Tovo voices ‘plea’ for water task force members

Council Member Kathie Tovo reminded her colleagues at Tuesday’s Council work session that some of them have yet to appoint members to the Austin Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force created in a December resolution. She noted that Austin Water is waiting for the task force to meet before issuing a solicitation to hire a consultant that would help craft an Integrated Water Resource Management Plan for the city. “It’s my understanding that the integrated water task force was not able to meet because it can’t reach quorum, so I was just going to add a plea to Council members who haven’t appointed their task force member, if you would consider doing that, that would be great,” Tovo said. “It was really a value of the community to have a community-based task force in place to work with the utility and so … I really want to honor that commitment and make sure that we have community members who are working with our utility in that way.” She noted that there is a list of recommended appointees on the Council message board. Task Force liaison Danielle Martin confirmed with the Austin Monitor Tuesday that Council Members Don Zimmerman, Ellen Troxclair, Sheri Gallo and Ora Houston have yet to make appointments. The next meeting is scheduled for May 5 at Waller Creek Center.