Public improvement districts are becoming more prevalent in eastern Travis County, but commissioners are worried that not enough is being done to ensure that lower-income residents will benefit from the opportunities PIDs bring to their communities. Before voting next week on a petition to create the Velocity Crossing PID in Del Valle, commissioners consulted with […]
Travis County
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No opposition to county food inspection frequencies update
In the absence of County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, the Travis County Commissioners Court talked food Tuesday morning. Following the city’s implementation of a risk-based food inspection system last November, Austin Public Health is now asking Travis County to do the same. Don Hastings, APH assistant director of Environmental Health Services, presented the model to the […]
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County to issue non-voter approved debt for courthouse
The Travis County Commissioners Court approved the use of Certificates of Obligation to fund its new civil and family courthouse Tuesday morning. “This is not something that we just want,” said Commissioner Jeff Travillion. “This is a statutory responsibility that is given to us.” According to the Planning and Budget Office, the total amount of […]
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Gómez acknowledges challenges ahead, says county is equipped to handle them
Looking back on 2018 and at the year ahead, Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez says she is feeling pretty good. The past year brought some frustrations for the commissioner with the time-consuming necessity of briefing new county employees and residents on processes that have been in the works for years or even decades. The recent […]
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Commissioners Court annual retreat expands to include community expertise
On a to-be-determined Friday in February or March, the Travis County Commissioners Court will convene to consider its vision and purpose on a larger scale than is appropriate during its weekly Tuesday morning voting sessions. Near the beginning of each calendar year, the court holds a retreat in an effort to consider the myriad pieces […]
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Court makes move toward public defender’s office
No final decision has been made on the creation of a Travis County public defender’s office, but the Commissioners Court demonstrated firm support for the idea in Tuesday morning’s voting session. Gathering momentum after a rocky start, the court finalized a 14-member indigent legal services workgroup on Dec. 4, 2018. Tuesday morning, at the request […]
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Eckhardt welcomes wave of political momentum in Travis County
For years, when County Judge Sarah Eckhardt would try to talk to the community about the justice system, someone would quickly change the subject to transportation or other unrelated issues. Although it accounts for 50 percent of the overall county budget, Eckhardt said only recently are people beginning to see the relevance of the justice […]
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Travillion pushes for streamlined processes, services for the underserved
When Commissioner Jeff Travillion joined the Travis County Commissioners Court in 2017, he brought with him a rigorous attention to governmental process. “When I came here I said, ‘I don’t want to know that it runs; pull the hood up and let’s see how it runs,’” Travillion told the Monitor in a late-afternoon interview on Dec. […]
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Shea stays busy accepting what can’t be changed, fighting for what can
On June 24, 1988, this sentence appeared on the front page of The New York Times: “Higher temperatures can now be attributed to a long-expected global warming trend linked to pollution, a space agency scientist reported today.” The scientist was NASA’s James Hansen. His historic testimony to Congress, Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea told the […]
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Commissioner Daugherty still working to pave the road ahead
Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty is not in the business of telling Travis County residents what they should want or need. Instead, both on the dais and in conversation, the Precinct 3 commissioner, businessman and longtime Austin resident resists the allure of silver-bullet solutions, looking primarily to market-based answers to the complexities of our given […]
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County delays decision on criminal district attorney’s office
The Travis County Commissioners Court is considering a merger of the County and District Attorney’s offices into a criminal district attorney office that may considerably lower the number of jail bookings for misdemeanor offenses. County Attorney David Escamilla and District Attorney Margaret Moore defended the proposal against various concerns from the dais Tuesday morning, but […]
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Between storms and traffic, Travis County tries to stay afloat
A growing influx of vehicles to Travis County paired with the effects of the climate crisis has the county struggling to provide the infrastructure needed to simultaneously absorb the effects of both. At the same time, the recent Atlas 14 rainfall standards have piled extra time and expenses on top of an unprecedented number of […]