By Thursday night, 41,027 people had voted in the Travis County runoff elections. That’s 7.43 percent of the registered voters in the county. On Thursday alone, 3,704 people voted. The two busiest voting locations yesterday were the Randalls at Research Boulevard and Braker Lane, which saw 573 people casting ballots, and the Ben Hur Shrine Center, which saw 508. The least busy location was the Pflugerville County Tax Office, which was visited by just 16 voters. Today is the last day of early voting for the runoff election. Election Day is Tuesday.

State Sen. (and former Mayor) Kirk Watson (D-Austin) took time during a very long final meeting to pay tribute to the current Austin City Council. “This is a historic day, and I, as perhaps your most empathetic constituent, I couldn’t let today pass without coming down to say thank you for your service,” said Watson, who brought proclamations from the Texas Senate honoring the mayor and each of the Council members individually. Watson also presented them each with a Texas state flag that had flown over the capitol. “This is a big day in our city’s history, and each of you has played a big role in that history,” said Watson. “I want you to know that the citizens of this community are deeply indebted to you, they deeply thank you, and all wish to honor you.”

The bulk of how the city will handle the transition of its boards and commissions under the new 10-1 system had been worked out by Thursday’s City Council meeting. Council tied up the few remaining loose ends. In the end, Council members opted to expand the Building and Standards Commission to 22 members, though they could decide to appoint 11 members for now, leaving the option open to appoint a second panel to increase enforcement. Council also opted to retain the Downtown Commission, and maintain the Public Safety Commission and Downtown Austin Community Court Advisory Committee as separate entities.

After lengthy discussion at both the Planning Commission and previous Council meetings, in the end, the city approved a new microunits ordinance with very little fanfare. Council approved the ordinance in a vote of 5-2, with Council Members Laura Morrison and Kathie Tovo voting in opposition. The final ordinance allows that, for dwelling units that are 500 square feet or less, the minimum site area requirement is zero, parking can be leased separately and the minimum off-street parking requirement is .25 spaces per unit. Tovo proposed to include a provision that would allow neighborhoods to “opt in” to the ordinance if it fit with their existing neighborhood plan, but that amendment failed.

On Wednesday, one more person cast a ballot than Tuesday, bringing the day’s total to 3,582 votes, or 0.65 percent of the registered voters in Travis County. The grand total for early voting this go-round is 37,323 votes, which is 6.76 percent of the voters in the county. The largest number — 461 — came from people voting by mail, but in terms of physical locations, the Randalls at Research Boulevard and Braker Lane, the Randalls at South MoPac and William Cannon Drive and the Ben Hur Shrine Center remained the most popular with 438, 378, and 360 votes cast, respectively.

Activist Brian Rodgers is appealing a ruling by the city against his complaint that Decker Lake Golf LLC violated the city’s anti-lobbying ordinance. Rodgers filed the complaint last week, pointing to emails discovered when he filed a public information request with the city. Acting Purchasing Officer Urcha Dunbar-Crespo ruled Tuesday that the emails and phone calls from Decker Lake Golf officials to city staff after an RFQS was issued April 14 did not break the no-contact rule. That rule was designed to prevent vendors from lobbying staff or City Council members while the city is in the bidding process on a project. The appeal, filed by Rodger’s attorney, Bill Aleshire of Riggs Aleshire and Ray, pointed out that Dunbar-Crespo’s ruling ignored evidence that there was direct communication between Decker Lake Golf and city staff that did not go through an authorized contact person. In a memo to Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Council members, Dunbar-Crespo said she found that all communications went through proper channels and that no violation had occurred. Council members will likely postpone the matter today until after Jan. 1.

The Parks and Recreation Department announced Wednesday that, with the help of the Texas Historical Commission, Austin’s Hancock Golf Course has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The course, which was founded in 1899 and incorporated in 1900, is the oldest continuously operated course in the state. In 1913, the Austin Country Club added nine holes to the course. The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of historic and archaeological resources, and was established under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. More information about the state’s role in the program can be found here.

Though there are clearly a lot of loose ends that will need tying at Thursday’s City Council meeting, it looks like the Cedar Park quarry sale isn’t one of them. At Tuesday’s work session, Council Member Laura Morrison said that she had a chance to go through the environmental information about the site that she had requested and was “happy to have that sale go on consent.” Her colleagues, who were in the midst of an extended meeting, were visibly pleased with the concept. “You just saved us a bunch of time,” said Council Member Bill Spelman.

With only three days of early voting left, 6.11 percent of registered Travis County voters, or 33,751 people, have participated in the Dec. 16 runoff election so far. Tuesday, 3,591 of those voters visited polling stations. As has been common this election, the busiest locations for voting were the Ben Hur Shrine and the Randalls grocery stores at South MoPac and William Cannon Drive and at Research Boulevard and Braker Lane.

According to a memo from City Manager Marc Ott, changes precipitated by the departures of Deputy City Manager Michael McDonald, Chief Animal Services Officer Abigail Smith and Government Relations Officer John Hrncir are coming. They include a shift of reports among Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano — set to pick up Public Safety duties — Anthony Snipes and the Manager’s Chief of Staff Ray Baray. Chris Noble will step in as the interim chief animal services officer, and City Attorney Karen Kennard — a Texas Municipal League vet — will take the lead role on the City’s Governmental Relations team heading into the 2015 legislative session. In the memo, Ott classified the shift as a “transition plan” to ensure business continuity. He indicated that a longer-term staffing plan is under evaluation.

Travis County Commissioners voted Tuesday to hire J. Keith Pinckard, M.D., Ph.D., as the county’s chief medical examiner. Commissioners chose Pinckard after a nationwide search, following the Aug. 18 resignation of former Medical Examiner David Dolinak, M.D. Pinckard, who will make $270,000 a year, will report directly to the Commissioners Court. He will inherit a demoralized staff and an overloaded and outdated forensics facility that was declared to be beyond capacity almost a decade ago. Commissioners recently approved going forward with plans to build a new $27 million, 51,000-square-foot Medical Examiner building, but have not announced a date for its completion. Pinckard, 46, is currently the deputy chief of the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, a statewide medical examiner system. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1998. He will begin his job at Travis County March 1.

A group of national labor leaders plan a rally today to get out the vote for mayoral candidate Mike Martinez. The event, which takes place at Parque Zaragoza at noon, is free and will feature Laborers’ International Union of North America President Terry O’Sullivan; American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders and International Association of Firefighters’ Harold Schaitberger, as well as Martinez himself.