Revised Proposal for Mayor's Office Staffing
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:36 am
Council Members,
After having listened to comments from council and the community, I will be offering a revised proposal for office staffing for discussion at Tuesday’s Council Work Session. A revised resolution may well be posted today for next Thursday’s consideration.
Austin is at a tipping point. With the new 10/1 system, there is wide expectation that we will change things in order to better deal with the big challenges our city faces. There is also widespread excitement at the changes we’ve already made together.
I will be asking for authorization for the City Manager to assign 5 vacant, but existing and presently funded positions, to be assigned to the Mayor’s office. These new staff positions can be filled immediately for the remainder of the fiscal year without an increase in the City’s overall budget. These positions will help facilitate our council and its committees better moving forward now, without waiting for the end of the year, on proactive and significant policy initiatives. I look forward to working with each Council Member and the committees to identify some of the specific projects and initiatives on which these folks will work. This is a good example of the Council/Manager form of government working as it should, and I appreciate the Manager’s assistance.
In the course of the conversations we’ve had, it has also become apparent that each of your offices could make good use of additional support to enhance constituent engagement activities. Some council members may have already reached into their own pockets for this purpose and others may not have the means nor should anyone be required to do this. I will propose we increase the 10 council office budgets for the remainder of this fiscal year by $25,000 each – so that council members can be even more responsive to the residents of their district and have more resources to further advance their policy agendas.
I would support addressing the longer term staffing needs for Mayor and Council offices beyond this fiscal year as part of the FY2016 City Budget development process, including review by the newly-created Audit and Finance Committee.
I look forward to discussing this revised proposal Tuesday.
After having listened to comments from council and the community, I will be offering a revised proposal for office staffing for discussion at Tuesday’s Council Work Session. A revised resolution may well be posted today for next Thursday’s consideration.
Austin is at a tipping point. With the new 10/1 system, there is wide expectation that we will change things in order to better deal with the big challenges our city faces. There is also widespread excitement at the changes we’ve already made together.
I will be asking for authorization for the City Manager to assign 5 vacant, but existing and presently funded positions, to be assigned to the Mayor’s office. These new staff positions can be filled immediately for the remainder of the fiscal year without an increase in the City’s overall budget. These positions will help facilitate our council and its committees better moving forward now, without waiting for the end of the year, on proactive and significant policy initiatives. I look forward to working with each Council Member and the committees to identify some of the specific projects and initiatives on which these folks will work. This is a good example of the Council/Manager form of government working as it should, and I appreciate the Manager’s assistance.
In the course of the conversations we’ve had, it has also become apparent that each of your offices could make good use of additional support to enhance constituent engagement activities. Some council members may have already reached into their own pockets for this purpose and others may not have the means nor should anyone be required to do this. I will propose we increase the 10 council office budgets for the remainder of this fiscal year by $25,000 each – so that council members can be even more responsive to the residents of their district and have more resources to further advance their policy agendas.
I would support addressing the longer term staffing needs for Mayor and Council offices beyond this fiscal year as part of the FY2016 City Budget development process, including review by the newly-created Audit and Finance Committee.
I look forward to discussing this revised proposal Tuesday.