January 2013
According to the Austin Water Utility Dispatch Center and Street and Bridge departments during a call made to them by a WNA board member:
If the City of Austin Water Utility department has a scheduled ‘shut out’ (cut off) of water, they will notify the affected residents (e.g., door hangers) ahead of time. They are not able to notify residents for emergency shut-out situations. This is their internal policy, however, and sometimes another city department and/or contractor is doing the shut out for whatever reason. In that case, there is a possibility that the residents will not get advance notice for planned shut-outs.
In regard to the sidewalk repairs that take place after the area is dug up, the contact is Street and Bridge. The black asphalt material used to patch a repair area is a temporary repair. There is a significant backlog of repairs in the city so it takes approximately 6 months before the permanent sidewalk repair is made. The superintendent stated that when they are about to make the permanent repairs to the temporary patch area, you will see white paint marks and some saw marks around the repair area. The superintendent was very nice and said to contact him directly if there was a temporary patch area that was posing a safety hazard (not just cosmetic) that we felt needed more immediate attention & that we felt could not wait for a permanent repair. His name is Clay Rivers @ 974-1802.
