City of Austin Council Message Board

Council: At our Budget Work Session on July 12th, we set today as a deadline to share items we want to discuss regarding the General Fund at the Wednesday, July 24th Work Session. This allows City Staff time to prepare for our Work Session focused on the General Fund. I would like to discuss emergen...

Colleagues— In light of the City Manager announcing the two finalists for Chief of Police, I wanted to share information with you about the upcoming meet-and-greet and our next steps as a Council. Both finalists will be in town next week to be introduced to the community at a meet-and-greet at the P...

Council: Here is my plan for the Council meeting tomorrow. We will begin promptly at 10am. We will hear public testimony on consent items. Speakers will have 3 minutes per item. Speakers will be able to donate time. Speakers wishing to donate time must coordinate with the City Clerk prior to being c...

Council: I am posting version 2 of item 93; it includes proposed amendments posted on the message board yesterday by CM Alison Alter and CM Ryan Alter. This also includes changes from the first version that law has recommended. The primary difference that law recommended includes greater detail rega...

Council: I am sharing the updated FY25 Budget timeline that we laid out and discussed on the dais today. Friday, July 12th, 2024 The City Manager has filed the draft budget with the City Clerk, and it was delivered to the Mayor and Council Members. July 12th marks the launch of the Council Budget Qu...

Based upon prior message board posts and community input, I have made some changes to the resolution for a collaborative effort. Attached is version 2.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 172145.pdf

Thanks,
Kirk

On behalf of Mayor Watson

Thank you for this feedback. I have shared this language with city staff, and the posting will be updated before today's agenda release.

Kirk
On Behalf of Mayor Watson

Updated PDF link: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 093009.pdf

Colleagues— As indicated in my previous message board post, I believe that addressing climate in our city is a top priority for this council, and I appreciate the passion of our council members. I also appreciate that we’ve all heard from many about needs they want addressed in a bond election. In o...

Council Members: I’m frequently asked about addressing climate change. Those questions have increased in the past few days, so I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been telling people. This important historic issue is one of my top priorities. I also believe every member of this City Council sees ...

Council, You will soon receive, if you haven’t already, a News Flash regarding the City Manager’s search for Austin’s next Chief of Police. Included in that is an estimated timeline for completing the process. The City Manager, working with Mosaic Public Partners, will be narrowing the list of appli...

Colleagues – As we head into summer, there are many issues Council will continue to work on to have a successful budget process. Another part of summer that gives us all great concern is the heat and its impact, both short term and long term, on our unhoused neighbors. This post is my effort to outl...

Thank you, Council Member Alter. I have incorporated this amendment into version 2 of the ordinance. I have provided it as an attachment below.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 193327.pdf

Thanks,
Kirk

On behalf of Mayor Watson

Council: Here is my plan for the Council meeting tomorrow. We will begin promptly at 10am. We will hear public testimony on consent items. Speakers will have 3 minutes per item. Speakers will be able to donate time. Speakers wishing to donate time must coordinate with the City Clerk prior to being c...

Colleagues, Item 127 on the May 30th agenda is a discussion and possible action related to placing proposed City Charter amendments on the ballot for a November 2024 special election. As you know, there are nine charter amendment recommendations from the Charter Review Committee and about 16 charter...

Council: I am writing to inform the Council of an agenda item that I am sponsoring that will be on the May 30th meeting agenda addendum. As you may recall, the Finance Office sent Council a memo last week regarding the analysis of property tax exemptions for senior and disabled homeowners in Austin....

Colleagues, I wanted to share the amendments I discussed at yesterday’s work session for Thursday’s meeting. Some of these amendments are subject to change, and I will share an update if that happens. http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincouncilforum/E9-202405136143158.pdf 1.1800 Square Feet Minimum ...

Today, we had a discussion on the dais about what version of each of the items we will take up as the "base" recommendation or main motion. The main motion will be a motion that will be subject to amendments. I've looked at it and I think the best course will be to go with the Planning Com...

Council: Here is my plan for the Special Called City Council Meeting and Work Session tomorrow. We will begin promptly at 9am, I will call to order the Special Called City Council Meeting to canvass the May 4th election results. Following the adjournment of the Special Called Meeting, I will call to...

Council: Before next week, I wanted to lay out a plan for how we will conduct the May 16th City Council meeting. We will begin promptly at 10am. We will have brief remarks from staff. The land use items will be taken up separately. Item 2 will be withdrawn and replaced with four separate ordinances ...

Council: Here is my plan for the Council meeting tomorrow. We will begin promptly at 10am. We will hear public testimony on consent items. Speakers will have 3 minutes per item. Speakers will be able to donate time. Time may be donated. Speakers wishing to donate time must coordinate with the City C...

Council: I want to let you know that I will be off the dais for the Work Session on Tuesday, April 30th. Mayor Pro Tem Pool will preside. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has asked me to serve on a Task Force of Mayors focused on addressing homelessness. The Task Force will be in Washington D.C. meetin...

Council: For your information, the City is monitoring the protests and dynamic situation on the University of Texas at Austin campus. All City public safety agencies continue regular operations throughout the city and are available to assist public safety partners. APD is not the lead law enforcemen...

Council:

This is an update to my previous post regarding the conduct of the meeting tomorrow. Based upon the court ruling, each speaker will have 3 minutes for each item on which a speaker is registered.

See you tomorrow.

Thanks,

Kirk

On behalf of Mayor Watson

Council: Here is my plan for the Council meeting tomorrow. We will begin promptly at 10am. We will hear public testimony on consent items. Speakers will have 2 minutes. Speakers will be able to donate time. Time may be donated for up to 4 additional minutes for 6 minutes total. Speakers wishing to d...