At Tuesday’s Council works session, the Austin City Council discussed a proposed interlocal agreement between the city and the Texas A&M University System that would investigate potential future uses of unmanned aerial vehicles (better known as drones) and other robotics in emergency response situations. Austin Fire Department Assistant Chief Richard Davis stated that the agreement would have no fiscal impact on the City, and that “the technology has promise.” Davis explained that the goal of the four-year project is to have developed a plan for implementing the technology by its end. Council Member Bill Spelman, who requested that the item be discussed, expressed concern about the way that such a project may be perceived by the public. He suggested that the Fire Department split the program into four, year-long projects, with progress reports at the end of each year.

Although he said he is happy not to be running for elective office again, Mayor Lee Leffingwell says he is indeed campaigning – for the transportation bond on the November ballot. He will hold a news conference at 9:30 this morning right before the Council meeting begins to explain how the bond election will be framed. Leffingwell said that in addition to the $600 million for rail, the ballot proposition would outline $400 million in bonds to fund the strategic mobility plan. The ballot language, he said, will specifically name the highways to be upgraded, such as I-35. In addition, he stressed that the ballot language would also contain the proviso that the city not borrow any money for the rail project until matching funds have been secured from the Federal Transit Administration.

The Travis Central Appraisal District’s request to increase its Fiscal Year 2015 is on the schedule for the county’s annual budget hearings. TCAD will get the last slot of the hearings Aug. 11, when Travis County Commissioners will discuss amendments to the Planning and Budget Office’s preliminary FY 2015 budget. Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler appeared at the court’s regular session Tuesday to ask that the county contribute $2.9 million more to their budget than last year, out of a total $3.2 million needed from all the taxing entities that contribute to TCAD’s budget. The money would go to fund district court litigation on appraisal protests from commercial properties, hire new appraisal staff to handle the increased work volume and hire an impartial expert to research sales information.

A resolution sponsored by Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole and co-sponsored by Council Members Laura Morrison and Bill Spelman seeks to explore the feasibility of a municipally issued identification card for Austin. Council will consider initiating a stakeholder process at today’s Council meeting. Cole said there are critical barriers to housing, banking and other basic services that can be addressed with proper access to identification. “We believe that a program like this would also help address the under-reporting of crimes of public safety and personal injury, such as domestic violence, by those without state-issued documentation,” she said. Austin would join cities like New Haven, Connecticut, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and New York that are exploring or have implemented a Municipal ID program. Cards in other cities have also consolidated additional services such as library cards, bus passes or pre-paid debit cards. The sponsors, along with community supporters of the plan, will outline the program in a news conference at 9 a.m. at the County Commissioners chambers.

The park at 3000 Del Curto Road remains unnamed today. City Council took up the naming of the park for a third time and second vote on Thursday. Council members remained split, with Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Council Members Mike Martinez, Chris Riley and Bill Spelman voting in favor of naming the park Tom Lasseter Park after one-time owner and notable Austinite Tom Lasseter. Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole and Council Members Laura Morrison and Kathie Tovo voted in opposition. Because the vote was 4-3, the name was approved only on second reading, and will require a third vote to pass. Tovo said that she appreciated all of the conversation about the park naming. She explained that while Tom Lasseter might be worthy of an honor in the city, the hard work of the neighborhood in building this particular park made her favor naming the park South Lamar Neighborhood Association Park.

Austin Bergstrom International Airport continues to set records for passenger traffic. June was the busiest month in the airport’s history, with a 6 percent increase in traffic to 968,545 passengers. That tops the previous record of 942,825, set in March 2014. It marks the second time the monthly record has been broken this year and sixth time in the past 16 months. Almost all of the airport’s carriers showed year-to-year traffic gains in June, while three new airlines — British Airways, Allegiant Air and Aeromar — began service in recent months. Air cargo tonnage continued to drop in June, off 6 percent.

If you are going to the Austin City Council meeting at any time today, remember that it is being held in the Commissioners Chambers on the first floor of the Travis County Building at 700 Lavaca Street. Austin City Hall’s Council Chambers are being renovated and are not available.

A well-known rail opponent, Jim Skaggs, has been appointed treasurer of a PAC to be known as “Citizans against Rail Taxes.” Seriously, that’s what it says on the front page of the filing. Citizens is spelled in the more traditional way on Page 2 where he declares the group is opposed to whatever rail proposition appears on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Mayoral candidate Steve Adler may not have a very good time at Austin Environmental Democrats today since the Austin Bulldog published a story Tuesday outlining how Adler and his law partner, SteveMichael Barron, benefited from an old restrictive covenant on land within the Barton Springs zone of the Edwards Aquifer. The group plans to endorse one of the mayoral candidates today, as well as either Kathie Tovo or Chris Riley for District 9 in the November election. According to the Bulldog, Adler and Barron’s property carries a restrictive covenant allowing development at an impervious cover level more than twice what the SOS ordinance would allow. The story is long and complicated but the Bulldog reported, “Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance, slammed Adler for using the restrictive covenant to avoid compliance with the SOS Ordinance, saying, ‘He is trying to say building under the restrictive covenant is different from grandfathering. It is not.’” The meeting begins at 11:30 a.m. at the El Mercado Restaurant on South First Street. (Whisper corrected to reflect the correct name of Adler’s law partner. It is Michael Barron not Steve Barron.)

There was some news on the City Council campaign trail this week. District 3 candidate Frank Guajardo told the Austin Monitor that he was “seriously dropping out of the race” after filing his campaign treasurer report on July 15. As far as we can tell, Guajardo managed to run his three week campaign without letting it slip why, exactly, he was running. However, despite Guajardo’s withdrawal, the field of City Council contenders has expanded. Mayoral candidate Stephen Fabian and District 7 candidate Zachary Ingraham both filed their treasurer designations on Monday. Fabian, a financial analyst by trade, told us that he was running for mayor because he loves Austin, but not the direction in which the city is going. Ingraham told us that he got involved with city politics after working with City Council and the Austin Police Department in 2013 to mandate training for handling aggressive dogs. The chance to represent his district under the new 10-1 system further convinced Ingraham to run. “I think that one of my goals will be to repeal city ordinances more so than to pass new ones,” said Ingraham.  Remember, we are keeping track of all 70 or so candidates at The Hall Monitor so you don’t have to. (Trust us, it’s a lot of work.)

This week’s Council agenda – 179 items long – could keep members, staff and interested citizens up late Thursday night, or more likely, early Friday morning. Council is likely to postpone at least one downtown zoning caser. City staffers say they erred in posting notice about the request for CBD–CURE zoning for the tiny piece of property at 619 Congress Avenue. Attorney Richard Suttle is representing the applicant, who wants to put a hotel on the property next to the Hideout Theatre. Attorney Jeff Howard represents the owner of the theater property, who is worried that construction next-door will damage her tenant’s business. The argument this week will be about whether to postpone the case to Aug. 28 or Sept. 25.

Austin City Council members engaged in a brief discussion about a potential ban on driving while using handheld devices Tuesday morning. Though they took no action — and one is expected for another two or three weeks — Mayor Lee Leffingwell did express some skepticism over a portion of the ordinance that would limit such activity even while stopped. There, Leffingwell appeared to side with Public Safety Commission Chair Kim Rossmo, who Monday voted against such a ban.