Little bits of big news
Internet outages affect city business HUTTO — The city is working to prevent internet disruptions in the wake of several recent outages that affect how Hutto does business, officials said.
An outage Oct. 3 and another July 23 curtailed online viewings of City Council meetings. Phone service has also been offline during the interruptions.
The city will soon be improving its internet reliability, said spokeswoman Shayna Jung. “The city of Hutto has signed an agreement with a new vendor to provide more reliable fiber service, improved customer support and enhanced redundancy — a critical feature to ensure continuous service,” Jung said.
She added, “Currently, we have one main feed from our internet provider, which affects service to all sites when a fiber line is cut or other issues occur, taking our service offline. We will have multiple and redundant feeds at each location, so all sites can feed each other service if one or more locations has their feed go offline.”
The new service is expected to go live by year end.
Jung said the outages can be blamed on accidents and even the weather.
“With increasing frequency, contractors and sometimes homeowners cut lines, in addition to outages caused by long-term power outages from Hurricane Beryl. No provider is responsible, nor have they been with any of our outages. They are not responsible for third parties cutting lines or major storms,” Jung said.
The city’s phone system is also affected during internet episodes. Impacts on public service include no incoming calls to city administrative offices, and no credit card payments taken on-site at the Utility Billing Department or Municipal Courts.
In addition, the Police Department cannot receive direct calls, but the 911 emergency system is still operational since it goes through the county.
Next budget meeting scheduled
City Council Oct. 3 approved a nearly $9.2 million contract with STR Constructors for Phase 2 of the Fritz Park capital improvement project.
The second phase of the Fritz Park upgrade includes site work, playground facilities, a pond, trails, additional parking and more.
Funding for the project is provided by 2018 voter-approved general obligation bonds and parkland improvement fees.
The park will have a pump/skate track budgeted at $250,000 and a splash pad priced at $800,000.
Items deleted from the plans include remodeling the existing pavilion, adding a butterfly pavilion, a pergola, a concrete pingpong table and a concrete foosball table.
City to discuss aligning with TML priorities The 89th regular session of the Legislature begins Jan. 14, prompting City Council to mull joining the Texas Municipal League’s statewide proposals.
At the council meeting Thursday, city leaders will discuss TML’s legislative agenda that might correlate with Hutto’s goals.
The TML, an umbrella organization that advocates for Texas municipalities, held its annual conference last week in Houston. Discussions included a wide range of issues facing cities, such as protection of watersheds and rulings pertaining to annexation and extraterritorial jurisdiction.
TML’s legislative focus for the upcoming session includes:
• Mandating that an emergency service district enter into a sales-and-land use tax sharing agreement with a city upon annexation and, if negotiations fail, engage in binding arbitration or mediation.
• Transitioning ESD governance from appointed boards to elected boards to enhance accountability to taxpayers.
• Increase funding for the Texas Department of Transportation to support “equitable” transportation projects benefiting cities, and to provide local, state and federal funding for transportation infrastructure, including rail.
• Grant TxDOT greater authority to enhance city railroad crossings and install signal lights.
• Prohibit TxDOT from requiring municipalities to cover revenue reductions and maintenance costs for toll-road frontage and ramp improvements.
• Reducing or eliminating the concept of extraterritorial jurisdiction.
• Legislation requiring candidates for city office to declare party affiliation.
• Legislation restricting a city’s authority to draft ballot propositions that fully reflect the fiscal impact of the propositions.
BEFORE
Photo courtesy of Hutto
These pictures show the vision for Fritz Park, from an unadorned field with few amenities to a showpiece with features for every age. AFTER
