More than 150 members of South Austin Democrats came to El Gallo Restaurant on South Congress Tuesday night to make their preferences known in races for the Austin City Council, Austin Community College board and the Austin Independent School District board. The group voted to endorse Mike Martinez for Mayor; Delia Garza in District 2, Sabino ‘Pio’ Renteria in District 3; and Ann Kitchen for District 5. They also chose Kathie Tovo over Chris Riley to represent District 9 and Eliza May for District 8. They endorsed Mark Williams for ACC Place 1 and Jade Chang Sheppard for ACC Place 2. In the AISD board races, Paul Saldaña won the endorsement in District 6 and Yasmin Wagner got the nod in District 7. There was no endorsement for the Place 9 at large seat. SAD President Alicia Del Rio said only candidates who have voted in Democratic primaries were asked to attend. Del Rio said SAD has $4,000 to spend on a mailer for their endorsed candidates.

Travis County Commissioners decided Thursday not to reappoint Brenda Coleman-Beattie to the Central Health Board of Managers. Her term ends Dec. 31. After consulting with attorneys in closed session, the commissioners emerged and requested that county staff make preparations to begin accepting nominations for two positions on the board; treasurer Rebecca Lightsey has announced that she is retiring from the board at the end of the year. Coleman-Beattie developed a conflict of interest in May when she took a job with Integral Care, an agency that does business with Central Health. Board records show she routinely abstained whenever the board voted on matters dealing with Integral Care. County Judge Sam Biscoe said commissioners felt it was time to make a change. “She did a great job as chair of the Central Health Board,” Biscoe said. “We’re not disputing that. We just felt that under the circumstances, it was time to move forward.” County staff will receive nominations and present a short list of candidates to commissioners sometime before the end of the year.

Council Member Chris Riley touted potential changes to an ordinance that would amend City Code to reduce restrictions on the construction of micro units at Tuesday’s work session, ahead of a public hearing scheduled for Thursday’s meeting. The new language, he said, is “very simple and clean, and encourages those sorts of units near the center of the city.” Riley wants to pass the current micro units amendment this week on first reading only, after which he will work to modify it before final passage. Riley emphasized the flexibility of adding micro units — studio apartments with floor plans of less than 400 square feet — to developments along core transit corridors, as they generally would not count toward site area requirements or parking requirements. He did acknowledge concerns that the units could undermine vertical mixed-use or transit-oriented development, but said they could actually increase affordability in some circumstances. The Planning Commission voted 6-1 in September against recommending the changes.

The city has named two local artists as Austin Creative Ambassadors for the third quarter of 2014.  Judy Jensen is a visual artist who specializes in reverse paintings on glass. She is currently working on a multiyear project in a 19th century Buddhist temple in Mae Hong Son, Thailand, to replace paintings which were damaged by the 2004 earthquake.  Also named was Usha Akella, who is the author of three books of poetry. Her poetry has been translated into several languages and has recently won awards at Struga Poetry Evenings in Macedonia and Siir Festival in Turkey. The Creative Ambassadors Program is managed by the Cultural Arts Division of the Economic Development Department. Program officials say it is intended to “open new avenues of dialogue and opportunity between Austin and markets worldwide.” The city accepts applications from Austin artists who are traveling overseas in promotion of their own work. Check the city website for more information.

Environmental organization Clean Water Action announced Monday night that it was endorsing Mike Martinez for Mayor. David Foster, Texas Director for Clean Water Action, released the following statement: “Clean Water Action believes that Mike Martinez has accumulated the depth of experience working with city staff and the community to make him uniquely suited to lead the City of Austin at this critical juncture of its history. He has earned our trust and we encourage our members to vote for him.” Foster said the other major candidates for Mayor, Sheryl Cole and Steve Adler, “would probably serve the city well as mayor.” However, he added, “We ultimately chose Mike because of the experience he has gained from six years’ service on the council, his demonstrated support for deepening Austin’s commitment to clean energy and water efficiency, his ongoing efforts to keep water and electric bills under control, and not least his grit.” Martinez was one of four Council members who supported building Water Treatment Plant 4, which will go on line soon. However, according to Foster, Martinez admitted that the decision to build the plant was based on inaccurate assessments by city staff of lake levels and per capita water usage. Also Monday, the Austin Firefighters Association announced that it was endorsing Greg Casar for City Council District 4. Firefighters had previously said they would wait until the runoff to make an endorsement in that race. Firefighters president Bob Nicks said, “Greg Casar has proven that he can succeed against any odds, previously as an advocate for working families and now as a candidate. We are excited to join over 40 other endorsing organizations in supporting Casar for City Council.”

The Austin EcoNetwork will introduce its Election Navigator today. Out just in time for voters to study before early voting starts Oct. 20, the Election Navigator is a research tool available to the public. EcoNetwork officials said that producing the site took months of surveying public priorities, researching data, building tables and analyzing candidates’ answers to environmental questionnaires. It covers topics such as water, energy, transportation, food and forest, zero waste, climate change and general leadership issues. More information and a video and preview screen shots can be found on the Indiogogo campaign. EcoNetwork will unveil the Election Navigator at 10:30 a.m. at the Sustainable Food Center Demo Kitchen, 2921 E 17th St.

The Austin Monitor and our partners at KUT, KXAN, the Austin Chronicle and Univision will complete our Ballot Boxing series of City Council candidate forums this week. On Wednesday, we will hear from the candidates for mayor of Austin at 7 p.m. at the University of Texas Belo Center for New Media, 300 West Dean Keeton St. We have invited all of the mayoral candidates. It is the final event in our series of Ballot Boxing campaign forums. Tickets to the event are available here. A video of the forum will be posted on the Monitor site soon after the event. Click here to find more information.

The Parks and Recreation Department and the Cemetery Master Plan team want to hear from the community about burial options and other aspects of Austin’s municipal cemeteries. Citizens can link to the surveys through the city website. The Cemetery Master Plan process began in early 2014 and is the first planning effort for Austin’s historic municipal cemeteries. The plan will addresses issues related to historic preservation, tree care, management and policy as well as heritage tourism and educational programming. Austin’s historic municipal cemeteries include Austin Memorial Park Cemetery, Evergreen Cemetery, Oakwood Cemetery, Oakwood Cemetery Annex, and Plummers Cemetery. The Parks and Recreation Department has scheduled its fourth community meeting to discuss the plan on Nov. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Zilker Botanical Gardens, 2220 Barton Springs Road.

The drought continues to take a toll on water storage in the Highland Lakes, according to a report presented to the Water and Wastewater Commission last week by the Austin Water Utility. According to AWU’s Theresa Lutes, the combined storage in lakes Travis and Buchanan is 695,000 acre feet of water, which is about 35 percent of normal capacity. However, she said, those numbers are unlikely to improve as  inflows for the period of January through September of this year are the fourth driest in the history of the lakes.  She said at the current rate — without significant inflows — storage in the lakes could fall below the 600,000 acre-foot threshold in February or soon thereafter, triggering additional restrictions on water use. One bright spot, she told the commission, was that forecasters were predicting a 60 to 65 percent chance of an El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean this season, which would normally brings wetter conditions to Central Texas.

The Planning and Development Review Department has planned a community meeting to discuss current Accessory Dwelling Unit  regulations and possible code amendments to reduce regulatory barriers to the units. Accessory Dwelling Units — also known as granny flats, alley flats or secondary dwellings — are small apartments or homes that share the same lot as a larger dwelling. Examples include an apartment above a detached garage, or a small guest flat in a backyard behind the main house. The meeting stems from a City Council resolution to create an ordinance that reduces barriers to the development of units less than 500 square feet in size. The meeting — the second in a series — will be held Oct. 20 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 325 at 505 Barton Springs Road.

The Austin Asian American Resource Center is marking its first year this week by profiling its programs. With its first year of service completed, the center’s major programs include the RICE, or Recreational and Intergenerational Community Education Program, which was established in June 2014 and offers intergenerational activities, meals, senior wellness and life skills classes that reflect Asian-specific needs and cultural preferences; the RICE Senior Lunch Social, which also began in June 2014 and now has 206 registered participants. Since June, the program has served more than 1,100 meals; a new Community Exhibits Program launches in October and will showcase Asian-themed works from eight Austin artists. Works will range from sculpture, calligraphy, photography and painting. The AARC Community Garden was launched Sept. 27 as part of the “Be the Change Austin” national day of volunteer service. Volunteers from across Austin will help establish the new garden. Additional programs are planned through 2015, including a bilingual story time, children’s musical workshop, the Planet Music free concert series and the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration. For more information, go the center’s Web page.

The Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District unanimously approved an extension Thursday on a well drilling permit for an artificial lake at an amusement park. The board had previously issued a 2 million gallon permit for Quest ATX, a recreation park that offers cable wake boarding and other activities. However, the park’s operators say that the 2013 Halloween floods filled the lake with polluted floodwaters and it needs to be refilled with fresh water. The permit extension is for one year. The park is located on FM 1625, south of Austin Bergstrom International Airport.