Citing complaints by constituents and concerns by wildlife officials, Travis County Commissioners voted Tuesday to send a letter to the Austin City Council asking them to delay a vote today on proposed changes to the city’s coyote conflict management policy. After an extended process, a city working group proposed a set of changes to the policy  — based partly on Austin’s status as a “no kill” animal shelter city — that eliminates the option of using lethal force in most situations. The policy would also ban the use of all traps other than live-release box traps. It recommends “hazing” the animals through yelling and making noise to drive them out of neighborhoods. Wildlife officers told Commissioners that they believed the policy is dangerous, and that eliminating the option of killing rogue animals would simply embolden the most aggressive coyotes and make the situation more dangerous for homeowners and their pets. Commissioners approved a letter Tuesday asking the City Council to once again postpone action on the policy so that city and county officials could discuss it before moving forward. A vote on the policy is on today’s Council agenda.

With the Nov. 4 election in his rearview mirror, Council Member Mike Martinez wasted no time in returning to the campaign trail Wednesday. Martinez garnered 30 percent of Tuesday’s vote with attorney Steve Adler in the lead at 37 percent. Martinez issued a challenge to Adler via press release for three debates. Martinez said he wanted the debates to focus on affordability, transportation and the environment. While there has not been that much discussion of the environment during the campaign so far, every candidate has talked about affordability and transportation. Adler campaign manager Jim Wick told the Monitor, “We’ve had more than 40 debates and forums thus far, and fully anticipate participating in more. We’re happy to talk to the Martinez campaign about some sort of debate schedule.” So we hope you’re ready for more debates and forums, because the mayor’s race is just one of nine runoff elections at this point, and we’re pretty sure this is not the only race in which the candidates want to debate.

Civil engineer Blaine Stansberry has won a seat on the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District board. Stansberry, a 40-year resident of Manchaca, won the Precinct 2 seat with 51.37 percent of the vote. Terry Newton, a professor at St. Edwards University, came in second with just shy of 26 percent of the vote and retired veterinarian Ronald Stried got about 23 percent. Stansberry founded a local engineering company in 2004, and through that has worked on a wide range of infrastructure, commercial, residential and public projects. She cited the main issues in the race as dealing with growth over the aquifer, the construction of State Highway 45 Southwest, and dealing with the drought. “Whether you are for or against the growth and construction in our area, the pressure to grow is here and we have to deal with it,” Stansberry told the Monitor via email. “Any projects built in our community should use the best development practices to ensure our drinking water stays clean and available.”

The Ethics Review Commission continues to stay busy, and recently reviewed ethics complaints against District 4 candidates Greg Casar and Monica Guzman. Only one charge against Casar was substantiated. Though the commission determined that his failure to disclose a donor’s occupation and employer was unintentional, they issued a Letter of Notification sanction to avoid a repeat of the situation. The claim that Casar failed to disclose a bundler was dismissed. Also dismissed were two charges against Guzman. One claimed that she had not entered into a voluntary campaign contract with the city by the deadline. The other alleged that Guzman had not been a resident of District 4 for the six-month period required by charter.

In Tuesday’s story about City of Austin temporary employees, we neglected to note that the average wage of a city temporary worker between 2012 and 2014 applied to workers making less than $11.50 an hour. In 2012, that figure represents 2,498 of 3,586 employees; in 2013, 2,744 of 3,947; and in 2014, 3,287 of 4,595.

The Austin American Statesman has rescinded its endorsement of candidate Laura Pressley in the race for the District 4 Council seat. The move came after media outlets such as the Austin Monitor, KUT Radio and the Austin Chronicle, among others, reported that prior to her current campaign for Council, Pressley has been out and about expressing views that many consider to be “on the fringe.” In the past, Pressley has campaigned against fluoride in Austin’s drinking water, concern over radiation from Austin Energy’s wireless “smart meters,” and belief in the notion that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center were an “inside job” perpetrated by the federal government. Reporters’ questions about some of her more extreme views have been deflected, with Pressley chiding them for not sticking to queries on her current views on issues such as affordability, urban rail and homestead exemptions. It’s not unusual for politicians for reinvent themselves to run for office, but considering the fact that Pressley’s last Council run was only two years ago, it’s a little surprising that the reinvention held this long. Though the statement came after the close of early voting, Statesman Viewpoint’s editor Tara Trower Doolittle said they would not endorse any District 4 candidate in today’s election but would examine the candidates closely should there be a runoff.

Contributing to the rush of last-minute creative campaigning, District 10 candidate Robert Thomas recently sent out a letter to supporters of opponent Mandy Dealey. In the letter obtained by the Austin Monitor dated Oct. 29, Thomas writes, “Your contribution was to Mandy Dealey. My name is Robert Thomas, one of the candidates she is running against. I am writing to you because Mandy is using your money to run a vicious smear campaign against me. She is unfairly and wrongly misleading people, and maligning me.” The smear, Thomas’ three-page letter goes on to explain, is that he is a member of the Tea Party. He clarifies that he is not. In the letter, Thomas goes on to acknowledge that he may not be the candidate for Dealey supporters, saying, “This letter is not about trying to get you to vote for me, and there is a good chance I am not the candidate for you, but it is to set the record straight.” Thomas goes on to list the facts of the election, and concludes by asking contributors to consider their part in the election, and urges them to make their own decision.

While compiling the seemingly-endless list of campaign parties last night, one of the Monitor’s reporters was startled to hear a loud voice outside the window encouraging her to vote for District 3 candidate Susana Almanza. Since compiling the list of election night parties took several hours, it was reasonable to assume that it was an election-related hallucination, but further investigation (running outside) revealed that there was, in fact, a mid-sized sedan slowly driving down the street encouraging residents to vote via megaphone, and vote for Almanza. It’s a small world, after all.

A panel of medical experts told Public Safety Commissioners that the risk of an Ebola outbreak in Austin remains significantly low. Dr. Philip Wong Hwang, medical director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department, told commissioners that his agency continues to closely monitor the outbreak and that the department and its health care partners have protocols in place to respond to any potential Austin Ebola case. “The risk of transmission in our community is very low, but I think we are prepared,” he said. Commission Chair Kim Rossmo said commissioners asked for an update to understand the relative risk, response, and any proposed recommendations to deal with the Ebola virus.

Early voting in Travis County ended Friday with 144,519 ballots cast, according to the County Clerk’s Office. That is 22.15 percent of registered voters in Travis County and roughly the same percent of early votes cast in the 2010 midterm elections. The total was well below the presidential elections in 2008 and 2012. It took a final-day surge of almost 23,000 votes to reach the tally, with the usual heavy voting in West and South Austin polling stations. Some poll watchers had predicted a heavy early turnout for this election, with the new 10-1 District Austin City Council and the $1 billion transit bonds, or Proposition 1, on the ballot along with major elections in Travis County, the Austin School District, Austin Community College, state representatives and senators, and statewide officials including governor and Texas members of the U.S. House and Senate. In the final tally, the Randall’s at Research and Braker had 13,706 votes, the Ben Hur Shrine Center had 10,013 votes, the ACC Highland Campus had 9,754 votes and Randall’s at Brodie and Slaughter had 9,518 votes. Some of the polling places with the lowest vote totals were in East and Southeast Austin. It is problematic to try and link the number of votes at an early voting site to any Council districts, since Travis County allows registered early voters to cast ballots at any polling place. Polls will be open for the Tuesday General Election from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information and to find your polling place, check the Travis County Elections website.

Political action committees both supporting and opposing District 9 candidate Chris Riley have been busy. For example, a PAC called Vote ’em In Vote ’em Out PAC paid the Austin Chronicle $972 last week for an ad chastising Riley for voting against limiting surge pricing for Uber, the alternative ride service. This is apparently the only ad this PAC has bought for this campaign. The PAC lists its treasurer as Jane L. Marshall, who prefers to be called Lynn. According to campaign finance reports filed with the city clerk’s office late Thursday, the group received contributions of $1,250 each from Ronald and Keri Aladeniyi and $2,500 from Kathleen Connolly of Georgetown. Keri Aladeniyi is a real estate agent. Both she and Ronald have also contributed to the Better Austin Today PAC recently. On the other hand, the Real Estate Council of Austin Good Government PAC reported donating $3,500 on Thursday to the Austin Firefighters PAC to fund phone banks in support of Riley. Another committee that hasn’t participated in the past called Keep Austin Livable for Everyone paid Kelly Graphics nearly $4,000 to produce a mailer on behalf of District 7 candidate Ed English last week. It is not clear who is behind this committee. There is one city ordinance that all PACs doing advertising seem to be violating. Under Section 2—2-33a of the City Code, “a political advertisement … paid for in whole or in part by an independent expenditure, must conspicuously display on the communication the names of the five biggest donors in the preceding 12 months to the person making the independent expenditure.” (Thanks to attorneys Jim Cousar and Bill Aleshire for their assistance in finding some of this information.)

The release of a video that features Austin Police officers Mark Lytle and Michael Castillo joking about rape received national attention over the weekend. Subsequent comments by incoming Austin Police Association President Kenneth Casaday proved too much for mayoral candidates (and current Council Members) Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole. Both issued statements in response to Casaday’s categorization of the tape as “clowning around.” In a statement, Martinez said, “Rape will continue to go underreported if victims of sexual violence do not feel that their cases will be taken seriously by law enforcement. The President of the Police Association failed to take the issue of sexual violence seriously when he described an officer’s catcalling and joking about rape as an example of mere ‘clowning around.’ Mr. Casaday’s statement was offensive and wrong. He should apologize publicly and treat any incidents like this in the future with the seriousness and professionalism they deserve.” Cole’s response states that “rape is no laughing matter” and is widely underreported to police as it is. “It is distressing to note that at least 6% of rape victims don’t report because they believe that the police are biased,” writes Cole. “The days where we protect work cultures that diminish sexual assault and protect abusers over victims are coming to an end. … It was by chance that the rape jokes came to light. The cameras did their job. An apology is not enough; it’s time to address the culture that fosters these kind of demeaning comments.” Cole also said that she is currently looking into providing body cameras for all officers and, as mayor, would continue to pursue that acquisition. The Austin Police Department has apologized for the tape and launched an internal investigation.