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The Austin City Council on Monday night approved the addition of stop signs at a number of uncontrolled intersections in Austin.

Originally put forward from a work session earlier this month, the approved resolution Monday calls for the addition of signs at a number of four-way  and T-intersections.

According to a memo to the City Council by Assistant City Engineer Mitch Wenum, the initial work is expected to include converting 79 uncontrolled four-way intersections and two uncontrolled T-intersections to two-way stops.

The memo also states that many of the uncontrolled intersections are located between Fourth Street and 14th Street NW.

Cost for the work will come to $14,000 for 160 new stop signs. Funding from the project will come out of a street sign replacement project, which was the primary reason to approach the project now so both could be done at the same time.

The street sign replacement is estimated to take four years, with the possibility of extending it a year if the need arises.

City agrees to help fund Discover Austin position

The city also passed a resolution that approved extending support for a part time position with Discover Austin, MN, which focuses on bringing events into the community.

The position is an extension of the position that was a pilot program focusing on making sales calls and prospect calls to bringing into Austin potential groups.

Monday night’s passed resolution gives the nod for the city to provide $15,000 and Mower County extending $5,000.

The resolution passed with a vote 6-1, with Geoff Baker voting against.

The plan also calls for Discover Austin to fund the other half with the expectation that it would take over the entire $40,000 in 2026.

The reasons given for the initial request are largely due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as people staying elsewhere because of a lack of lodging options when events are held in Austin.

APD incentive revisement approved

In other business, the council unanimously agreed to a revisement of the hiring incentive program for the Austin Police Department that increases money availability for prospective officers thinking about coming to Austin.

This recruitment incentive offers a total of $7,500 to new police hires that would be paid out in two installments: the first $3,750 would come after 30 days of satisfactory employment, with the second half coming after six months.

Prospective officers would need to maintain employment within the city for a minimum of two years.

“There’s a lot of interest and we feel we can put it to good use,” said Austin Police Chief David McKichan. “Very supportive.”

As part of the revisement, the current employee referral incentive, that had been set at $1,000, would be increased to $2,000.

The initial plan, approved in December of 2021, called for student loan reimbursement and relocation reimbursement, however, the city discovered that local applicants often do not have student loan debt and don’t qualify for the relocation incentive.