BG Reads 6.24.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - June 24, 2024

June 24, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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www.binghamgp.com

June 24, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Broadnax shares thoughts on hiring Austin’s next police chief (Austin Monitor)

🟣 Austin ISD’s budget deficit means staff pay will barely budge without voter helpn (KUT)

🟣 Austin-area daily highs to reach upper 90s but stay below triple digits, forecasters say (Austin American-Statesman)

🟣 Construction workers are dying from suicide at an alarming rate (NBC News)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

We’re now in the final week of Q2! As we look to the next six months at the city (and there’s plenty on the horizon), top of mind for Bingham Group is:

  • The July/August budget process and vote;

  • Mayoral and Council elections; and

  • City of Austin leadership changes, including the Police Chief

If there’s a matter of particular interest and/or concern, we’re happy to discuss. Email me at: [email protected]

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Broadnax shares thoughts on hiring Austin’s next police chief (Austin Monitor)

The Austin Monitor recently sat down with new Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax to discuss some of the more prominent issues facing city staff and City Council as he gets situated in his job. For the first of four portions from the interview, he shares his plans for hiring a new police chief... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin ISD’s budget deficit means staff pay will barely budge without voter helpn (KUT)

The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve a 2024-25 budget that will require the district to dip into its savings account to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Austin ISD’s annual operating budget will total nearly $954 million after a vote on Thursday. How large the district’s budget deficit will be during the next fiscal year largely hinges on whether the school board calls a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election in November and the outcome of that election.

Without a successful VATRE, administrators anticipate a $78 million deficit. That is even after making $29 million in spending cuts, which include eliminating 60 positions within the district’s central administrative office.

“The $29 million in cuts did come from non-campus related expenditures and so that was the ultimate goal for the district to make sure we made cuts in areas that did not [directly] impact the classroom,” Chief Financial Officer Ed Ramos said.

If trustees do decide to ask voters to approve a new tax rate — and they do — it’s expected to generate enough revenue to help reduce the deficit to $41 million…

Austin-area daily highs to reach upper 90s but stay below triple digits, forecasters say (Austin American-Statesman)

The week ahead is set to be a dry one across Central Texas, with soaring temperatures and nearly zero chances of rain, according to meteorologists. Daily highs will not cross the threshold into triple digits, though heat indexes will regularly exceed 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Wednesday and Thursday will be the hottest days, with a high of 98 degrees and heat indexes of 109 to 108. The weather service says these temperatures are seasonally normal.

In June 2023, the Austin area sweltered in 100-degree heat for 15 days, with a maximum of 106 degrees. This year there have been no recorded temperatures above 100 degrees at Camp Mabry, though a spike to 99 degrees occurred twice in May and again June 6... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

New Lockhart economic development director gears up to build on city's gains (Austin Business Journal)

Holly Malish said her first week on the job as director of economic development at the Lockhart Economic Development Corp. has sometimes felt like she's been drinking out of a firehose.

After stepping into the role June 13, she's met with Lockhart city staff, key stakeholders in the community, attended a City Council meeting and more as she takes on the task of helping to promote, retain, grow and attract businesses in what's known as the Barbecue Capital of Texas.

"I put the pressure on myself," Malish said. "I''m trying to do as much as I can (and) put as much as I can into each day — just trying to meet everyone, learn as much as I can about the policies and the functions."

Malish has nearly two decades of experience in economic development, including serving most recently as deputy director of the Schertz Economic Development Corp. and previously as director of the New Braunfels Economic Development Corp… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

EPA rules could close coal-fired power plants in Texas, ERCOT chief says (Dallas Morning News)

ERCOT’s chief is crying foul over new environmental regulations that the head of the state’s power grid operator said could erode the power grid’s resiliency.

Pablo Vegas, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said during a recent meeting of ERCOT’s board that the new emissions rules for fossil fuel power plants, set to take effect July 8, are “exacerbating the reliability risks given forecasted load growth.”

The Environmental Protection Agency rules would place constraints on mercury and greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal power plants and certain new natural gas plants. Vegas said the regulations would likely lead to the decommissioning of all 10 coal plants in Texas, eliminating sources of electricity capable of powering 3.4 million homes, and would constrain the development of new natural gas power plants.

“This is devastating to reliability,” said ERCOT board Vice Chair Bill Flores, a former Republican member of Congress from Bryan, “not only in Texas, but all across the United States.”

Environmental advocates say the new power plant regulations will reduce air pollution and help mitigate climate change. Texas is challenging the regulations, joining a slate of 22 states led by West Virginia and North Dakota in a federal lawsuit against the EPA. A ruling in the lawsuit is expected before July 8. Fossil fuel power plants have become a coveted resource on Texas’ power grid as the ascendance of wind and solar power has created a need for power sources controlled by a flick of a switch to offset weather-dependent renewable energy when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

The ERCOT grid, which covers the vast majority of Texas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, relies on wind and solar power to meet the everyday energy needs of the Texans it serves. Texas’ reliance on renewable energy has become a focal point of lawmakers and likely will be a priority during next year’s legislative session in light of ERCOT projections that the grid’s demand will nearly double by 2030… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

AI could strain Texas power grid this summer (KUT)

Texas is no stranger to power grid anxiety. Between the heat that's only getting hotter, an aging fleet of power plants, and the challenges of integrating renewable energy, the system is fragile. Now, a boom in energy-hungry computer data centers is adding a new element of risk this summer.

“How many are coming? That’s still TBD, but we know that they are explosively growing,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told lawmakers in one of two hearings this month at the state capitol. Vegas said many of those centers mine cryptocurrency. But more and more of them are being built to support artificial intelligence systems. They are drawn to the state thanks to low energy costs, minimal regulation and a booming economy. But they use a lot of energy.

“If you do a Google search and just look up, ‘What is ERCOT?’ If you did that with a regular Google system versus an AI Google search, the amount of energy that it takes to run the AI search is between 10 and 30 times the power requirement than to do a traditional Google search,” Vegas said.

Many estimates you find online appear to be on the lower end of that spectrum. But it’s clear that Texas, in particular, could find that growing energy demand challenging. Ever since a deadly blackout in 2021, state officials have worked to strengthen the power grid. They’ve started programs to subsidize new power plants and improve transmission lines. But, those things take years to build. Data centers — some that use as much energy as small cities — can be built in just a matter of months.

That is a serious challenge for grid operators, says Doug Lewin, who publishes the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter. “How do we build enough infrastructure to accommodate a new city popping up in six months, with effectively no notice?” he asks. The answer: maybe you don’t… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Dallas interim city manager proposes leadership changes, combines planning and permitting (Dallas Morning News)

Dallas plans to combine departments responsible for urban planning and permitting, continuing a series of changes in the city’s leadership driven by interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. The City Council will consider the restructuring on Wednesday and vote to reallocate the budgets of the two departments to the new division.

Tolbert, who took on the interim role after T.C. Broadnax’s departure in May, was credited for a quick turnaround in coming up with an incentive package to bring a professional women’s soccer team, Dallas Trinity FC, to the Cotton Bowl, and she worked to wave off competing cities from potentially hiring Dallas Police Chief Eddie García.

The city has struggled with delays in permitting for the past three years. At the height of permitting issues, residential and commercial permits could take months to get approved. Issues with tracking permit applications, malfunctioning computer software, trouble navigating the city’s zoning code and staffing shortages have all been part of the problem. Recently, the city unveiled online dashboards for applicants to track their permit’s progress.

The reorganization comes as the city is still grappling with questions about the permitting office in the 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway building. Dallas spent at least $21 million to buy and renovate the 11-story building in the hopes of improving the city’s slow permitting process.

The city then closed the building in April citing safety concerns. The Dallas Morning News requested public records and found that the building had fire code violations and lacked occupancy certificates. The leaders overseeing these issues have also left the city. Assistant city managers Robert Perez and Majed Al-Ghafry will start jobs in Topeka, Kan., and DeSoto, respectively… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Denton will require AC for renters, prevent bans on window units (Denton Record Chronicle)

Denton residents will now have a right to air conditioning after the City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to require air conditioning in all rental properties.

Repairs to air conditioners at rental units must also be done in a reasonable amount of time, according to a presentation by city staff. Denton City Council members also voted 4-3 to prevent community associations — such as homeowners associations, neighborhood associations and mobile home parks — from prohibiting or restricting air-conditioning window units during the summer months, or when they’re needed for health and safety reasons. Prohibiting or restricting window units could result in a misdemeanor charge with up to a $500 fine.

Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and District 4 council member Joe Holland cast dissenting votes on both ordinances. Holland called the ordinance preventing community associations from restricting window units confusing and said he was worried about how it would be implemented.

Though she supported the first ordinance, Place 6 council member Jill Jester didn’t support adding regulations for community associations that have rules in place against window units, which property owners agree to when they move into a community.

“We do have to respect people’s choices and property owner rights,” Jester said. District 3 council member Paul Meltzer kick-started city staff’s deep dive into Denton’s lack of air-conditioning regulations in October after reading a Sept. 7 report in the Denton Record-Chronicle about a mobile home park with a ban on window units… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Construction workers are dying from suicide at an alarming rate (NBC News)

In a swath of Arizona desert that will soon be home to a multi-billion dollar semiconductor plant, Justin Azbill stood before thousands of construction workers and told the story of the day he almost took his life. Pressure had been building on Azbill for months in his job as safety director for a large Boston construction firm during the height of the pandemic.

Sleep deprived and overwhelmed, Azbill said he made the decision one morning to take his own life and packed a lethal means to do so in his lunch sack. But as he was preparing to leave for work that morning, his daughter intervened — she asked him to stay home with her that day. He did and the day provided a moment of clarity for Azbill who then sought out help from a friend. Azbill, who got his start in construction as an ironworker, has been traveling to construction sites across the country sharing his story as he and others in the industry race to address what they say is an epidemic of suicide among their colleagues — many of whom are under increasing strain amid a nationwide construction boom and a shortage of workers.

“In the construction industry, we’ve generationally been taught that if you talk to someone about a weakness or you’re struggling then you’re weak and you won’t get hired,” said Azbill. “One of the reasons I talk about it so freely is so people know that it’s normal and it’s okay.” The construction industry has one of the highest suicide rates among professions — with the rate among male construction workers 75% higher than men in the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An estimated 6,000 construction workers died as a result of suicide in 2022, an increase from 2021, according to the most recent data available. That compares to around 1,000 who died from a construction work-related injury. “When you’re more likely to be killed by your own hands than to get killed in a jobsite accident, that’s a crisis in our industry,” said Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce for the Associated General Contractors of America. “We know pretty much what needs to happen to protect people physically.

We’re figuring out how to protect people mentally.” While construction wages are up and jobs are plentiful, those in the industry fear that the pressures on their workers’ mental health are only getting worse. A recent surge in construction projects, spurred by billions of federal dollars for infrastructure, clean energy and semiconductor projects have put increasing strain on an already stretched workforce. As a result, workers are putting in more than 10-hour days in harsh weather conditions, facing high-pressure deadlines and having to spend months away from home living in hotels, temporary workforce housing or their vehicles. There is also the risk of workplace injuries and a higher rate of opioid misuse along with the general financial instability of hourly work.

“There’s a lot that goes into how stressful it is, not just physically, but mentally and psychologically,” said Josh Vitale, a superintendent for Hoffman Construction, the general contractor overseeing the Intel Arizona project where Azbill recently spoke. “There’s a huge human toll. There’s no free lunch, if we want this stuff, and I think progress is fantastic, but we have to realize that we are legitimately wringing the life out of people.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Trump’s convictions fueled donation surge that could reshape contest (Washington Post)

Donors channeled tens of millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee in the days immediately following his May 30 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, all but erasing the massive fundraising advantage that President Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee once held. Biden and his allied groups have raised more money than Trump and his allies have over the course of the general-election contest.

But the surge in post-conviction donations to Trump’s effort — captured in part in May reports filed to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday — has the potential to dramatically reshape the presidential race. The Biden campaign’s long-standing fundraising lead allowed his campaign to build a much larger footprint than Trump’s and to significantly outspend Trump’s effort on the airwaves. The latest fundraising results put Trump in a position to build a bigger operation and air more television ads.

The full picture of the financial strength of each campaign’s effort will not be clear until later this summer, when their allied committees are required to file reports. But at the end of May, the Trump campaign and the RNC had a combined $171 million in cash on hand, surpassing the Biden campaign and the DNC’s combined total of $157 million, according to reports filed late Thursday. Trump’s advisers have attributed May’s surge in donations to donors’ desire to demonstrate their loyalty to the former president after his felony conviction.

The campaign claimed it raised $53 million online in the 24 hours after the verdict, but verifying those totals was impossible Thursday because WinRed — the platform that many small donors use to contribute to Republican campaigns — will not file its FEC report for this period until July. The Trump-allied super PAC MAGA Inc. — which has been the main vehicle for pro-Trump advertising on the airwaves — took in an eye-popping $50 million donation from transportation executive Timothy Mellon a day after Trump’s conviction, giving the former president’s allies ample resources to drive his message at a moment when he is leading Biden in many battleground state polls... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]

This fall will see elections for the following Council Districts 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor.

Declared candidates so far are:

Mayor

District 2

District 4

District 6

District 7 (Open seat)

District 10 (Open seat)

_________________________

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