Michelle Jimenez

On Tuesday, the attorney representing promoters of the proposed Formula One racetrack in southeast Travis County unveiled a rough plan to county commissioners, the first such briefing to a public entity and one that left the court with a long list of unanswered questions.   Richard Suttle, who represents Full Throttle Productions, provided an overview […]

County Commissioners haven’t forgotten the fiasco associated with the building of the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, which opened behind schedule 10 years ago.   “It was an ever-living nightmare,” Commissioner Ron Davis recalled during last week’s commissioners court meeting.   News reports back then indicated the project came in $23 million over budget and led […]

Travis County officials, with an eye toward future population growth, are looking to address issues of groundwater availability, particularly in the western part of the county.   Toward that end, commissioners are considering suspending, through Oct. 31, 2011, approval of new subdivision applications that cite the Trinity Group Aquifers as their source of water. While […]

Joe Gieselman, executive manager of Travis County’s Transportation and Natural Resources Department, announced during Tuesday’s County Commissioners meeting that he plans to retire early next year, after nearly four decades with the county.   “It’s time for me to move on and hand off my duties to new leadership,” Gieselman, 62, told the court, whose […]

Austin Energy is preparing to kick off a two-year process that officials hope will culminate in a rate increase in 2012 and develop a framework for the “utility of the future.”   The city-owned utility is scheduled to provide an overview of the process to City Council during today’s meeting. The utility has already lined […]

The Electric Utility Commission, an advisory board to the City Council, rejected Austin Energy’s proposed 2011 budget during its meeting Monday night, setting the condition that millions in funding be shifted from economic development to programs directly related to the city-owned utility.   “The gist of what the EUC was saying is it’s not fair […]

Travis County is on track to implement a pilot program for parking that county commissioners hope will provide some relief to the 650 employees waiting for a space.   The court last week approved moving ahead with the plan, with the understanding that a number of details need to be ironed out. A reluctant Commissioner […]

Sometimes a single word can have a significant impact, and in Travis County’s case, the word “or” could set it back millions of dollars each year, if county commissioners decide to loosen the criteria for replacing old vehicles.   The court on Tuesday spent an hour discussing potential changes to the 1994 policy, which was […]

District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg has turned to Travis County officials for help in conducting an independent audit of the Austin Police Department’s crime lab, in light of concerns raised by a former forensic scientist.   On Tuesday, Travis County commissioners approved $50,000, to be taken from reserves, to hire external auditors to conduct a quality […]

Travis County officials plan to appoint within the next several months a bond committee to review a list of potential transportation projects to be included in a 2011 referendum, County Judge Sam Biscoe said.   However, the price tag isn’t likely to be on the order of $500 million, a figure an executive manager for […]

Sometimes things can go by pretty fast at City Council meetings, but one item last week seemed to go by at the speed of a Formula One racer, and Council Member Bill Spelman decided to slam on the brakes.   Spelman, unsure about an item approved on the consent agenda vote, asked Mayor Lee Leffingwell […]

Austin Police patrol units will soon be getting state-of-the-art digital video camera systems after Council members approved $15.5 million Thursday to upgrade the department’s antiquated VHS tape video cameras. The new technology has been on APD’s wish list for years, but was moved to a higher priority following the controversial killing of East Austin teenager […]