Michelle Jimenez

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 […]

Travis County Commissioners have lined up an attorney for Precinct 1 Deputy Constable Richard Furs, defendant in a civil suit filed last month alleging excessive use of force on a woman of Mexican descent.   The suit refers to the woman as Jane Doe and states that her name is being withheld because of the […]

Travis County officials on Tuesday said studying two new mining sites before activity begins would allow them to establish a baseline of information that could prove valuable if follow-up monitoring shows the operation has harmed the area’s resources.   “If you don’t establish a baseline, a private entity, whether it’s a corporation or an individual, […]

Despite an outcry from concerned community members, the Travis County Commissioners Court in late January reluctantly granted Texas Industries, Inc., a permit to mine sand and gravel on 1,200 acres in eastern Travis County, saying it had no grounds to deny the permit.   Now, six months later, the court is scheduled to receive a […]

Travis County commissioners are scheduled today to consider launching a pilot program that, ultimately, could reduce the number of employees who wait years, some as many as seven, for a designated parking space.   Currently, 650 of the county’s approximately 1,800 downtown employees are on the waiting list. Broaddus Planning, the firm that the county […]

City Manager Marc Ott and his staff managed to wipe out, within the past few months, an anticipated double-digit deficit in the 2011 budget — and to do so without pushing the upper limits of the property tax rate.   Ott unveiled the $2.8 billion spending plan to the City Council during a work session […]

In the face of plans by Travis County Commissioners to hold the line on new spending in the 2011 budget, Sheriff Greg Hamilton says his department has voluntarily made requested spending cuts for the past two years, but suggests that further reductions in his department’s budget could have a negative impact on public safety.  Several […]

It’s official: Larry Weis will become Austin Energy’s next leader and the city’s highest-paid employee.   City Manager Marc Ott announced at a news conference Thursday that he has appointed Weis, general manager of the Turlock Irrigation District in Central California, to the post and will pay him $285,000 a year. Ott’s salary is $240,000 […]

Central Health, formerly known as the Travis County Healthcare District, is on track to issue $18 million in bonds this fall to build a new health center in North Central Austin. Planning for the center began in 2008.   Officials of Central Health asked county commissioners Tuesday for approval to issue certificates of obligation, a […]

As City Manager Marc Ott prepares to name his choice for general manager of Austin Energy — Larry Weis, general manager of the Turlock (CA) Irrigation District — the utility’s current staff is scrambling to make up for a projected shortfall.   Yesterday, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez and City Council Member Bill Spelman told […]

The county program that provides legal representation to defendants is short on cash and will receive $600,000 from a reserve fund to help get it through the fiscal year.   Travis County Commissioners approved the transfer on Tuesday to pay for court-appointed attorneys fees. Staff members are expected to return to commissioners later this fiscal […]

Kirk Holland, general manager of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Water Conservation District, gave the board of directors a balanced preliminary budget last week.   The problem? Holland had to look to reserve funds, to the tune of $208,000, to get the budget in the black at $1.6 million — and that’s after cutting about as […]