The Austin Water Utility is making changes to its policies and procedures that cover water and wastewater service line installations. The utility is holding a public meeting Wednesday, to discuss these changes, which include updates on changes in internal processes that govern installation of water and wastewater service lines, including providing new service to legal lots and changes in regulations on service lines being relocated and/or adjusted due to redevelopment. Austin Water is also recommending that a regulation, commonly known as the “four- lot ordinance,” be revoked. This ordinance requires the utility to install water and wastewater service for certain properties being re-subdivided. For more information, contact Alice Flora or Randi Jenkins. The meeting is set from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in Room 104 at Waller Creek Center, 625 E. 10th Street.

Austin Water Utility has received international acclaim for its use of Geographic Information Systems technology to support a variety of water conservation activities within the city. AWU was presented the Special Achievement in GIS Award at the 2014 Environmental Systems Research Institute International User Conference in San Diego. The nomination stood out among 100,000 user sites from around the world. The GIS tool was developed to help the City of Austin manage water resources while dealing with a major drought and rapid growth of the Austin area over the last 20 years.

The Ethics Review Commission meets at 6 p.m. at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road . . . The Texas Department of Transportation and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority will hold public hearing at 6 p.m. regarding the proposed construction of State Highway 45 Southwest in Travis and Hays counties at Bowie High School, 4103 West Slaughter Lane. The open house for this hearing begins at 5 p.m. . . .The Travis County Commissioners Court meets at 9 a.m. in Chambers at 700 Lavaca St. . . . The Williamson County Commissioners Court meets at 9:30 a.m. in the Williamson County Courthouse in Georgetown . . . The Hays County Commissioners meet at 9 a.m. in the Hays County Courthouse in San Marcos. . . . The Austin Hotel and Lodging Association is holding a Mayoral forum from 3-5 p.m. at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 University Ave. The association asked that those interested in attending pre-register but you may still be able to sign up.

Self-described nerd J.C. Dwyer and 900 other citizens have signed a petition urging the City Council to put more funding into Austin’s libraries this year. Dwyer says he and others have had productive conversations with several members of Council and their staff and feels like they have a good chance to increase the limited funds that caused libraries to cut their hours several years ago. They “run a pretty tight ship,” he said. “They just barely have enough resources to do their job.” Last year’s priority was getting enough funds to put RFID (radio frequency identification) in the books of each branch to cut down on theft. In addition to the petition, Dwyer’s group has sponsored a letter writing campaign, which produced a multitude of hand-written letters, including some from children, to get Council’s attention.

On Thursday, Council members will hold their first budget work session since May, officially ending their summer break. That’s going to be at Town Lake Center at 9:30 a.m. We hope the staff has figured out an easy way to make Wi-Fi available to everyone. That’s just one of the little things that has cropped up as a problem since City Hall has been under reconstruction.

Daniela Ochoa Gonzalez, who resigned from the city’s Zero Waste Advisory Commission after the City Auditor issued a report saying that she had improperly participated in matters before the commission regarding her employer the company she had contracted with, Texas Disposal Systems, is seeking action at Tuesday’s meeting of the city’s Ethics Review Commission. Through her attorney, Mariano Conde de Frankenberg, Ochoa Gonzalez has asked the commission to state that the City Auditor Kenneth Mory exceeded his authority. Specifically, Ochoa Gonzalez wants the commission to find that City Code does not give the auditor any authority to conclude that a City official violated conflicts of interest provisions and to publicize such findings to the City Council. According to Frankenberg, both of these responsibilities reside solely with the Ethics Review Commission. The commission already has on its agenda a staff report on the auditor’s procedures in this case and will consider whether to file their own complaint against Ochoa Gonzalez. (This post has been corrected to reflect that Ochoa Gonzalez was a contractor and not an employee of TDS.)

The Austin Human Rights Commission will consider a recommendation to the City Council to add “Source of Income” protections to the city’s Housing Discrimination Ordinance at its regular meeting today. The commission will take public comments. Source of Income protections are designed to keep low-income renters from discrimination because they derive all or part of their income from public assistance. The Austin Community Development Commission will consider a similar recommendation at its regular meeting Aug. 12. Today’s meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, 1000 East 11th Street.

Travis County’s Human Resources Management Department is seeking two changes to the County Code. The department wants to revise its Drug and Alcohol policy to encourage, instead of penalize, people seeking help for substance abuse through the HR department. The department also wants to revise County Code to add a Catastrophic Sick Leave Policy, which would allow eligible employees to donate and receive hours from a pool of donated hours for paid time off. Employees could get extra paid time off hours after they exhaust their sick leave balance in cases of catastrophic injury or illness. Commissioners discussed the proposed changes last week and the items will be back on the agenda Tuesday.

The Capital Metro Transportation Authority board meets at noon at Capital Metro, 2910 East Fifth Street . . . The Design Commission meets at 6 p.m. in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall . . . . The Library Commission meets at 6 p.m. at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe Street . . . The Historic Landmark Commission meets at 7 p.m. in One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road.

The 33 individuals participating in the Austin Fire Department’s Pass the Torch program will be graduating Saturday. AFD officials say the Pass the Torch program is designed to give individuals age18 to 24 a glimpse into the life of a firefighter, and a firsthand feel for life in the fire service to decide if the career is right for them. The ceremony is set for noon Saturday at the Austin Fire Department Training Academy, 4800-B Shaw Lane.

The Network of Asian-American Organizations and its member organizations will host a candidate forum Saturday. Candidates for Mayor and City Council who responded to an NAAO candidate questionnaire will be permitted to speak on a first-come, first-serve basis and as time permits. Thirty-one candidates responded to the questionnaire. The NAAO political action committee, which is a separate group, will announce candidate endorsements after the forum. The meeting is set for 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Asian-American Resource Center, 8401 Cameron Road.

The Project Connect: Central Corridor Study Team is inviting local media types (that’s us) to tour the adopted Urban Rail Locally Preferred Alternative route next week. Attendees will be driven by bus through the 9.5-mile LPA route, stopping at destinations along the way to discuss characteristics of each stop and the influence each area had on definition of the LPA. In addition to the Project Connect team, reporters and their camera-toting sidekicks will get some face time with several people involved with the rail project, including: Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Capital Metro Board Member John Langmore, Downtown Alliance Executive Director Charlie Betts, UT Sustainability Director Jim Walker and ACC President Dr. Richard Rhodes. Look for the results on your 10 o’clock news Wednesday. The tour begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Daniel E. Ruiz Branch Library, 1600 Grove Blvd.