is pending. Prior to that discussion, commission Chair Michael Osborne, whose communication with Oxford prompted the disqualification, offered an additional statement. “This was an inadvertent contact. Had staff contacted me before the determination, which they did not, I would have explained the circumstances to them,” he said. “But more importantly, there was no representation that was related to the response and so therefore there was no violation of the ordinance.”

The Austin Independent School District board of trustees announced Monday that it will move forward with purchasing two parcels of land, one in Southeast Austin and one in Southwest Austin. The board decided in March to set a deadline for a decision regarding the matter. According to then District 7 Trustee Robert Schneider, the district had discussed buying land for a South Austin high school since 2001, and residents of Southwest and Southeast Austin had lobbied strongly for the school. However, a few months after the board set the deadline, Schneider passed away from cancer. Out of respect, board members resumed the discussions only after Trustee Yasmin Wagner stepped into his place in October. Austin voters approved an $82 million bond in 2008, $32 million of which will be used to purchase the two parcels of land in South Austin. The locations will not be released until real estate negotiations are finalized. A brick-and-mortar school is still a long way away. Board President Gina Hinojosa said the board will continue to address overcrowding at South Austin’s Bowie High School – AISD’s most crowded high school – through transfer policies. Staff is still considering revamping programming to help with Southeast Austin’s under-enrolled schools.