City of Austin Council Message Board

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 – I’ve received a number of emails regarding the proposed rate increase for Texas Gas Service, and I thought it would be helpful to highlight what the City of Austin is already doing to protect TGS consumers in Austin. In July, the City of Austin began the process to contest the proposed ...

Council: The City Manager and his team have let my office know that there are no scheduled briefings for our upcoming Council Work Session scheduled for Tuesday, August 27th. With no briefings to come before Council, I suggest we cancel the Work Session. If a Council Member would like to pull an ite...

Council: Here is my plan for our meeting tomorrow, August 14, 2024. We will begin promptly at 10am. We will begin with items 12 and 13 related to calling the elections. We will hear speakers on these items, discuss and vote. Following items 12 and 13, I will likely recess the City Council meeting an...

Colleagues: I am offering the following four amendments in the FY25 Budget. Watson 1: Permanent Supportive Housing Support Services - $4,200,000 http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincouncilforum/6A-202408218153818.pdf Watson 2: Bridge/ Emergency Shelter - $2,864,494 http://assets.austintexas.gov/aust...

Colleagues— After consultation with the City Manager, I am calling a Special Called Meeting of the Austin City Council on August 6, 2024, at 1:00 PM. The Council will take up one item related to our role in the selection of a new Chief of Police in accordance with Section 143.013 of the Texas Local ...

Council Members: I promised to lay out the budget schedule again and I'll do that. The date I most want to focus on for this post is next Monday, August 5th at 6:00. That's the goal for submitting proposed budget amendments and proposed budget IFCs. Because of the number of unmet needs and the limit...

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...