Early voting for the Dec. 16 runoff election picked up slightly Wednesday, with just under 1 percent of registered voters casting ballots. In all, 5,366 votes were cast, bringing the total for the first three days to 9.749 — just 2.64 percent of registered Travis County voters. The heaviest turnout continues to be in the West Austin voting stations, with the Randalls at Braker Lane and Research Boulevard leading the pack with 539 votes Wednesday, followed by the Ben Hur Shrine Temple with 409. Early voting runs daily through Dec. 12. More information is available at the Travis County Elections website.

After 27 years at the city, Government Relations Officer John Hrncir will retire in January 2015. A memo from City Manager Marc Ott praised his work, calling him “an extraordinary asset and a valued employee.” Hrncir has been the city’s government relations officer since 1992. In his letter, Ott noted Hrncir’s success with city-related bills at the Texas Legislature as well as his work securing federal funding, most recently $11 million from the Army Corps of Engineers for the Onion Creek project. Ott also mentioned the crucial role Hrncir played in establishing Central Health in 2004. With the legislative session just starting, Hrncir’s insights into the often hard-to-understand state body will be sorely missed.

A number of notable former public officials are among the list of hosts for a fundraising party for District 10 candidate Sheri Gallo tonight at the Headliners Club. They include former Mayors Bruce Todd (1991-1997), Lee Cooke (1988-91) and Ron Mullen (1983-1985) as well as Gallo’s father, former Mayor Pro Tem Edgar Perry (1962-63). Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty and former state Reps. Terral Smith and Patrick Rose are also hosting the party, as is Ann Butler, the widow of former Mayor Roy Butler. The party runs from 4:30 to 6 p.m. At least some of those attending will probably then mosey over to Saengerrunde Hall, next to Scholz Garten, for a reception honoring retiring County Judge Sam Biscoe. Sarah Eckhardt, the incoming county judge, helped organize the event, which begins at 5 p.m. She said several individuals, including former Judge Bill Aleshire, County Attorney David Escamilla, Pete McRae and Christian Smith donated to finance the party as did AFSCME and the two law enforcement unions. Mayoral candidates Steve Adler and Mike Martinez will have just a few minutes to drop by the Biscoe party before heading off to a forum on environmental matters at 7 p.m. at Threadgills. Hosting that event is the Austin Eco Network. For those who just want to watch on TV, the event will be live on Channel 16 and will be rebroadcast several times before Election Day.

Texas led a group of 17 states Wednesday in suing the Obama administration over its recent executive actions on immigration. Texas Attorney General and Governor-elect Greg Abbott said the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to act on immigration policy. Abbott filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. He was joined by Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. President Barack Obama’s Nov. 20 announcement would shield as many as 5 million people who are in the country illegally from being deported. Congressional Republicans said the move essentially killed any prospect of passing comprehensive immigration reform. The Associated Press reports that the lawsuit claims that Obama violated the “Take Care Clause” of the U.S. Constitution — which limits the scope of presidential power — that the federal government violated rule-making procedures and that the order will “exacerbate the humanitarian crisis along the southern border …”

The numbers were down on the second day of early voting for the Dec. 16 runoff election.  While on the first day 0.94 percent of registered Travis County voters cast ballots, on Tuesday only 0.75 percent — or 4,167 people — did. That means a total of 9,351 people have voted so far in the runoff election. As was the case throughout most of the November election, the highest turnout was at the Randalls at Research Boulevard and Braker Lane. That location saw 572 votes cast Tuesday. The lowest turnout at a designated voting location was the Pflugerville County Tax Office with 21 votes cast, but mobile voting locations at the Manor ISD Administration Building and Brookdale Beckett Meadows had turnouts in the single digits. All told, 1.69 percent of those registered in Travis County have voted so far. Early voting continues through Dec. 12. Get more information here.

Austin Energy is currently negotiating with renewable energy activists to reach agreement on a generation plan for the utility that will satisfy those who are seeking to reduce Austin’s carbon emissions as well as utility customers who worry about future price increases. Utility spokesman Robert Cullick told the Monitor on Tuesday, “I can confirm that we are intensely negotiating with the Sierra Club on a way to reduce our CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, keep our costs low and continue making progress on withdrawing from the Fayette Power Plant.” Cullick declined to give details on the negotiations, but utility officials believe it is important for Austin Energy to build new gas turbines to replace the old turbines at the Decker Creek power plant when the current plant is decommissioned. A citizen task force last summer produced a generation plan that would eliminate fossil fuel to the greatest extent possible from the utility’s portfolio, including natural gas, and add 600 MW of solar power. Cullick said, “We’re willing to look at our reliance on renewables and how fast we can increase that.” He added, “We’re looking at ways to continue to cut back carbon emissions significantly and also be leaders in things like local solar and battery storage and also industrial solar.” The bottom line, he said, is that whatever plan is adopted must be affordable. City Council has an Austin Energy committee meeting at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Although the generation plan is on the agenda, it seems unlikely that the two sides will have concluded their negotiations by then. Dec. 11 is the final meeting for the current Council, and Council Member Mike Martinez is expected to propose adoption of the new generation plan at that time.

It looks like Travis County Judge-elect Sarah Eckhardt will be coming out of her brief retirement a few weeks early in order to help the current County Commission narrow the slate of candidates for the Central Health board of managers. Eckhardt quit her job as Pct. 2 Commissioner in the spring in order to run for county judge. Last week, after finding out they had 39 applicants and only two weeks to make a decision on replacing two vacancies on the Central Health board, Commissioners voted to put it off a week and ask Eckhardt to join in the process. The game plan is now for a committee consisting of Eckhardt, outgoing County Judge Sam Biscoe, Intergovernmental Relations Coordinator Deece Eckstein and Executive for Health and Human Services and Veterans Services Sherri Fleming meet and make an initial cut of the 39 applicants down to about 20. After that, they will meet again and make further cuts to get the number down to the 10 or 12 top applicants. In about two weeks, the current Commission will review those names and pass them along to the new Commission, which will be sworn in Jan. 6.

On Monday, the Board of Adjustment turned down the chance to reconsider its ruling on BVM CrossFit, with only Board Members Will Schnier and Vincent Harding voting in favor of hearing the case again. In October, the board ruled against the Planning and Development Review Department determination and found that General Commercial Services was a more appropriate description of the facility’s land use than Personal Improvement Services. The ruling was met with cheering from neighbors and visible agitation from those who were (presumably) associated with the CrossFit facility.

Turnout on the first day of early voting in the mayoral and Council runoff elections was light, with less than 1 percent of registered voters casting a ballot. Some 5,184 votes were cast Monday; 3,570 ballots were cast in person, while 1,614 ballots were mailed. The voting  location with the largest number of first-day votes was the Randalls at Braker and Research, with 536. The Randalls at MoPac and William Cannon accepted 479 votes, while the Ben Hur Shrine Center had 387. Some 383 votes were cast at mobile voting locations. Early voting for the runoff elections runs through Dec. 12. For polling locations and other information, go to Travis County Elections page.

Greg Foster, the community advocate to the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, told Public Safety Commissioners on Monday that the fusion center’s steps toward increased transparency have impressed him. ARIC aims to “maximize the ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity” via shared gathering intelligence between partner organizations, according to the Austin Police Department website. Foster said ARIC now posts the minutes online from ARIC Privacy Policy Advisory Committee meetings, and that the fusion center responds to open records requests in a timely fashion. “I’ll give credit where credit is due,” he said. Activists have targeted ARIC and other fusion centers for potentially infringing on civil liberties. No civil liberty activists spoke out against ARIC at Monday’s meeting, which Public Safety Commission Chair Kim Rossmo said he “found amazing.”

Today is the first day of early voting for the Dec. 16 runoff elections. Voters may vote at any early voting location in the county in which they are registered. Voters are required to show a current photo ID, unless voting by mail. There are runoff elections for Austin mayor, Districts 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10, Austin Community College Place 2, and AISD Board of Trustees’ at-large position and Districts 1 and 6. More information for Travis County voters can be found here.

With their own elections squared away, Congressman Lloyd Doggett and Travis County Judge-elect Sarah Eckhardt have time to help fellow Democrats. They will be hosting a fundraiser for District 8 candidate Ed Scruggs, a Democrat who is running against Republican Ellen Troxclair in the Dec. 16 runoff. The party will be at the home of former state Rep. Valinda Bolton, 5000 Wood Creek Road, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Scruggs, a longtime Democrat, founded the Circle C Democrats. Early voting in this and all runoff races begins today. Doggett has already helped District 4 candidate Greg Casar by participating in block walking and a fundraiser. Republicans state Rep. Paul Workman and Commissioner Gerald Daugherty are among the elected officials supporting Troxclair.