Solid Waste

                                                 Solid Waste Services  Mural

      Our session on the evening of November 9th continued to give us new insights into city operations. We first heard from staff members in the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department.  Most of us do not think about disease prevention. City government takes disease prevention quite seriously and approaches containing disease from many angles: inoculation programs for children and families (shots for tots, flu vaccine inoculation events), animal control, wellness clinics, food inspection services, rodent and mosquito control, enforcing the smoking ordinances, and public pool inspections. The department also manages the office of vital records, recording all county-wide births, deaths and fetal deaths. This department also helps us gain statistical information about birth, death and disease in our city.

     The department often works with other city departments on emergency preparedness. Their largest recent challenge was the response to disease prevention and control during hurricane Katrina where thousands of residents were housed in our convention center and other locations throughout Austin.




       The second part of the evening was spent learning about solid waste operations. Austin has a goal of eventually becoming a zero waste city. Right now we are at about 35% of our garbage being recycled. Soon apartments and condominiums will be part of the Austin recycling program. If you find your large grey garbage can is staying emptier and emptier, you can call 3-1-1 to ask for a smaller green garbage can. The city will come out an change your cans for you - AND - your monthly fee for garbage pick up will be reduced.


     Later we walked over to the hazardous waste recycling facility to see how operations there take place. The manager is an enthusiastic proponent of this service. The city recycles most of the materials brought to the center. Interestingly, the city has a pilot program to recycle latex paint.  The two colors coming out of this effort are a limestone white and balcones brown. Both paints are available for free to citizens who want to pick it up at the hazardous waste facility (4108 Todd Lane, off of Ben White, a couple of blocks past I35).

     An addendum: City Manager Mark Ott spent 24 hours last spring as a homeless person. You can view a video where Mr. Ott talks about his experience. shows, in my opinion, I think he shows that he is a thoughtful and unusual city manager. The video can be found at statesman.com/opinion

Police! (and Municipal Courts)

Both city departments we visited this past week pulled out all the stops to show off their services.  We visited the main Municipal Court and the main Police Department located next to each other between 7th and 8th streets, directly next to I35. In the next two years, the Municipal Court (which has outgrown the space available) will be moving to the corner of I35 and St. Johns. There the court will have more space for operations as well as parking for visitors and clients of the court. The Police Department will then take over the space vacated by the Municipal Court.

Judge Evelyn McKee is the presiding judge for the Municipal court. She is an obviously experienced, gracious, and no-nonsense judge. She and her Court Clerk, Rebecca Stark, took us through a set of multiple choice questions to help us learn about how the court works.

In summary: the bulk of the cases the court handles are traffic cases. However there are some city ordinance, state code violation and civil cases taken to this court. There are close to 500,000 cases filed annually. The Municipal Court collected about $34,000,000  in fines during the last fiscal year. The Austin police department is not the only department to bring cases to municipal court. Other entities bringing cases to the Municipal Court include DPS, Parks and Recreation, Animal Control, Austin Fire Department, Water Conservation, AISD police department, and TABC.

Austin has a community Court which handles close to 1,000 cases per month. The court covers most of downtown. It is a specialty court that handles "Quality of life offenses" - i.e. homeless people and partiers. The court focuses on low-level offenses by repeat offenders, mainly: public intoxication, minor in possession of alcohol, and leaving human waste on sidewalks, streets, and alleys.
The offenders will get help, if necessary from on-staff social workers. Offenders perform up to 260,000 hours community service each year.

The Austin Police Department is probably one of the most visible of all city departments. The chief, Art Acevedo, is well-known from his appearances on the evening news and in the local newspaper. 
He and his main staff were on hand to meet with us. His chief of staff told us that the building that currently houses the police department was originally designed as the new public library. When the city decided that they needed a new police station more than a new public library, the library design was handed over to the police department. Thus we have a police department with a huge atrium - which takes up much needed space for offices!

The department underwent a large reorganization in 2009. Now there are four police bureaus: Headquarters, Central, North and South. Statistics provided by the police department state that Austin is the fifth safest city in the United States. Projections are that the Austin population grows 2.25% each year. Thus Austin may have a population of over 1 million by 2025. Since 2000 the Austin population has grown 18% and calls for police service have increased by 61%.

Chief Acevedo spoke to us at length and with passion about his desire to improve the police department. One initiative underway is to have all police officers carry the same weapon. The new weapon will be a 40 caliber Smith and Wesson Military and Police gun. (I went to McBride's on Saturday and was told by the salesman/ex-police officer that the S&W is a solid, reliable, and mid-range cost weapon.) Chief Acevedo would also like to see more weapons training for his officers. He is considering applying for stimulus money for a mobile target range. He answered Academy students' questions comfortably and with the panache of an experienced flack catcher.

We spent the last part of the evening outside visiting with police personnel. The mounted police (a man and a woman) brought two of their ten horses. The SWAT team (quite muscular) were there with their assault vehicles - one from the 1970s and a brand new vehicle with all modern bells and whistles. We were able to sit inside a police cruiser and see how the on board video and computer work. All in all an impressive display.

Emergency!

We only have three sessions left in the City Works Academy - and I'm ready to start all over again. I have learned so much - and have so much more to understand. I know that city government is complicated, but until I became a member of City Works, I think I was much like most citizens - if the garbage pick up in my neighborhood works and the street is in good shape, I do not consider goes into making our city work. Now I know differently. I know that there are many city employees who are well-trained and committed to doing their best to make Austin a great place to live.

The session we attended this past Tuesday was an excellent case in point. We were invited to the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. This facility is essentially at the corner of Old Manor Road and East 51st Street - tucked away behind a large security gate. The building itself is less than five years old and contains the latest technologies. The people who work at the facility are responsible for all the management of all man-made and natural disasters. The 9-1-1 operators are based in this building along with other staff members when needed to be available (Fire, Police, EMS, Cap Metro, LCRA, Watershed Protection, TxDot and more). Staff members  at the Emergency Operations Center monitor weather reports, traffic conditions, and any other sources of information which could help the city in case of an emergency. GIS (Geographical Information Systems) play a large part in the Emergency Operations Center's ability to predict weather situations.

The center has developed software  that takes weather-related real time data and is able to feed this data into localized maps for on the ground conditions. Did you know that the city has a predictive floodplain database? An Emergency  Notification System (so you can be automatically notified if there is a real emergency in your area)? If you do not have a land line, you can call 3-1-1 and they will tell you how to register your cell phone (only for this purpose). I was amazed to learn that the city has many rain gauges that transmit water data wirelessly so the EOC can find out "ground truth" to supplement radar information. Over 100 wireless rain gauges are maintained throughout the city of Austin. Take a look the next time you are near a major Austin stream. Many streams subject to sudden flooding have gate arms to prevent cars from drowning in swift waters. The city, in conjunction with communities surrounding Austin has implemented a two-way radio system that allows police, fire, and EMS to communicate seamlessly in case of an emergency. This system has more that 14,000 radios. (Remember that part of the disaster on 9/11 was based on the fact that in NYC radio, fire, and EMS all had different radios and frequencies).

So the next time you see the city jump into action when there is a big natural or man-made emergency, realize that there is a sophisticated communications center with a highly trained staff ready to jump into action.

Fun with Fire

Inside the Fire Truck

The LONG ladder - 105 feet high

Olga and Fire Truck


At last, my childish dream fulfilled. Play with fire. No, not really. But we had a great evening last week out at the training facility for the Austin Fire Department. The department went all out to give us a good time. They brought in various fire trucks, including the special fire truck they have for high rise buildings. The ladder will go up to seven stories. The moral of that fact: the fire chief suggested that we stay no higher than the seventh story when in a high rise hotel.

The training facility is located south of town, near 183 and McKinney Roughs Parkway. The facility includes a training tower for learning how to battle fires in tall buildings, an infra-red facility for training to work in the dark, and plenty of space for learning how to use a fire hose. The facility also has training classrooms. Our evening consisted of time in the classroom for a talk on the fire department and EMS. Later we went outside for hands-on experiences.

The fire department has 1100 employees, 45 fire stations, and covers an area of 280 square miles. The department has functions that go beyond fire fighting. The department employs inspectors of new and existing structures, fire investigators, and educational services on fire prevention in the community. The department works cooperatively with Travis County. The busiest fire station is the station at Sixth St. and Trinity. That station answers about 6,000 calls per year. All fire fighters are certified EMTs. Did you know that? There is fierce competition to become a fire fighter. There are usually about 5,000 applicants for each new cadet class of forty. Amazing! 5% of the fire fighters are female.

The EMS department works closely with the fire department. That department has a budget of $44 million per year. However about $20 million is recovered in fees for service. Most health insurances cover the cost of having EMS come to your house. The average cost is around $800.
The EMS folks cover about 2600 miles, since the EMS department covers the city of Austin as well as Travis County. The department has thirty three units and answers around 110,000 calls per year, or an average of about 350 calls per day. 40% of the EMS staff is female. In a review session with EMS staff, we relearned CPR. BIG NEWS: the state of the art recommends chest compression ONLY, no more breathing into mouth.

All the EMT and fire fighting staff spent time with us. They were consistently friendly, informative, and interested in our questions. A great evening!

Arts and Parks plus Information

It is hard to believe that my time with the City Works Academy is half over. I've learned so much already - and there are five sessions left to keep me on my toes.

Tuesday, October 12th we met at the Dougherty Arts Center on Barton Springs Road. The building itself is rather funky, reflecting an origin as a naval training center. The inside is anything but military. The main entrance leads into a lovely, well-lit art gallery which presents new artists throughout the year. Behind the gallery is a large auditorium where stage events take place. Beyond that you will find classrooms for every sort of artistic activity: painting, sculpture, jewelery making, acting, music and more. The academy students really enjoyed touring the facility to see the range of classes offered - the students were having a great time. Isn't it great that our city offers these artistic learning opportunities?

The Dougherty Arts Center is just one of many facilities managed by the Parks and Recreation Department. The PARD manages 247 parks, 50 miles of paths, five golf courses, 110 tennis courts, fifty one swimming pools including Barton Springs and Deep Eddy, twelve cultural arts centers, twenty recreation centers and four senior centers. Although Barton Springs is a big money maker, the money collected there goes back into the city's general fund rather than to PARD. I think that is a shame, since it is obvious that the department is underfunded and needs more funding than it is getting right now. Fact: the PARD has 581 employees and a budget of over $53 million.

I didn't know that 3-1-1 services evolved from 9-1-1 services after 9/11 2001. The federal government decided to initiate the 3-1-1 service to focus 9-1-1 service on serious emergencies. The City of Austin's 3-1-1 service will give assistance on almost any city service-based non-emergency problem a citizen has. The staff members of 3-1-1 took a different approach to showing us how their job works. Rather than giving us an overview of staffing and funding, we broke up into teams to try and answer some typical questions that come to the department. As it turns out, a simple question can have a complicated answer. Training for the 3-1-1 information ambassadors is intensive and is being constantly updated so that when a citizen calls, they will get the most current answer. The 3-1-1 service center works 24/7 and answers over 1,000,000 calls per year. Most calls are handled in less than three minutes. All calls are recorded and calls are graded (however telephone callers' phone number is not recorded).

The Office of Communications and Public Information is a small department with a big, big job. With a budget of $1.6 million and around 18 employees, the office seeks to keep Austin citizens and employees of the City of Austin informed about our city government. Currently the office is working on a redesign of the web for the City of Austin. The office also handles staffing and programming for Channel 6, relationship with the pubic media (commercial television stations, newspapers etc.), and efforts for citizen involvement in our city - City Works Academy is just one example of this effort.

Meeting the Mayor and City Manager

Olga on second floor balcony - city hall


What an exciting City Works Academy last Tuesday! City Manager Marc Ott gave us a very upbeat and energizing talk on his quest to make Austin the best-managed city in America. I really appreciate his high ideals for our city. He communicates in a passionate, organized, and soft-spoken manner that demands respect. Department heads have echoed his thoughts on managing our city. So I feel good knowing that excellence in city government is the name of the game in Austin.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell emphasized that he and the city council of seven represent the 800,000 citizens of Austin. Austin is unusual in that our city council meetings usually last from 10am to 5:30pm. (In contrast city council meetings in Dallas usually last three hours, said Leffingwell). The city council meets every two weeks. Ten days before each city council meeting the City Manager and City Clerk prepare the agenda for the city council, so the council members can peruse the agenda and make comments. Agenda items come to the Office of the City Manager from the various city departments. Here's a sample of the agenda for October 14, 2010: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council_meetings/public_meeting_agenda.cfm?meetingid=226
Take a look!

After our overview from Mayor Leffingwell, he took us on a tour of city hall. I really like the modern architecture of our city hall. The city hall faces Lady Bird Lake and the greenbelt along the lake. The second story balcony overlooks the lake as well as the cityscape - quite beautiful at sunset. A unique feature of city hall is the use of art by local artists. Local artists are selected to hang their works in the city hall for a year. Then the art is replaced that of other artists. I was delighted to see some wonderful filigree glass art by a friend who creates her art at South by Southwest Glass Studio. This was the first time I saw and heard out mayor. I'm not easily impressed but he impressed me: again someone who knows his way around city government. has a good grasp of the issues facing our city, and has - important - a wonderful sense of humor.

Who knows what our City Clerk does? Perhaps you imagine a little person with a pencil in her hand stuck behind a desk in a dark corner somewhere? Well, drop that thought! Our City Clerk, Shirley Gentry, is an energetic, tech saavy lady. Even though her primary job is to provide information to the City Council and City staff, general public, candidates and voters, her job supervising a staff of eighteen and a budget of almost $2 billion. I've already talked about the city council meeting agenda - often a fifty page document. One of her largest tasks is managing the records of our city. I know this job well, having worked in records management for several years. It is the one of the most under-appreciated and essential functions for our city. She also sees that our city website stays up to date. Candidates for municipal elections work through her office.

I'm not sure why the people who deal with budgets and money always talk to us during the last hour of our three hour sessions. By then it is 8:00pm and we are getting a little glassy-eyed from all the information we've already taken in. We head from the city treasurer, Art Alfaro. Be happy. Our city has a A+++ bond rating. We are not having problems servicing the $4.7 billion city debt. We also have a chief financial officer whose job it is to see that the city meets basic accounting practices. The office also manages our city budget process - we have a city budget that is balanced. Austin must be the envy of many cities around the country!

Running Fast to Stay in Place

I have to admit that it is more work to keep up the blog than I expected. The weeks roll around very quickly (especially since my husband and I have been in the last stages of getting our book published). Since I've written last, I've been to one evening and one full day City Works Academy since I last posted - and there is so much to tell you!

First things first - to state the obvious - running our water and electric utilities is a complex and expensive business. I'm overwhelmed by how much I do not understand about generating electricity and getting it into our home; and I'll say the same for water. It seems obvious and simple to turn on a light or a faucet - but it is not so simple to have the technology, know how and physical plants to make that happen. Note: Both the electricity and water departments are required to pay their own way.

One of the most exciting sessions - don't laugh - was to meet at the Austin Water Utility Biosolids Management Plant. It is located at the far southeast end of Austin, past our airport. Here the city recycles biosolids (i.e. poop) composting them with yard trimmings. The resulting mixture is sold commercially as 'Dillo Dirt, an excellent soil conditioner used across the city in lawns and gardens, parks, gold courses, and other areas. The plant is located at Hornsby Bend, one of the prime bird watching areas in central Texas. Here migrating birds stop at all times of year. We learned about the complex process for developing the Dillo Dirt - we can be proud that our city puts out the effort to recycle. As one of the city officials stated: "We are #1 in #2. If you have a chance, go visit the HornsbyBend Biosolids Management Plant. The Audobon Society meets there on the third Saturday of every month at 7:30am. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/water/downloads/hornsbybendbro.pdf

You will be glad to hear that the head of the Austin Water Utility, Greg Meszaros, is a well-informed and very lively and interesting speaker. Suffice it to say that the AWU is doing everything possible to be the best water utility around. They are working hard to upgrade existing water treatment plants and focus on building a new water treatment plant in north Austin. Recycling and water reclamation are a top focus of the department.

This past Saturday the City Works Academy had an optional day to visit the Austin Convention Center, hear from the head of Bergstrom Airport, and visit the Sandy Point Power Plant (near Hornsby Bend).

The convention center is run by an enthusiastic team of professionals. The center hosts over 160 meets a year; around 40 0f those are larger meetings with a national and regional attendance. Their biggest problem is that there are not enough downtown hotel rooms to handle the number of convention attendees who could come to a conference here. The convention center gets most of their funding from the hotel occupancy tax as well as rental car fees, facility rentals, and contractors. (Note: The hotel occupancy tax contributes to the city, cultural arts, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as the convention center). Conventions bring over $300 million to the city each year. The center has 239 employees and a budget of $53.4 Million.

Jim Smith, head of the airport, gave us an informal and highly informative presentation. He's an experienced airline industry professional, a non-nonsense New Englander, a gentleman who keeps up with airport trends throughout the US and around the world. Over one billion dollars are invested in our airport. Because of the economy, new gate construction is on hold. However a new parking garage will soon be underway. By 2015 they would like to build eight more gates.
These eight gates will cost over $300 million (the new airport when built cost $350 million!).

I admit, by 2:00pm on Saturday I was pretty well worn out, but I soldiered on to the San Hill Energy Plant. I've decided that I would need to learn and study for a long time to really understand how electricity is generated, transmitted, and priced. The energy to our home can come from four sources: gas ,coal, nuclear, and renewable energy. The average outages in our system are one customer with sixty minutes of outage per year. Austin Energy spends about $10 million per year to trim trees - there are 2300 miles requiring trimming, about 500 miles are trimmed each year. All electricity meters to the home are now automated (did you know that?) And the big news - which should be no surprise if you have been reading the paper - our energy costs are going up. Rates have not been changed since 1994. By October 2012 the new rates will be in place.

Stay Turned - more next week!

Our city employees are hard-working and smart

My first report from the CityWorks Academy was more like a meeting report, and in my own opinion maybe not all that lively and interesting. This, my second report, will talk more about what I have learned in general in the second and third academy meetings.

The big take-away for me at this point is that the city of Austin employs smart, dedicated, and involved employees. I haven't heard from a single department head who sounded burned-out or bored with his/her job. It is clear that they are aware of what is happening in other cities around the United States (and sometimes further away in Europe and Asia) and they are always looking outside Austin to find innovative solutions to the problems they need to solve.

On September 14th we heard from the department chiefs of our library system, economic growth and development office, and small and minority business resource office.

The big news is that planning is beginning for a new main downtown library near Lady Bird Lake. The hoped-for completion date is 2015, so keep your eyes and ears open on news about that. The current main library will become the Austin History Center which has needed expanded space for some time. The old Austin History Center (once our main library) will become a venue for meetings and exhibits.

The economic growth and development department works to bring new business to Austin without giving away the bank. The cultural arts division within the economic growth and development division works to promote the arts in Austin. I was not aware that for instance the Mueller airport redevelopment program was part of this department. Also the local success of the Mueller project has brought people from around the United States and Europe who want to learn more about how Austin succeeded in this cooperative effort between city and private business interests.

The last presentation on Sept. 14th was from the Small and Minority Business Resource department. The are many ways this department can help Austin residents. If you want to start a small business or own a small business that you want to improve, get in touch with these people. They will help you! Also if you know anyone who owns a minority business, this is the department to contact. They'll tell you how to become qualified for city, state, and federal projects.

This week, on September 21st, we met in south Austin near the intersection of Ben White and I35. That's the site of one of seven public works facilities. While we munched on pizza and cookies, we viewed a spiffy, cheerful, short video on what the public works department does. This is a huge department with over 400 employees. The department manages over $300 million dollars in large capital projects, for example the new City Hall or the new library. It also takes care of all the streets and bridges in Austin, works to integrate bicycles into the transportation system, and works to see that sidewalks are built. This budget is around $60 million per year. The public works department tries to see that at least 10% all roads in Austin are repaired and/or upgraded annually - no small task! They are trying out surfaces that will weather better and last longer.

The public works department works closely with the Austin Transportation Department. This is a new department for the city - but it is working hard to become the best transportation department in America. I don't need to write about congestion in Austin - that is a fact of life in our city. I can say that the department is working to develop relationships with the county, Texas Department of Transportation (our beloved TxDOT) and federal enteties to see that our traffic problems can find solutions. A good example is the new fly-overs that will be soon under construction at Ben White and I35 and Mopac and 71. Watch for those! Oh, and by the way, all the parking meters downtown have been replaced and are working well. And the department is also upgrading traffic lights.

Please let me know if you have questions about any of the areas I've covered. I'm barely scratching the surface - but I can tell you, I don't regret a minute I've spent at the CityWorks Academy.

Our first CityWorks Academy meeting took place at the Austin at city hall on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 6pm. It was a dark and stormy night - yes! Everyone came in looking a little wet since our city was in the throes of the effects of hurricane Hermine. Non-stop rain had fallen all day.

Soon all thirty of us were assembled in a large conference room where we sat around tables. As we entered we each received a large notebook with the syllabus and handouts for our ten weekly meetings.

Our class is an interesting mix of people of all ages from all parts of Austin. There are more women than men in the class and some minorities. Everyone is outgoing and friendly and brings a different outlook to what we're hearing.

The best part of the class was hearing from the city employees who are in charge of their departments. I was impressed by the fact that they were all articulate about their work, well-informed, good presenters, and genuinely interested in questions from the class. They brought life to the bureaucracy that helps to make our city work.

The City of Austin is a home rule city, operating under a city charter. Our city charter establishes a council/manager form of government.
The Mayor and the Council are responsible for:
- Setting policy
-Approving the budget
-Determining the tax rate
The City Manager is responsible for:
-Preparing and implementing budgets
-Implementing council policy by directing day to day operations.

The fiscal year for the city runs from October 1st through September 30th.

The emphasis of the first class was on functions which report directly city manager's office: the head of the Integrity Office and the Law Department. The head of the human resources department also made a presentation. The Office of the City Auditor reports directly to the City Council. The presentation from that office was quite enlightening.

The rest of this blog goes into detail on the information from the individual presentors. Read what interests you and skip the rest.

I was surprised to learn that the city has an Integrity Office. The office is headed by John Steiner, formerly of the city law department. He is an articulate and passionate champion of the activities of his department. The city office has formally existed for just a few years, and has worked steadily to bring the city ethics code and philosophy to all the employees.

To be sure that this happens, the Integrity office trains city work groups, looks for best practices to be sure ethical behavior takes place, and is the agent for a proactive and strong ethical culture in the city. Of course all this is easier said than done. But the way I look at it, the program must be working. When has there been a news item on "bad, unethical" behavior on the part of a city official or employee? Here's a link a video which will tell you more about ethics training:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/elearning/downloads/ethics-training.htm

We heard from Karen Kennard, Acting City Attorney. The City Attorney's Office has eight divisions with specialized lawyers in each area:
1. Austin Energy - all issues relating to Austin Energy.
2. Land Use and Real Estate - issues relating to commissions, water utility, housing department.
3. Employment and Public Safety - Police, Fire, EMS
4. Municipal Operations - Finance, Contracts, Tax Rate etc.
5. General Litigation - Defends city when it is sued.
6. Affirmative Litigation - will initiate litigation where necessary. For Example: The problems
with the Budget Lodge in NE Austin.
7. Criminal Prosecution - Class C misdemeanors and traffic violations. Day and night court.
That office has a budget over $7.4 million and 83 employees (FY 2010).

Some functions of the City Auditor's Office overlap with that of the Integrity Office. But whereas the Integrity Office has a strong emphasis on training employees in ethical behavior, the City Auditor's Office actually audits city finances as well as operations, often under the direction of city council. For instance, the current effort to improve the parks and recreation department stems in part from a City Auditor's Office report.

For me the most interesting presentation from Mark Washington, the articulate and energetic director of the city's Human Resources Department. That's probably because I understand employee hiring and evaluation from my own work experience. Mr. Washington is definitely a champion of the city of Austin. He wants the city to hire the best and brightest for the jobs that are available. That's a big job. The city has about 11,000 employees, of which around 8300 are non civil service employees and over 2500 are civil service employees (police, fire, EMS).

The only city employees who are unionized are the civil service employees (police, fire, EMS). All other city workers work at will.

Each year the city receives over 100,000 resumes for a job with the city. At any one time around 1,000 positions are open. The average annual turnover of city employees is between 7 - 10%.

We viewed several interesting charts and graphs regarding the make-up of the city's work force.
47% of city employees were born between 1945 - 1964.
45% of city employees were born between 1982 - 2001.
92% of city residents were born between those years.

The lowest paying city job pays $11/hour, higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. City benefits amount to about $10,000 per year per employee.

Before I knew it, the three hours were over. I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the information I had been given - and was certain that there was much more to understand. Still - I know 100% more than I did before I entered the classroom that evening. And I am already looking forward to next week when we will meet at the Austin Public Library.

I'm Accepted into CityWorks Academy!

On Tuesday, August 15th, I finally received the e-mail I had been hoping for. I learned I had been accepted into the 2010 class for the City of Austin's "CityWorks Academy" a program to teach selected citizens of our city how the city works - duh! Earlier this summer I read about the program in our local newspaper, the Austin American Statesman. I submitted a two page application giving background about myself and why I wanted to participate in the program.
The acceptance e-mail from the city of Austin stated that there were over 200 applicants for thirty spots in the class of 2010. Participants were selected to represent a geographical cross section of the city. Age and experience were also taken into consideration along with our goals for using the information we had learned.
The class will last for ten weeks, starting September 7th with a reception at City Hall. I can't wait to see what we will learn.
Stay turned - and find out if indeed I am the oldest participant!