Update on Winter Storm Uri delayed

José Roig, director of the Austin Code Department, sent a memo to the mayor and City Council Thursday requesting an extension to July 21 to report “a comprehensive overview of the gaps and recommended improvements regarding the city’s emergency response” to events such as Winter Storm Uri. Council requested that the city manager develop tools and resources to address health and safety violations resulting from the winter storm and provide a final report to Council by June 1. City staff members provided a preliminary update on April 14 and a second update on June 4. The second update described code enforcement actions underway to try to require noncompliant property owners to appear before the Building and Standards Commission. Staffers also provided a Winter Storm Uri dashboard that tracks violations and progress toward remedying the violations. The dashboard shows that District 4 has by far the largest number of deficiencies cited, with 242 cases, compared with 86 in District 1, 36 in District 2 and 102 in District 3. District 7 had 91 cases and the other districts had fewer cases. Currently there are 112 active cases and 680 closed cases, according to the dashboard.