Jacob Cottingham

On Tuesday, the Republican Club of Austin hosted a debate between Ed Wendler, Jr. and Ted Siff on the merits of Prop. 1, also known as the Transportation and Mobility Bond. With roughly 60 people in attendance at Green Pastures, the two spent the better part of an hour in a polite, structured discussion followed […]

Travis County Commissioners get most of the attention when it comes to making decisions for the county’s future, but more often than not the responsibility for carrying out those decisions falls to Transportation and Natural Resources Executive Director Joe Gieselman.   Gieselman says constituents might be surprised to learn the complexities of his job. TNR’s […]

Council members pressed forward Thursday with two agenda items designed to ultimately lower the amount of water used throughout the city. Council unanimously approved extending a marketing contract with EnviroMedia for another $175,000 and approved the recommendations from the Water Conservation Task Force, including the goal of reaching 140 gallons of water per person per […]

What could have been a routine item from Travis County commissioners on Tuesday turned into a lengthy discussion about the relative merits of road improvements along Brodie Lane and the future of State Highway 45 SW. Commissioners were set to approve resolutions to demonstrate “community support” for the three projects the county is submitting under […]

Calling traffic congestion one of the Austin’s most pressing problems, Council members instituted a process Thursday to assist city officials in deciding which among the city’s myriad  transportation projects will move to the head of the line when it comes time for a bond election.   Transportation Director Rob Spillar gave Council members a briefing […]

Good news from the Travis County Auditor’s Office: this year’s revenue collections are likely to be very close to, if not in excess of, previous projections. Revenue estimator Blain Keith told commissioners that by the end of March 92.8 percent of the general fund budgeted revenue had been collected. That number was 87.9 percent at […]

After more than two years of planning, Austin Energy has a Generation Plan for the next decade, approved unanimously by the City Council on Thursday. The new plan builds on the already ambitious mix of renewable energy forecasted for the utility’s future and requires that an “affordability matrix” be approved before the new plan goes […]

In a split decision, Travis County Commissioners voted 3-2 to spend money from this year’s allocated funds to hire two full-time employees that would head up a new division within the County Attorney’s Office concentrating specifically on county land use authority. While the state of Texas has for decades stood out nationally for the lack […]

Last week Pct. 2 Travis County Commissioner and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) Policy Board Member Sarah Eckhardt sent out a memo to her fellow CAMPO members and commissioners and to CTRMA (Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority) detailing her opposition to eliminating Toll Road Policy #4, which dictates where revenues from toll roads are […]

After a contentious hour-long discussion among Council members, Fire Chief Rhonda Mae Kerr and city staff, Council members approved by a one-vote margin a modified resolution that would allow the fire department to spend $280,000 on a job recruitment specialist targeting a more diverse workforce as well as advertising and promotion for the positions.   […]

Council members approved a resolution Thursday authorizing a $100 million transportation bond election, but not before some contentious debate over how to name a citizens task force to monitor the process.    The bond, which is not to exceed half the allowed bonding capacity at the city’s current tax rate, would go toward improvements in […]

Travis County Commissioners on Tuesday learned of the latest call from TxDOT for pass-through financing highway projects, setting off debate in the court about the interplay between local and state governments and fiscal responsibility. Pass-through financing plans require public or private entities to pay for work on state roads up front, after which they are […]