Two years in, Ann Howard is playing for the county’s team

Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard compares the first two years in her four-year term representing Precinct 3 to speed dating.

“When you have something like Winter Storm Uri and a pandemic, you cram a lot of meet-and-greets into the early months,” Howard told the Austin Monitor. “Because there are so many conversations, and so many meetings – it’s like speed dating. I just got to know so many more people.”

Howard, who previously served as executive director of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO, already had extensive contacts in the public safety and emergency services communities in Austin and Travis County. She has spent the past two years delving deeper into the county side of health and human services, as well as emergency operations command.

“It just sort of brought it all together in trying to be a voice for the people,” she said. “Whether it was western Travis County – that’s my precinct – just being part of the team for the entire county. We just built relationships, and I got to see everyone working really hard.”

Howard won’t say she’s settled in quite yet, but two years in she has a better grasp on the issues at hand and what is important to her constituents. She said a major theme of the constituent calls she receives concern development issues from single-family homes, subdivisions and golf courses.

“Infrastructure is a big theme to Precinct 3, whether you’re working on your own piece of property or you’re a businessperson trying to develop land,” she said.

Those concerns are also connected to another major issue facing that part of the county: water. This year, Howard worked with the Lower Colorado River Authority to learn more about its management of the river.

“I’m a homeowner on Lake Travis, and I see what my neighbors worry about with their wells going dry,” she said.

Another issue is continued growth west in the area along Highway 71, which has created growing traffic congestion in the area. Howard noted there are no plans for an expansion anytime soon.

As the county and its regional mobility partners work out the future of the area in terms of roads and transit, Howard said she will continue to urge “smart development” throughout the precinct. It’s her term for the “live, work, play” mindset adopted by the city to encourage development of the things people need – food, jobs and entertainment – near residential areas, thereby decreasing traffic congestion and people driving alone in their cars.

“Just flexible timing so that people don’t all have to be on the road at the same time,” she said. “That’s not a new idea but it’s an idea we really need to talk about.”

Staffers are currently reviewing Travis County’s development services process, and Howard expects a report back in early 2023.

Another report she is looking forward to is on roads. In April, the Commissioners Court passed a resolution directing staff to identify problems with the county’s substandard road program. The action came after a county document showed 108 miles of substandard and unmaintained roads within Travis County.

“We need to retool that program, especially with federal infrastructure dollars available to communities,” she said. “We budgeted for some grant writers on our county staff that can comb through all of this once-in-a-lifetime federal dollars and make sure Travis County brings home as much of that money as possible. And addressing roads is something we need to do.”

Howard is proud of investments the court made in public safety, including increasing sheriff’s office salaries and boosting recruiting efforts. She noted that she and her colleagues are continuing to work toward consensus on ways to divert people experiencing mental health emergencies from the Travis County Jail. Those discussions will continue in 2023.

Howard also praised the court’s work addressing the opioid crisis. In May, Travis County declared overdose deaths a public health crisis. Since then, the county has worked to supply local nonprofits with naloxone, the medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.

“We really started listening to the people most affected,” Howard said. “The first thing we seized upon was getting more Narcan into the community.”

Photo via Facebook.

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