Four members of the Lower Colorado River Authority board of directors took part in their last official meeting Wednesday, as the board prepares to welcome four new members appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, according to his announcement Monday. Vice Chair John Dickerson and board members Jett Johnson, Michael McHenry, Vernon “Buddy” Schrader – all of whom former Gov. Rick Perry appointed – are leaving due to expiring terms. Dickerson, who had served on the board since 2004, made some remarks prior to the close of the meeting. “This position doesn’t belong to me, it doesn’t belong to any of us – it belongs to the basin,” he said. Abbott appointed Martha Leigh Whitten, George Russell, Joseph “Joe” Crane and Charles Barton “Bart” Johnson and reappointed current board member Lori Berger, initially appointed by Perry in 2009. The appointments are subject to Texas Senate confirmation, and the new terms will last through Feb. 1, 2021.

The City Council Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday voted 3-0 to recommend that Council approve an increase in customer rates for Texas Gas Service. According to documents provided to committee and Council Members Don Zimmerman, Ann Kitchen and Ellen Troxclair — Council Member Delia Garza is on maternity leave — residential customers will pay about $1.04 per month extra because of the increase. The total rate increase since 2009 has been $5.53 per month, or about $66 per year, for residential customers. Commercial customers will pay an extra $3.98 per month under the new rates, with a total rate increase of nearly $248 per year since 2009. Consumer advocate Paul Robbins, who was invited to speak to the committee, said, “It would be relevant to know how much of the $66 increase (for residential customers) could have been prevented if growth had paid for itself, and if Austin had not been subsidizing the service area outside of the city limits. My intuition is that it would be a large percent.” Robbins suggested that the Council members look ahead to Texas Gas Service’s next rate case, which is very likely to come during their terms of office. He suggested that they can lower rates in the future by insisting that the gas utility, like Austin’s water utility and Austin Energy, recover 100 percent of the cost of growth in the system. The full Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the rate request this afternoon. The committee also considered an ordinance to increase customer gas rates for Atmos Energy Corporation, Mid-Tex Division and unanimously voted to pass the item on to the full Council without a recommendation.

An investigation into a March training session designed to help staff cope with a majority-female City Council is underway. In a memo to City Council and Mayor Steve Adler, City Manager Marc Ott said that he expects a draft report about the incident this Friday, May 22. The inquiry will be led by Police Monitor Margo Frasier, Labor Relations Ombudsman Tom Stribling and Human Resources Employee Relations Investigator Wendy Riggins. Assistant City Manager Sue Edwards, who is Austin’s only female ACM, will act as the city manager’s office liaison for the investigation. Ott wrote that, since the story came to light, he has “grown concerned that our employees may not know where – or how – to report instances where an outside contractor or trainer might behave in a way that is inconsistent with our values.” Ott also reiterated concerns about the city’s speaker-vetting process. Both of those topics, he said, will be addressed in a discussion with his leadership team, which “will provide clear and direct guidance over the next two weeks.”

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Yesterday, the state of Texas launched its “first-ever one-page state government website.” Texas.gov features bilingual access to public records and state agencies and provides simplified access to services such as vehicle registration. A tour, for the curious, is available online here. According to the tour guide, the site’s new design “saves you time so that you can do what you really love — which we bet is something besides taking care of your government business.”

Yesterday, the city’s Art in Public Places program commissioned Austin artists Ryah Christensen and Sun McColgin to create a permanent exterior artwork for Eilers Park. The project is expected to be completed in 2016 and has a budget of $56,400. According to a press release about the selection, “Christensen and McColgin are a husband and wife team who have been self-employed artists in Austin since 2000, working with a range of materials. As individual artists, both have previously received commissions for permanent public art from the City of Austin as part of the Second Street Streetscape Improvement Project.” The artists said, “In our studio practices, we make art that reflects our deep engagement with the natural world. As students of archaeology and history, we use our fascination with physical and cultural artifacts to create new, enduring stories that remind us of both our connection to the past and our roles in shaping the present and future. … We would like to create an artwork at this site that pays homage to the idea of Deep Eddy as a gift – from the earth to us, from Eilers to the City of Austin, from the City to everyone.” The Parks and Recreation Department has also begun a renovation of the play and picnic areas of the park. More information about that project can be found on the city’s website.

Gary Cobb will kick off his campaign for district attorney tonight at Matt’s El Rancho. Cobb announced his intention to run for the office earlier this month, after nearly 25 years with the district attorney’s office. March 2016 will be the second time Cobb vies for the position. He also ran for district attorney in 2008, finishing third in the primary election.

After first insisting that all directors and assistant directors attend a Monday morning meeting with City Manager Marc Ott on city values, Chief of Staff Ray Baray sent out a memo Friday night to inform city staff that the meeting had been canceled. Some people didn’t see the memo, but noticed Monday morning that their Outlook schedules had been changed to reflect the cancellation. According to Baray’s most recent memo, Monday’s meeting was canceled because of “constraints” in Ott’s schedule. That may be the case, or it may be that management decided not to rub more salt into the wounds of female staff members as well as the women on City Council. Ten of the 11 Council members last week attended a press conference to denounce speakers at a training devised to teach staff how to deal with female officials, who were described as not interested in financial matters and less likely than their male counterparts to read agenda material. Assistant City Manager Anthony Snipes, who arranged the training, remains on administrative leave while Ott ponders his fate. Baray wrote on Friday, “As the Manager has stated in his recent communications, he looks forward to having a positive discussion very soon about our PRIDE values.” PRIDE is an acronym for the values of public service, responsibility, innovation, diversity and ethics.

Tonight, May 19, Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea is hosting a Property Tax Appraisal Forum with the groups Real Values for Texas, Austinites for Fair Taxes and the First Unitarian Universalist Church. During the forum, speakers will provide information on appraisals, efforts to ease the tax burden in the city and the legislative efforts currently underway. The event will also include information about appeals and exemptions for homeowners and a Q&A session. Forum speakers include: Mayor Steve Adler, Austin Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant, Travis Central Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler, Center for Public Policy Priorities Senior Fiscal Analyst Dick Levine, and Real Values for Texas representative Leigh Murrin. The forum will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover Ave.

Yesterday, the Austin Center for Events launched a survey to gather feedback on this past year’s South by Southwest festival and other events. The survey, which asks residents and visitors to weigh in on things like music programming, traffic, street closures and use of city resources, is available online here until June 20. According to a statement from the city about the survey, “Information gathered during this review is a key component guiding city staff as they prepare to draft proposed recommendations to be presented to the City Manager, Mayor and City Council.”

This Memorial Day weekend, the Austin Police Department Lake Patrol Unit will reenact its annual ban of personal watercraft, wet bikes, motorized surfboards and similar devices on Lake Austin. According to a press release, “The annual ban of personal watercraft is necessary to ensure the safety of the large number of people that make use of the lake and parks over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. This ban only applies to Lake Austin.” Non-motorized water vehicles such as kayaks, canoes and paddleboards will be allowed. The ban begins Friday, May 22, at sunset and continues until Tuesday, May 26, at sunrise.

Arguing that “it does not make sense to raise all base wages in City government by more than 3.5 times the prevailing median wage increases in this region, especially when 70% of the current municipal jobs are at, or above, market rates already,” City Council Member Don Zimmerman put forth a proposition to instead increase the pay of nonsworn city employees by 0.801 percent, not 3.5 percent. You can read his resolution, which does not appear to have any co-sponsors, here.

On June 3, a working group of the Ethics Review Commission will host a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Austin City Hall, Room 1029, to get input on the regulation of lobbyists as outlined in City Code. To that end, the group will take public feedback on the topic. According to a statement from the group, it is most interested in hearing from the public about:

• who should be required to register as a lobbyist;
• lobbyist registration procedures;
• lobbyist accountability;
• enforcement and monitoring of lobbyist regulations; and
• lobbyist guidelines.

More information about the current city regulations about lobbyists can be found on the city’s website.