Saturday is prescription drug take-back day across the United States. On Tuesday, county commissioners unanimously passed a proclamation recognizing the day across Travis County. Local constables are teaming up with the Drug Enforcement Administration to carry out the event. Residents can anonymously drop off expired or unwanted prescription drugs at any of the five precinct […]
Seth Smalley
Posted inTravis County
Compensation Committee consults commissioners on member appointments
On Tuesday, Victoria Ramirez, senior financial manager at the Travis County District Attorney’s office and chair of the county’s Compensation Committee, briefed commissioners on a lineup of committee recommendations for commissioners regarding member appointments. In 2018, the Travis County Commissioners Court created additional seats on the compensation committee to add diversity, reflect different county departments […]
Posted inElections
County mulls options to improve campus voting
While the county is doubling its number of voting machines on the UT campus this year, students and advocates are still warning of long wait times, sparse transit access and a lack of polling sites (hint: there are two). On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously passed a measure to help smooth voting on […]
Posted inFire
Travis County preps for centennial fire prevention week
According to a proclamation unanimously approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, the week of Oct. 9-15 is the 100th annual fire prevention week in Travis County. The theme of the centennial? “Fire won’t wait. Plan your escape.” “I’ve responded to way too many fatality fires in my career, and I have not […]
Posted inHousing
County gets scoop on supportive housing construction plans
Last week, Health and Human Services updated the Commissioners Court on the Travis County Supportive Housing Initiative, a $110 million, American Rescue Plan Act-funded project to bring housing to very low-income residents. Much of the commissioners’ discussion centered on making sure that the county funding was going toward housing for tenants with track records of […]
Posted inPublic Safety
County may start participating in national ballistics database
The first of three gun violence prevention briefings was held Sept. 8 at Travis County Commissioners Court, drawing a diverse crowd from police officials to intervention groups and diversion program advocates. The bulk of discussion focused on a firearms shell casing database program called the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, or NIBIN, which is aimed […]
Posted inPublic Health
County hears calls to center voices of people impacted by overdose crisis
Last week, the Travis County Commissioners Court received a monthly update on the opioid overdose crisis, which the county declared a public health emergency in May. A lot of the conversation focused on the testimony of Aaron Ferguson, a local advocate for methadone access, who relayed the events of the community listening session to commissioners […]
Posted inTravis County
County raises minimum wage for its workers to $20/hour
The Travis County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to raise the minimum wage for county employees by $5 per hour, in addition to approving multiple other types of pay increases for county workers. The current county minimum wage is $15 per hour and commissioners approved an increase to $20 per hour, or $41,600 per year, more […]
Posted inPublic Health
Update shows slow but steady rise of monkeypox in Travis County
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, there are just over 15,000 confirmed cases of the monkeypox virus in the United States, and about 1,280 of those cases are in Texas. Travis County currently has 76 presumptive cases of monkeypox and 34 confirmed cases, according to Austin Public Health, bringing the total number […]
Posted inPublic Health
County acknowledges lag on monkeypox vaccine supply
As of yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control is reporting 992 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Texas, 88 of which are in Travis County (nine confirmed and 79 “presumptive”). On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted to approve a continued declaration of disaster related to the virus. “While they’re labeled as presumed cases, pretty […]
Posted inPublic Health
County holds listening session as part of effort to fight public health crisis
Travis County Health and Human Services updated the Commissioners Court last week on the county’s May declaration of a public health crisis due to a sharp increase in drug overdose and opioid addiction rates. The declaration included eight directives from the Commissioners Court to help ameliorate the crisis. Part of that work included HHS and […]
Posted inWater
Travis County calls on LCRA to ‘get serious’ about water conservation
The Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a resolution July 19 requesting that the Lower Colorado River Authority accelerate a change to its Highland Lakes water management plan. If LCRA cooperates, a “more protective” approach would be implemented to reflect Central Texas’ shrinking water supply and substantially more arid conditions. Commissioners took particular issue with LCRA’s […]