Immediate Reinvestment & Long Term Change plan [budget]

[Greg Casar]

Colleagues:

Mayor Pro Tem Garza, CM Harper-Madison, and I are sharing with you a joint proposal that aims to incorporate the important amendments that all the Council Members have championed throughout this budget process. The following is our best attempt to incorporate your amendments into one proposal. The goal of the proposal is to immediately reinvest dollars into the safety and well being of Austin, while also committing ourselves to long-term change.

We hope you can support what is below by responding to this post, or giving us your thoughts on this proposal.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

The proposal supports the process brought forward by CM Flannigan re: APD HQ, and allows for continued work on CM Flannigan’s restructuring idea.

The proposal funds the following:
• $4.2M in recurring funds and $1.26M in one time funds to meet EMS needs during COVID-19 and beyond. Virtually the whole Council has made this a priority during our meetings, and CMs Alter, Tovo, Pool, Kitchen, Ellis, Harper Madison, MPT Garza and others have raised this on the message board.
• $565K in recurring funds and $371K in one time funds to fully fund our Community Health Paramedic/Mental Health Response program. CMs Pool and Kitchen both sponsored this item on the message board, along with CM Harper Madison and Alter, and has been emphasized by the Mayor as a critical priority.
• $6.5M in recurring dollars for Homelessness Response, as raised in the budget amendment from CM Kitchen, and builds on the work of CM Tovo, Mayor Adler, CM Renteria, and the whole Council. If we are committed to the recommendations made by our experts on homelessness, then we must fund, at a bare minimum, this amount.
• $1.4M in recurring funds for Violence Prevention, including an office focused on violence prevention. Thank you CM Alter, Tovo, Ellis, Kitchen, and Pool for raising this on the message board.
• $600K in recurring funds and $300K in one time funds for substance use continuum of care. MPT Garza has done important work on diversion from incarceration, and I know this is a priority of CM Harper Madison. I believe this is a critical way for us to stop relying on policing as a solution to substance use challenges.
• $750K for East Austin Rec Centers raised by CM Harper Madison and addressed by CM Alter’s deferred maintenance idea.
• $1.5M in recurring funds and $500K in one time funds for Family Violence Shelter and Protection. Thank you to Council Members Ellis, Harper-Madison, Kitchen, Mayor Pro Tem Garza, and others for co-sponsoring the original item that I authored, and thanks to CM Alter for your continued advocacy on this item.
• $420K in recurring funds and $80K in one time funds for Victim Services. We know how great the need is for this important function for survivors.
• $400K for food access programming championed by MPT Garza.
• $250K for abortion access program sponsored by CM Pool, CM Ellis, and MPT Garza
• $300K for parks programs championed by CM Ellis, CM Pool, and others
• $400K for family support and re-entry programs and $550K for Austin Public Health-Epidemiology championed by CM Harper Madison
• $137K for HOST funding championed by CM Tovo and others
• About $300K in not-yet-earmarked funds for additional critical priorities, at the City Council’s discretion. We know APH needs more funds, I believe we could use more in violence prevention, and there are also requests to address the Fire Department, Workforce Development, etc.

The above is able to be funded primarily by reallocating the money from the three upcoming cadet classes, through a moderate reduction to the police overtime budget, and reduction of the $107M commodities and contractuals budget. We hope and expect to be able to have a training academy that we can be proud of next year in time for a Fall class in 2021.

The above funding plan works in addition to the new investments in Housing Vouchers, the Housing Trust Fund, the Equity Office, Office of Police Oversight, Civil Rights Office, and additional APH funding that were proposed by the City Manager after Council direction in June.


The proposal also:
• Removes from the APD budget functions that are largely civilian functions or that will help us reimagine public safety by removing the dollars from APD. This includes Internal Affairs, Communications, 9-1-1/Dispatch, SIU, Support Services, etc. These functions will be transferred out of APD over the course of the fiscal year, although Victim Services will have a separate process as outlined in the document. This process will be checked-in on, quarterly.
• Places about $50M worth of the police budget into a Reimagine Safety Fund (what the Mayor referenced as a “Transition Fund”), with the specific goal of transitioning dollars away from over-policing and toward alternative forms of public safety. For example: imagining park rangers stepping in for parks police, bringing in civilian crossing guards for protests and special events, addressing false burglar alarms, reimagining patrol and traffic enforcement/traffic stops, reviewing the appropriate #’s of supervisors and administration within the department, etc.
• Requires a quarterly check in on progress toward our goals of reimagining public safety, through Council and the Public Safety Committee. I have great confidence in Chair Flannigan leading us through this important committee process in the coming year. Along with checking in on the progress of Reimagining Public Safety, we should be considering additional restructuring proposals made by CM Flannigan.
• Only authorizes the first 6 months worth of expenditures by APD, as proposed by CM Harper-Madison and Mayor Adler, to ensure accountability for the City and the Council. This 6 month authorization would not delay important work, but instead set a deadline for continued, longer-term change.

The total APD budget approved would be ~$290M, and the amount authorized for expenditure without further Council direction would be ~$145M.

-Greg

[Delia Garza]

Council Member Casar, I am proud to put this forth with you and Council Member Harper-Madison, and I appreciate our colleagues’ consideration of this plan.

We committed to big, transformational change to public safety in Austin, change that directly addresses the challenges that for too long our budget has treated as problems that police can solve. It wasn’t a commitment we made lightly. It was a direct response to what the community has demanded and the problems we’ve seen with policing in Austin and the injustices that result—not just this year, but for a long time. In these discussions about reimagining public safety, I think we’ve come to see that we actually share some common ground with APD leadership, in that we agree that police are asked to do too much. They’re not social workers. They’re not case managers. They’re not grocery stores or health care clinics or substance abuse treatment programs or housing. It’s disappointing that this common ground hasn’t been followed by collaboration from APD leadership.

If the response to this proposal from APD leadership or City staff is “we can’t do that” then I hope they’ll actually come to the table with some solutions of their own that we can collaborate on, because what “we can’t do” is continue to run public safety the same way we have been and expect different results. We can’t agree there’s a problem and then simply throw our hands up and say we might as well keep funding programs the same way. We must be willing put in the work to make change. That work is what the community is demanding, that’s why Council unanimously supported the reforms we made in June and numerous other reforms before that, and that’s what we’re trying to do with this proposal.

Delia

[Leslie Pool]

Thank you, Greg, for your hard work on this proposal. I support the changes as you’ve laid them out, and I’ve noted where you included the EMS Community Health Paramedics and abortion access initiatives that I am carrying. Thanks so much.

I want to bring everyone’s attention to three other budget amendments I have proposed that provide critical services for our community that should be funded:

1. AFD Aerial Ladder Staffing at Moore’s Crossing Station: $1.7 million for 16 FTEs (co-sponsor MPT Garza): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 172517.pdf

2. Workforce First: an increase of $153,000 to fund additional workforce and encampment cleanup services for people experiencing homelessness (co-sponsor CM Kitchen with numerous expressions of support at our Aug 4 work session): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 173822.pdf

3. Child Care at City Recreation Centers: $1.5 million to increase child care and virtual learning capacity at six rec centers in D1, D2, D3, and D4 (co-sponsors CMs Alter and Harper-Madison): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 173025.pdf

I look forward to our discussions.

Leslie

[Ann Kitchen]

Greg -

Please add me in support (and as a co-sponsor) for this joint proposal.

I am committed to taking action now, in this budget cycle. In the name of public safety, our police officers have been asked to take on our community's most difficult health and social problems. Police officers are not equipped nor trained to do this. And people should not be shuffled through the criminal justice system for having no place to live, suffering a mental illness, or a host of other economic and social problems. These are the problems that fall most heavily on our communities of color, as a legacy of a racist history and an unfair economic and social system ingrained in our institutions.

I share the goal, with my colleagues, to achieve a safe and just society for everyone in Austin. It is time for us to reimagine how we keep people safe in our city and to count public health as part of safety. We can do this in collaboration with our police officers, who dedicate themselves and their families to serving our community.

CM Casar - I appreciate the work that you and your colleagues (MPT Garza, CM Harper-Madison) have done in pulling together this joint proposal of the ideas that our colleagues have shared. And thank you also to CM Pool for signing on and also mentioning the proposal we are co-sponsoring for Workforce First: an increase of $153,000 to fund additional workforce and encampment cleanup services for people experiencing homelessness (co-sponsor CM Kitchen with numerous expressions of support at our Aug 4 work session): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 173822.pdf

I would like to add two items to this proposal which do not add any additional dollars:

(1). MENTAL HEALTH CALLS. Budget Direction for the First Response for Mental Health Calls. I filed this awhile back with co-sponsors Alter, Pool, Casar, and Harper-Madison. This Budget Rider gives direction for fully implementing the mental health diversion program - most notably hiring an expert Project Manager. The funding is in the City Manager's proposed budget and the budget rider CM Pool and I filed (which is in your proposal) for additional Community Health Paramedics.
See http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 073015.pdf

(2).DATA ANALYSIS. Add as part of the transition activities, an analysis of data needs and engage our Innovation Office in this activity. I believe improved records management and data analysis is necessary to ensure that performance goals are met, that the department and related city departments are operating effectively; and that we fully understand the level of staffing needed to ensure public safety and to staff a reimagined police department. We also need to ensure that protections are in place (for example privacy, Freedom City Ordinance compliance).

I look forward to our discussions.

Best
- Ann

Ann Kitchen
City Council D5

[Greg Casar]

Council Members Pool and Kitchen:

Thank you very much for your work on all this, and for your support. I have updated the spreadsheet to add $150K for the Workforce program you both have mentioned. Along with you, I will keep working to find ways to fund as many priorities as we can in the coming days.

CM Kitchen, I support the directions you've posted as well.

Also, in consultation with CM Harper Madison, I want to support her post from this morning that allocates significant funds to Austin Public Health's response to the pandemic. If we continue to see congressional inaction, then we need to be prepared to fight COVID-19 well into 2021 using our own funds.

In order to fund APH's need and CM Harper Madison's request, the updated spreadsheet defers for one year the purchase of the new records system for APD, and I have tapped into CM Harper Madison's idea of reducing the liability/lawsuits fund. (Alternatively, we can also reduce the commodities fund by the same amount.)

This still leaves an un-earmarked $300K balance for Council priorities, and I look to the dais for your thoughts on this.

The updated spreadsheet is still available at the same link. You can see the original spreadsheet, preserved, in the second tab.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Thank you, colleagues, for your work on this very difficult budget.

-Greg

[Natasha Harper-Madison]

Colleagues,

I'm excited to see our commitments to re-imagining becoming a reality! The amount of thoughtful and considerate collaboration through this complex process has been a source of inspiration. Thanks to MPT Garza and CM Casar for the teamwork on this last push to put the puzzle together as well as the work we've accomplished with the Public Safety Committee under the leadership of the chair CM Flannigan and alongside our colleagues.

Thanks for laying out all the amendments along with accompanying dollar amounts where possible and helping to maneuver through the allocation of dollars- this spreadsheet is a very useful tool. As indicated in my last post we have a few more amendments over the next few days we intend to bring to further serve the goal of maximum community benefit with our city's finite budget. I appreciate everyone's efforts most especially the budget team, our staff and the extremely valuable community input.

Kind regards,

Natasha

[Natasha Harper-Madison]

Colleagues,

Forgive the double post! I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mayor for his collaboration in developing this proposed Police Budget Rider that I've brought forward, I'm honored to have him as a co-sponsor. I look forward to discussing this proposal with you all next week.

I'm grateful for all of my colleagues who have joined as co-sponsors and for all the creative solutions so many of you have proposed.

Peace,

Natasha

[Paige Ellis]

Colleagues –

Thanks for all the hard work on everyone’s part. I appreciate having our amendments and direction incorporated into one document so it is easier for us to work with. There are a couple line items I am waiting on information back for clarification from staff/commissioners, but I think this is a good way to proceed for this week’s budget sessions.

I believe using $520k for the Parks and Recreation Department’s operations and maintenance of trails would be an important commitment this year. While this amount won’t fully realize all of the maintenance our trails truly need, it will help ensure that they are properly maintained and do not fall into disrepair. Our community members depend on our park system for health, entertainment, and alternative transportation methods.

I also want to make sure other amendments of mine are captured in this conversation and listed below for clarity:

1. Trails O&M (mentioned above) – Original amendment is $1.4M for one-time and recurring costs. I have adjusted to $520k one-time funding until additional potential sources of funding may be identified.
Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 53349.docx
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 53543.xlsx

2. Park Rangers - $1.5M to add FTEs and Seasonal Rangers to the parks system. I am supportive of this being part of the larger picture of reimagining public safety and expanding the role of Park Rangers to have citation authority and additional forms of training such as de-escalation methods. This is an item I believe should be a part of our budget conversation but may take additional time to fully program.
Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 73438.docx
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 73610.xlsx

3. EMS ET3 Consultant and Temp Position -
Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 53437.docx
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 53509.xlsx

4. Clean Community Fee – Adding a Clean Creeks Crew to address litter abatement in creeks. This amendment is still being reviewed by staff, and I will post it as soon as it is finalized.

I appreciate the work of my cosponsors on these items and for the work of the other Council offices as we navigate a difficult budget year. I look forward to our conversations this week.

Thank you,
Paige Ellis

[Greg Casar]

CM Ellis,

Thank you for your support. In response to your request, I have updated the spreadsheet. We’ve moved the remaining un-earmarked funds adjusted the plan to address the issues on our trails, to make them safe and keep them maintained especially in light of their usage during COVID-19. The spreadsheet now includes a total of $600k for Parks and Trails: $300k one time and $300K ongoing. I look to you, CM Ellis, and any others, about specific direction to the Manager to ensure these funds are spent in line with your vision.

The main tab on the spreadsheet now reflects the latest version with this change. The 2 earlier versions are on the other tabs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

-Greg

[Jimmy Flannigan]

All,

I am so proud of the work this council has done – a truly unprecedented amount of teamwork and collaboration on what may be the most challenging reform work the city has ever contemplated. Thanks CM Casar, MPT Garza, and CM Harper-Madison for synthesizing the immediate proposals into a single working document.

Furthermore, I wholeheartedly agree with MPT’s post regarding the critical need we have for department leadership that will partner on this work with us. It would have been incredibly valuable in the development of these initial proposals and will be essential moving forward. While Council’s powers are limited in this regard, I am prepared to explore additional action to that end if necessary.

In correlation with the above, I have rewritten my restructuring and HQ proposals into the following budget riders that I hope we can include in our budget adoption this week.

Rider 1: Department of Emergency Communications
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 194446.pdf

Rider 2: New Sworn Departments
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 194529.pdf

Rider 3: APD Headquarters
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 194659.pdf

And as CM Casar, CM Harper-Madison, and others have noted... this work does not finish with budget adoption. I am honored to have the council’s trust as Chair of the Public Safety Committee and excited to continue the work of oversight for the process and implementation of these and future proposals.

[Sabino Pio Renteria]

CM Casar,

I know how complex this process is and so I am thankful for all the work you've accomplished over the past couple of months. This framework is incredibly helpful, and I look forward to supporting these proposals and discussing any additional amendments that may be brought forward in the coming days.

And thank you to our Public Safety Committee members for all you have done to get us this far.

Sincerely,
Pio

[Ashley Richardson (D9)]

Dear colleagues,

I posted this in a stand-alone thread, but for continuity I am posting the same information in this thread, too.

Thank you for the proposals that have been posted thus far. I look forward to reviewing the newer proposals more carefully in the coming days. Below are the amendments I intend to put forth for consideration during the budget adoption process.

Amendment #1 – the creation of an Early Childhood Program Coordinator position within Austin Public Health
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 113719.pdf
Budget Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 113751.pdf
January 8, 2020 Early Childhood Council recommendation: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 113817.pdf
Confirmed co-sponsors: Mayor Pro Tem Garza and Council Member Alter

Amendment #2 – the restoration of a contracted Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP) on the Homelessness Outreach Street Team (HOST)
Amendment + Budget Rider: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 114207.pdf
Budget Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 114241.pdf
Confirmed co-sponsors: Council Member Casar and Council Member Alter

Amendment #3 – budget rider to initiate a pilot study to assess the effectiveness of local officer recruitment program.
Budget Rider: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 114359.pdf
Confirmed co-sponsors: Mayor Adler

All my best,

Kathie

[Greg Casar]

CM Renteria and CM Flannigan, thank you for your support of this proposal. CM Tovo, thank you for your amendments.


Below is a link to the budget amendments I am proposing. These match up with the Immediate Reinvestments and Long Term Change plan in this thread.
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 145146.pdf

CASAR-1: Immediate Reinvestments –$22 million
• Co-Sponsors: MPT Garza, CM Harper-Madison, CM Pool, CM Kitchen

CASAR-2: Decouple Fund - $80 million
• Co-Sponsors: MPT Garza, CM Harper-Madison, CM Pool, CM Kitchen

CASAR-3: Reimagine Safety Fund - $47 million
• Co-Sponsors: MPT Garza, CM Harper-Madison, CM Pool, CM Kitchen

CASAR-4: Family Violence Shelter and Protection - $2,000,000
• Co-Sponsors: MPT Garza, CM Ellis, CM Tovo, CM Alter

CASAR-5: Homelessness - $6,500,000
• Co-Sponsors: CM Kitchen, CM Tovo, CM Pool

CASAR-6: Substance Use Continuum of Care - $900,000
• Co-Sponsors: MPT Garza, CM Harper-Madison, CM Renteria

CASAR-7: EMS - $5,458,748.00
• Co-Sponsors: MPT Garza, CM Kitchen, CM Ellis

CASAR–Budget Rider-1: Civil Rights Office
• Co-Sponsors: CM Tovo, CM Harper-Madison, MPT Garza

ALTER/CASAR: Victim Services - $500,000
I am leading with CM Alter on an amendment to increase funding for Victim Services.


I am also proudly co-sponsoring MPT Garza’s Food Access amendment, CM Pool’s CHP, Abortion Access, and Workforce First amendments, CM Kitchen’s mental health and homelessness budget riders, CM Tovo’s HOST amendment, CM Alter’s Violence Prevention amendment, and CM Harper-Madison’s APD budget rider.

To amend the budget in the ways described in the latest spreadsheet, we would pass *all* the amendments listed above, along with the CM Ellis’s Parks & Trails amendment, CM Harper Madison's Family Support & Austin Public Health amendments, and the budget riders that Council approves.


CM Flannigan, I’d like to cosponsor your budget riders as well. In your 2nd rider, I suggest that we add some language. I'd like the Manager to consider Internal Affairs and the Special Investigations Unit with flexibility about where they land within our organizational structure-- with a focus on providing maximum independence and transparency-- given the unique nature of these units in providing internal accountability within the City.


-Greg

[Alison Alter]

Colleagues,

I want to thank everyone for their work on this budget and for the ideas they have brought forward for consideration. I believe we share the same vision for a safer, healthier city in which we provide vital services and resources to our residents, reduce our reliance on a punitive justice system, and transform public safety and law enforcement to serve residents equitably, fairly, and transparently. Reimagining public safety is a critical and complex conversation, and I look forward to our deliberations and continued work to rise to the needs of our community.

Below, I’m sharing my amendments and riders. I’d like to thank my co-sponsors on these items, as noted below, and Council Member Casar for co-leading the Victim Services amendment with me. I will share my feedback and ideas on the broader public safety proposals once I receive some additional information from staff and finish my review. Note that I’ve also shared the links to my amendments in a separate post on the message board.

ALTER Amendment #1: Creating the Office of the Chief Medical Officer; Co-sponsors: Kitchen, Tovo, Pool
Amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 165042.pdf
Summary memo: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 164915.pdf

ALTER Amendment #2: Investments in EMS; Co-sponsors: Ellis, Harper-Madison, Pool, Tovo
Amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 140348.pdf
Summary memo: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 140235.pdf

Note my office and I worked closely with EMS and budget staff to update the costs according to how the EMS staffing timeline can feasibly rollout. For the purposes of our budget discussion this week I would suggest that we separate out the straight 24/72 schedule proposal in CASAR -7 as a separate amendment from this one. I had been working on the 24/72 idea as a response to COVID as well and intended to bring a resolution to move forward in this month. If we are able to move forward with that now I would be happy to co-sponsor. I think a 24/72 schedule is critical for our COVID response and possibly eligible for FEMA or COVID reimbursement since a key rationale for adopting 24/72 early is to allow fewer shift changes and manage staffing more easily, both of which are challenging under COVID. If we want to convert demand trucks beyond Chief Rodriguez’s recent actions in this regard, I think that we may need to accommodate those costs in our accounting moving forward.

ALTER Amendment #3: Violence Prevention; Co-sponsors: Casar, Ellis, Tovo, Kitchen and Pool (Kitchen and Pool confirmed support in a prior message board post)
Amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 140747.pdf
Summary memo: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 140903.pdf

ALTER Amendment #4: Public Safety Training Campus Deferred Maintenance to PARD Recreation Centers
Amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 135212.pdf
Summary memo: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 135108.pdf

ALTER-CASAR Amendment #5: Victim Services; Co-sponsors: Tovo, Ellis, Pool
Amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 133048.pdf
Summary memo: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 134716.pdf

ALTER Amendment #6: Mobility Services Officer Study
Amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 140058.pdf
Summary memo: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 135916.pdf

ALTER Budget Rider #1: Austin Water Multifamily Discount Program
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 145017.pdf

ALTER Budget Rider #2: Mobility Services Officer Classification
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 145105.pdf

Regards,
Alison Alter

[Paige Ellis]

Colleagues –

I had hit send on this before 5 pm, but It doesn't appear to have posted. Apologies if this is a double post.

Thanks so much for everyone’s work to be as inclusive as possible to our community’s priorities. Please see the final versions of my budget amendments and riders below:

Trails Operations & Maintenance – Please see my final version of the Parks Trails Operations & Maintenance Request. I would like to propose that the one-time funding of equipment in the amount of $731,888 be funded by issuing debt in the form of CO bonds and $273k of the $300k from the Parks and Recreation Department’s bucket (allocated under immediate reinvestments) go toward Trail FTEs to operate the equipment needed to service Austin’s trails.
Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 64823.docx
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 64904.xlsx

Park Rangers Budget Rider: While discussions continue during reimagining conversations, I would like to explore options that include expanding citation authority to park rangers.
Budget Rider: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 65000.docx

Clean Creeks Crew - I propose creating a Clean Creeks Crew (CCC) that provides general litter abatement services to address known and emergent litter problems in our watersheds funded by the Clean Community Fee.
Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 65135.docx
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 65107.xlsx
Budget Rider: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 65208.docx

ET3 Modeling – I would like to propose that the ET3 payment model preparation for EMS be funded with $147 of the $300k un-earmarked balance currently mentioned on this thread.
Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 65237.docx
Amendment: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 65303.xlsx

Thank you,
Paige Ellis

[Louisa Brinsmade]

On behalf of CM Pool:

Colleagues,

I am adjusting our Abortion Access budget amendment as Austin Public Health has already included $150,000 in ongoing funds for this program in their FY21 budget, which will allow me to reduce our request to $100,000 in one-time funds. The $100,000 is still needed to assist individuals and families with access to reproductive health care during the economic challenges of this pandemic.

Here is the adjusted budget amendment form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 200338.pdf

Thank you to the co-sponsors, MPT Garza and CM Ellis, for their support on this item.

Leslie

[Steve Adler]

Colleagues,

CMs Tovo, Alter, Harper-Madison and I are excited by the movement that we see in the community and on this message board. We look forward to a meaningful and urgent reimagining of public safety. We are poised to do the real work of change that this moment requires. While some changes may take time as these concepts evolve and as we learn and iterate as we go forward, it’s good to see that every one of us is starting now and not waiting any longer.

Together, this council has significantly advanced this conversation as we have moved into our budget work. We thank CM Harper-Madison for her rider suggesting specific changes as well as process elements that enable us to move forward deliberatively. Thank you CM Casar and your co-sponsors for offering a possible framework that pulls together so many of the proposals that this body individually has made. Thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Garza for the early insistence on real change to public safety (which predates this budget). Thank you to CM Flannigan and the members of the Public Safety Committee for helping us gather deeper understanding of these topics, and thank you in advance for your continuing work. We also want to extend our appreciation to every Council Member who has proposed amendments that would proactively invest in this new vision for public safety for Austin. We wish to share, again, our support for making new investments in safety, equity, and health in this budget cycle and in the commitment to keep this community safe.

Working off CM Casar and sponsors' sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =521721322

Reinvestments (right hand column). We support making immediate investments in the FY21 budget for new ways of delivering much needed services, especially those that focus most directly on public safety (EMS, mental health, gun violence prevention, family violence, permanent supportive housing, harm reduction for substance use, family support programs, HOST, public health, and poverty reduction efforts like workforce development).

Immediate Reductions. We support reducing elements, primarily in the current APD Budget, that will fund the FY21 cost of the Reinvestments. We do have these additional thoughts:

a. Cadet Class. We agree that one of the anticipated benefits of reimagining public safety is a decreased need for the number of sworn officers. We also need to acknowledge that cadet classes present a real opportunity to reform police training, create and spread change agents and to improve racial diversity and culture at APD. We are supportive of using the full funding from cutting all three classes to invest in other areas of public safety, but we also believe we should not rule out the possibility that one or two of those classes might still yet begin in FY21 depending on factors such as having a revised curriculum successfully completed and an appropriate recruitment program available. Considerations could be given to factors including attrition rates, pension impacts, and funding that might become available (from federally designated police funding or otherwise). Future decisions on cadet classes should also take into account modified force requirements as we learn how many police positions are needed as this reimagining work is realized and results in changes in anticipated needs for sworn officers.

b. Police Overtime. We are comfortable with the City Manager being able to manage the FY21 operations of the department with the proposed overtime reductions based on what has been presented to us thus far. If circumstances change, and overtime is needed to avoid an impact to the public safety of this City, we would anticipate the City Manager returning to Council for any indicated action, as he has done in the past.

c. Liability Reserve. We question an arbitrary reduction in a reserve balances. We believe reserves are best handled by changing our fiscal policies and direction to staff on how to prepare the budget. We would be supportive of setting liability reserve contributions of each department in their respective budgets calculated based on a common policy that uses a risk-based formula and claims history. Each department’s reserve contribution would thus be individually set out and that would allow Council from year-to-year to identify individual departments with atypical claims and liabilities. We agree the amount of funds in this category need to be found somewhere and are open to the commodities source but would need to learn more about the impact.

d. Records Management. This could be a cut, but we would be in favor of shifting this expense to the Reimagine Safety Fund or the Office of Innovation, and some would consider CTM, if there’s a viable alternative. As was apparent at our last Public Safety Committee meeting, this information management system is needed and will allow us to make more reliable data-driven decisions moving forward that are germane to reimagining public safety. This would mean having to find an equal amount elsewhere to fund the Reinvestments and we are committed to helping to find it.

Decoupled Funds. We believe these elements could and should come out of APD. We feel most comfortable with immediately decoupling Forensics Sciences Services, given the consultant reports that were commissioned and presented. The other items have had some level of review such as audits and studies of internal affairs and the 911 call center, however they have not yet undergone the same level of scrutiny. We are comfortable asking staff to proceed with the direction that these elements should be decoupled from APD, but if the staff and community identify unintended negative consequences that cannot be reasonably worked around, we expect staff to come back to Council with that finding.

Reimagine Safety Fund. We are comfortable identifying these functions for further review and potentially separating or ending operations under APD and diverting funds to alternative solutions. We will need that review to be complete in order to address both whether and how such changes would be accomplished.

We also support CM Harper-Madison’s proposal that the Council adopt a budget rider that precludes the City Manager from spending money on the APD budget, including but not limited to the items in the Decoupled and Reimagine Safety funds, for the second half of the FY21 without specific approval of the Council to do so. This would force the Council back to consider public safety spending. We should be meeting and moving forward several times as a Council before next March, but this requirement will ensure a deep dive into the budget and a decision timeline at least by that date.

We have been working through this budget cycle with many of you on individual topics, and while we have not co-sponsored funding all the amendments with which we are interested, we absolutely support greater investments to address the needs of our community in areas and in ways that will make us a safer city. Public safety is a paramount responsibility of the City and we want to make sure that as this needed transition and change occurs, we do so deliberatively and thoughtfully with no gaps in our ability to respond to violence in our community.

We look forward to our conversations this week and the work that lies ahead.

[Greg Casar]

Colleagues: Thank you to everyone for the ongoing, diligent, and collaborative work.

Mayor, CM Tovo, CM Alter, and CM Harper Madison, thank you for the post above. It is fully compatible, I believe, with the initial proposal in this thread and the latest updated versions. It’s clear that the dais unanimously wants to reimagine public safety thoughtfully, while making bold reinvestments in community programs that will improve safety and reduce our practice of making so many things a police-only responsibility.

CM Pool and CM Ellis, thank you also for your updated posts. We are incorporating your suggestions now and will post an update shortly.

-Greg

[Greg Casar]

Colleagues:

I have updated the spreadsheet in the following link. Thank you again for your work during this very challenging budget.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Without any further changes to the police budget, we’ve made the following updates to reflect the latest requests from offices on the message board:

1) CM Ellis (co-sponsors Alter, Kitchen, Pool) request for ET3 Modeling for EMS has been added at full funding.
2) CM Tovo (co-sponsors MPT Garza & CM Alter) request for the Early Childhood Program Coordinator has been added at full funding.
3) CM Harper Madison’s amendment to fund APH’s COVID response was previously underfunded. It is now fully funded at $3.9M.
4) CM Alter’s amendment to fund Violence Prevention (co-sponsors Ellis, Tovo, Kitchen, Pool) was previously underfunded. It is now fully funded at $1.85M.
5) Substance Use programs (Casar, Garza, Renteria, Harper-Madison) were previously underfunded. They are now fully funded at $1M.
6) Family Violence programs and shelter (Casar, Garza, Ellis, Tovo, Alter) were previously not fully funded. It is now fully funded and I’ve added $100,000 to increase contracts for this service and/or provide flexibility in case costs are higher than anticipated.
7) Changed the EMS amendment to reflect CM Alter’s suggestion. The lead amendment is now Alter 2. In addition to Alter 2, Casar 7 would add an incremental $745,000 to implement 24/72 shifts at EMS this year.
8) Updated the Commodities/Contractuals/Liability line and the Records Management line as requested by Mayor Adler, CM’s Tovo, Alter, Harper-Madison.
9) Increased Parks & Trails capital expenses to $731K via CO’s, as described by CM Ellis. Amended the Abortion Access item as described by CM Pool and amended the EMS item as described by CM Alter. Savings found by these changes have been distributed to achieve the above.

I’ve also added the other amendments and budget riders to the spreadsheet. Council Members also mentioned we had inadvertently left ARIC (the intelligence center) off of the Reimagine List, so that has been added.

-Greg

[Greg Casar]

Colleagues,

Here are my updated Budget Amendment Forms to reflect the changes in the chart:
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 145519.pdf

-Greg

[Steve Adler]

Colleagues, consistent with our message board post a couple days ago, here are corresponding changes to CM Harper Madison’s Budget Rider #1 V2 (as she posted earlier today).

From: CM Harper-Madison, CM Alter, CM Tovo, Mayor Adler:
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 153245.pdf

[Alison Alter]

Colleagues,

I am posting the following for our deliberations.

Below, I am sharing a new version of my amendment ALTER #1 (establishing the Office of the Chief Medical Officer). This proposal is funded through fee adjustments.

ALTER 1 Summary: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 173924.pdf
ALTER 1 Form: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 174226.pdf

As noted this afternoon, I also would like to confirm my co-sponsorship on Harper-Madison #2 (Deferred Maintenance on PARD Recreation Centers) which is now in the base motion. I appreciate Council Member Harper-Madison bringing forward the Make It Now Rapid Retraining Initiative and also would like to be added as a co-sponsor on Harper-Madison #8. Additionally, I am proposing a new budget rider to accompany Harper-Madison #8 directing the city manager to partner with Travis County and other units as appropriate to supplement the funding of the Make It Now initiative.

ALTER Budget Rider #3: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 174421.pdf

Below, I am offering what I hope will be considered friendly amendments to Harper-Madison Budget Rider #1. The added language clarifies that staff should bring back recommendations to our legislative agenda ahead of the 2021 Legislative Session, directs staff to explore options for reputable leadership training as part of APD ongoing education, and adds direction to staff to review the current promotion process (and contract provisions) to better ensure we are promoting the types of leaders our community expects and deserves.

ALTER Amendment to Harper-Madison BR #1: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 150518.pdf

I look forward to our continued deliberations.

Regards,
Alsion Alter

[Steve Adler]

Colleagues,
As mentioned before the break, here are three amendments to riders for your consideration.

Garza Rider #3:
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 184348.pdf

Harper-Madison Rider #1
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 183947.pdf

Flannigan Rider #1
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 185915.pdf