BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 22, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO]
2 key economic positions filled at Austin City Hall (Austin Business Journal)
Austin's Economic Development Department, which helps support and recruit businesses, has rounded out its leadership with a pair of promotions announced Sept. 19. Susana Carbajal is now deputy director and David Gray is assistant director.
Carbajal will oversee business engagement and community building, including the department's small business division, redevelopment division and global business expansion division, as well as the administrative and finance teams.
"Engaging our local businesses and building inclusive communities are the foundation of economic development," Carbajal stated. "We will continue to advocate for all Austinites through equitable development and business programming.”
Gray will oversee creative and cultural programs, including the cultural arts division, heritage tourism division and music and entertainment division, in addition to the communications team.
"I look forward to working with our local creative and historic communities and ensuring that our services reach our most vulnerable neighbors," Gray stated. "We will continue to sustain Austin’s world-renowned cultural ecosystem by delivering programs, funding opportunities, and policies that produce economic and community benefits for our local creative professionals and organizations."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City seeks to extend $20 minimum wage to some contractors (Austin Monitor)
Although increasing the minimum wage for city employees to $20 an hour was good news for city workers, the increase did not automatically apply to contract workers. The previous minimum for city employees was $15 per hour, which the city adopted for the Fiscal Year 2019 budget.
As James Scarboro, the city’s chief procurement officer, explained to the City Council Audit and Finance Committee on Wednesday, the Financial Services Department has been working on finding a way to raise hourly wages for contract employees in certain categories. The city is seeking to raise the wages of those contract workers who labor on city property and fix city vehicles through competitively awarded contracts, which he called “living wage contracts.”
The city currently has about 5,000 outside contracts, but only about 300 of them would fall into the living wage category, Scarboro said.
Shawn Willett, the deputy procurement officer, told the committee the city’s living wage program began in 2002 and at first only applied to city employees. However, that program was quickly expanded to cover some contract workers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cedar Park, Leander residents under strict water restrictions as repairs begin on pipeline (KUT)
Thousands of water customers in Cedar Park and Leander are under strict water restrictions as crews begin repairs on a leak in the underwater Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority Pipeline.
The 36-inch pipeline pulls water from Lake Travis into the BCRUA water treatment facility, which serves as Leander's primary source for treated drinking water. The facility also supplies Cedar Park with 20% of residents' treated drinking water.
The pipeline and facility will be shut down during the estimated 14-day repair process, which began Wednesday. The cities will have to rely on other water treatment facilities during that time… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin seeks federal funds for safer streets (Austin Chronicle)
In November 2021 President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the "bipartisan infrastructure bill") into law. Just six months later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2021 – the highest figure since 2005.
Now, the feds are tapping into IIJA funds to try to make roads safer. Through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program (SS4A for short), the U.S. Dept. of Transportation opened $1 billion in funds this year – with plans to disperse a total of $5 billion over five years – for projects aimed at preventing roadway deaths and serious injuries. And local governments are keen to get in on the federal government's splurge.
The city of Austin Transportation Department submitted an application by the Sept. 15 deadline. Lewis Leff, ATD's transportion safety officer, noted that the city has limited available local funding for safety projects. "With USDOT funding, Austin is ready to rapidly scale up these proven safety strategies, with a focus on the High-Injury Network [primarily those roads with the highest speeds] and on historically underserved communities," he said in an email. The city is requesting $22.9 million in funding for projects including signalizing intersections with a history of frequent or severe crashes, pedestrian hybrid beacons, a citywide street lighting study, video analytics for crash analysis and project evaluation, and education efforts focused on roundabouts… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Water projects receive $19M in grants from Williamson County (Community Impact)
Two area agencies will receive a total of $19 million in grant money for water-related projects in Williamson County. These projects will bring water into the county from outside pipelines and improve water facilities. Both grants will be funded through reimbursement from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Williamson County Commissioners Court approved the grants at the Sep. 20 Commissioners Court meeting; $5 million went to Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, and $14 million went to the cities of Round Rock and Georgetown.
According to the agreement, Williamson County will reimburse Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority for the underwater pipeline replacement project from the county’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. It will also pay for expenses related to clean water supply and sewer to the cities of Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock.
“I want us to be clear though, what we're proposing today as a Commissioners Court is not affixed to the immediate problem that is currently going on in Cedar Park and Leander. This is a long-term solution,” County Judge Bill Gravell said.
The BCRUA is a partnership among Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander for water supply. They were also planning to build a new pipeline to address leaks that have been happening over time… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
As fentanyl plagues Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott directs state police to focus on cartels (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday directed the Department of Public Safety to redouble its efforts combating Mexican drug cartels, which he blamed for transporting millions of doses of the opioid fentanyl into Texas.
“Fentanyl is a clandestine killer, and Texans are falling victim to the Mexican cartels that are producing it,” Abbott said at a roundtable in Midland with DPS Director Steve McCraw and local law enforcement and political officials.
In a new executive order, Abbott directed the state police to, among other priorities, boost efforts to collect intelligence on cartels, investigate gangs in Texas that support drug and human smuggling, and seize goods the cartels are smuggling back to Mexico, including cash… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
UBS loses Texas muni deal after it’s named an energy-industry boycotter (Bloomberg)
UBS Group AG’s municipal-underwriting subsidiary lost out on a Texas bond deal after the state comptroller included the parent company on a list of firms he deems “boycott” the fossil fuels industry.
Normangee Independent School District, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) south of Dallas, had accepted a bid by UBS Financial Services Inc. to underwrite a bond deal sold via auction Aug. 8, according to bond documents.
But two weeks later, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar, a Republican, included UBS Group on a list of 10 companies that his office considers boycott the energy business. There’s typically a weeks-long gap between when a muni deal prices and when it closes.
The district wound up reselling the bonds last week, hiring RBC Capital Markets as underwriter instead, at a time when yields were broadly higher than levels that prevailed for the first borrowing.
The school district took that step after the Texas attorney general’s office said it wouldn’t approve the sale that UBS had underwritten, Aaron Reitz, the state’s deputy attorney general for legal strategy, said in an email… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
New York's attorney general sues Trump and 3 of his children for alleged fraud (NPR)
Following a three-year investigation, New York's Democratic Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit on Wednesday against former President Donald Trump.
"The complaint demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself, to cheat the system," James said at a press conference.
In a statement posted on the Truth Social media site, Trump blasted the lawsuit as "another witch hunt" which he said was motivated by James' reelection bid.
"She is a fraud who campaigned on a 'get Trump' platform," Trump posted.
The lawsuit also targets members of Trump's longstanding executive team, including members of his family: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 165: Discussing water supply and conservation with Taylor O'Neil, CEO, Richard's Rainwater
Today's episode (165) features Taylor O'Neil, CEO of Richard's Rainwater.
Headquartered in Austin, Richard's Rainwater is the U.S. leader in capturing and bottling pure rainwater, and is the nation’s first FDA approved cloud-to-bottle company.
He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss Richard's history, the rain harvesting process, water supply and conservation, and regulatory hurdles in the industry.
Taylor is also a fellow Wake Forest University alum (Go Deacs!).
-> EPISODE LINK <-
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