Austin Water Update and More

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Subject: Austin Water Update and More

Dear Neighbors,

You deserve safe water and utility service you can trust. As your representative, I believe the City needs to demonstrate transparency and accountability as we work to restore your faith in Austin Water. On Thursday, the City Council unanimously approved my resolution requiring an independent, external audit of Austin Water, a key next step towards rebuilding this trust.

My co-sponsors (CMs Tovo, Fuentes, Ellis, Pool, and Kelly) and I brought this resolution forward because our community needs more substantive answers from Austin Water about what happened earlier this month and in other recent incidents. This audit will help us prevent future water quality and supply failures by carefully examining our management practices, operations and the resiliency of our infrastructure systems. You can read more about what the audit will cover here.

I also want to share with you some resources that will give you a fuller picture of what we know at this time. On Friday, February 11th Austin Water released an initial memo answering some FAQs. That information was released just before we learned that Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros had resigned. On Tuesday, the Council held a special - called meeting where we heard from Greg Meszaros and Rick Coronado, Assistant Director of Operations and Maintenance. You can review some of my comments from that meeting here. We continued that conversation on Thursday before the audit vote where we discussed questions raised by me and my Council colleagues in advance. You can view those questions and answers here.

At this point in time key questions remain unanswered as Austin Water pursues an internal investigation of the February 5th incident, due back in about two weeks. For instance, we still do not know why or how the turbidity was allowed to remain high for a long period of time as alarms and notifications were reportedly functioning properly. With the internal investigation we should be receiving more information on staffing levels, operational experience, and adherence to standard operating procedures. The Austin Water Oversight Committee will convene on February 23rd and Council will hold an executive session on March 1st to learn more about elements deemed sensitive. The process is now underway for the City Auditor to secure a qualified external party to conduct the external audit. I will continue to share updates with you as new information becomes available.

I want to thank Greg Meszaros for his years of service and for committing to do what he can to restore trust in the utility as we transition to new leadership. The City Manager has not yet announced his plans for appointing an interim director nor details on the search process.

In the remainder of this newsletter, I will share some other news from the Council meeting on Thursday–a plan to fill vacancies with our first responders, an update on our new EMS chief, a moment of remembrance for Winter Storm Uri, and a briefing on the 144th and 145th police academy classes. Please feel free to share this newsletter with your friends and neighbors, and encourage them to subscribe for updates here.

Regards,

Alison Alter

Mayor Pro Tem

In addition to our work related to Austin Water, I want to share a few actions from the Council this week. You may visit the February 17th Council Agenda if you would like to review further items.

EMS Chief Update

Please join me in welcoming Robert Luckritz into his new role as EMS Chief. He was confirmed yesterday, and I very much look forward to working with him to advance the health, safety, and well-being of Austinites. I would also like to thank Jasper Brown, who served as interim chief this year and who I’ve worked closely with to advance initiatives to improve the EMS system. (Item 59)

Filling Public Safety Vacancies

Council unanimously passed a resolution that I drafted along with sponsor CM Kelly and co-sponsors CM Pool and Ellis to develop the ATX Public Safety Vacancy Staffing Plan. This comprehensive staffing plan for Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services, the Austin Fire Department, and the Austin Police Department is an important step to ensure our public safety departments are operating optimally. The City Manager will report back on the plan in April. (Item 36)

Police Academy Update

During Tuesday’s work session, Council received a briefing from Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon on the ongoing reforms to improve our police academy. The 144^th Academy cadets graduated just a few weeks ago and the next police academy (the 145th)–the most diverse in Austin’s history– is scheduled to begin in March. Chief Chacon described the Academy as having benefited from significant, positive change.

I will continue working with Chief Chacon to create a learning environment with curriculum and techniques that ensure our officers are the best trained in the nation. You can view my questions and comments on the Academy here. Read thepresentation and accompanyingmemo here. On Thursday, the City released the final report by the independent Evaluator of the APD Training Academy Kroll & Associates.

The academy reforms include the following elements:

The creation of an internal curriculum review committee aimed at incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion into all aspects of training and ensuring training emphasizes the ethical responsibilities of policing and a sensitivity sensitivity to community concerns.

The adoption of a defensive tactics program early in the Academy that teaches cadets proper defensive tactics before they are tested in aggressive hands-on scenarios.

Proactive outreach to community leaders who can present community perspectives and concerns about public safety as part of Academy training and community engagement programming.

A requirement for effective de-escalation training as part of mandatory in-service ‘refresher’ training every two years.

The development of an intentional strategy to further enhance the long-term diversity of Academy staff, including at the Instructor level.

Winter Storm Remembrance

On Tuesday, my colleagues and I marked the anniversary of Winter Storm Uri. I led a moment of silence to remember the hardships of the storm and the 246 lives lost across Texas. I want to acknowledge that for my district and other parts of Austin, the suffering and outages began days before the ERCOT-directed outages, on February 11th.

During a crisis, we see the measure of a community in how it responds to help those in need. I will never forget those days and the weeks that followed. What remains strongest in my memory is every person who jumped to aid neighbors and strangers alike.

Thank you to Council Member Fuentes for leading the remembrance effort, and to everyone who stepped up during the storm to take care of each other. I am proud to call you my neighbors and fellow Austinites.

CONTACT US!

District10@austintexas.gov

(512) 978-2110

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