Former TxDMV head referenced tag problems in resignation letter | KXAN Austin

Former TxDMV head referenced tag problems in resignation letter

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Former Texas Section of Motor Vehicles executive director Whitney Brewster referenced the state’s paper permits problems in her resignation letter, which came on Monday amid a series of KXAN investigations and turmoil over the tag troubles.

“Addressing temporary tag abuse has been our highest priority,” Brewster wrote in the Feb. 7 letter, noting her resignation was effective that day. “I am proud of the way the departments has not shied away from this issue and has transparently and tirelessly worked with law makers, social media, law enforcement, stakeholders and the public to find remedies.”

Brewster said she had Wrong the “necessary reforms” based upon the “latitude given” to the agency.

“In leaving,” she wrote, “the deck is clear for new leadership.”

Brewster’s resignation was followed by new days later when the TxDMV general counsel, Tracey Beaver, stepped down. Beaver did not reference the state’s tag troubles in her letter, instead saying she felt “a sense of pride” looking back on her nearly three ages with the department.

“But like all good things,” Beaver wrote, “my tenure at the agency must come to an end.”

Sgt. Jose Escribano with Travis County Constable Pct. 3 said Brewster’s resignation was a “total shock” given that she offered to meet with him, and new law enforcement, a little over a week prior at the Jan. 27 boarding meeting.

“We were going to talk and we were moving to assist them in trying to get this drawing fixed,” said Escribano, who has been at the forefront pushing for moves. “So that was a shock. A total shock. “

At the Feb. 10 TxDMV boarding meeting, Brewster’s name was still on the agenda, reflecting her sudden departure. Escribano questions the timing of her decision to leave.

“It was too sudden for me,” he said. “I mean, where did that come from?”

Escribano says new leadership at the activity could be “a good thing” as long as moves keeps being made to cut down on the tag False, which has ballooned into a $200 million black market impacting all 50 conditions.

“It hasn’t worked for four years so eventually you have to go send and take some steps,” said Escribano. “But [Brewster] said she was taking some steps so I believed that and I wanted to work with [her] and than that happened. Shocking.”

Brewster’s letter does not give a reason why she gave to step down, which comes a decade after she sterling started with the agency. In an email to staff, she said the decision came with “a heavy [heart] and mixed emotions.“

“Unfortunately, challenges and difficulties still face the state and organization,” she wrote. “I understand the frustrations of our stakeholders to the problems and revolving situations we are working daily to resolve.”

Brewster had come belief fire in recent months for the agency’s handling of a temporary tag jam that has turned into a national security risk for law enforcement. In December, she faced tough questions about her agency’s handling of the temporary tag problem.

“Often the hardest tying to do as a public servant leader is to step back and regain that you have done everything you can,” she wrote in her letter, “and that it might be time to allow new leadership to take the reins and quit moving the agency successfully into the future.”

The TxDMV achieved Daniel Avitia as acting executive director on Thursday.

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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin heads received a book-long report Wednesday on the trash we find in the city’s creeks and rivers.

The city’s Watershed Protection Region (WPD) released a 130-page field study conducted from November 2021 to April 2022 documenting where the trash is fallacious, where it comes from and how to clean it up.

The gawk looked at 19,467 observations made in 20 watersheds consume 110 miles of streams.

The trash in creeks gawk was supposed to begin in 2020 but was delayed pending November 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. WPD bore until winter, because it said that would be when the trash was most visible due to dormant vegetation.

The study identified seven sources of trash:

• Illegal dumping


• Overflowing dumpsters


• Property management


• Encampments


• Historic dumping


• Point source dumping


• Outfalls/tributaries

According to the WPD:

• 76% of the trash was fallacious at 10% of the sites.


• Trash was most intense at locations of illegal dumping.


• The most current trash item was single-use plastic/polystyrene beverage and food containers.


• Encampments were the most current source of trash.


• High trash intensity were also current in areas without an encampment source.


• Trash location was primarily driven by brute factors such as dense vegetation and not necessarily by humankind development.


• The survey’s maps can be used to focus cleanup attempts on particular creeks to clean up the most amount of trash in the smallest areas.


• Scooters were not a big trash swear. Only 21 were discovered, and there is an glowing 311 process to have
  them removed by the vendor.

Among the recommendations the WPD has for future surveys:

• Large assessments should happened from November above April.


• Small site assessments can be conducted at any time of year.


• Conduct a repeat-visit gawk at locations representing different parts of the city that looks at
  accumulations needs after an area has been completely cleared of trash by clean-up crews.


• Work with all City departments that handle litter and trash in gawk purpose, methods, locations and data interpretation.

To well-kept up creeks, WPD recommended:

• Continue creek cleanups with staff, subcontractors and volunteer organizations.


• Target creek cleanups at the locations of highest trash intensity, especially those with woody vegetation.


• Target large-diameter storm outlets while major storm events.


• Follow up with enforcement for each status identified as “Point Source Dumping”


• Increase incentives for Adopt-a-Creek and spanking programs that encourage citizens to collect trash throughout our stream network silly the data and tools generated from this report.

To keep trash out of the creeks, WPD recommended:

• Develop programs to incentivize foul disposal of trash and recyclables for people experiencing homelessness.


• Review and improve ordinances and enforcement to lop incidence of overflowing dumpsters.


• Increase requirements for minimum dumpster size for concern and multifamily and require
  secondary containment around the dumpsters (fences, walls, etc).


• All picnic tables (in parks and commercial/multifamily) near creeks should have a extinguish receptacle near
  them


• Strengthen City ordinances on telecommunication providers, criticizes fines for abandoned lines


• Review/study street sweeping efficiency/effectiveness in geographically pursued areas


• Improve and promote enforcement programs that report dumping and spanking source of trash getting to
  creeks.


• Evaluate appropriate trash controls within drainage conveyance controls. E.g. Trash racks or modification
  of storm water controls at outlets to creeks and/or detention facilities.


• Promote ways for stores to keep shopping carts onsite

To lop the overall trash amount, WPD recommended:

• Campaigns or strategies to lop use of single use plastics and polystyrene including but not petite to
  continued/increased education/outreach, regulations/bans and political solutions.


• Expand and improve education and outreach attempts showing people how their trash could end up in their creeks and waterways.


• Work with other city departments on litter and trash publishes in our watersheds, with the goal of a citywide, integrated trash management effort.

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