City of Austin Council Message Board

Copy of Press Release -- SB-1719 introduced by Senator Donna Campbell AUSTIN—City Council Member Don Zimmerman (District 6, Northwest Austin) announced the introduction of Senate Bill 1719 by Texas State Senator Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) for the consideration of the 84th Texas Legislature. Ca...

WHEREAS, the City of Austin’s Code Compliance Department personnel should concern themselves with whether or not property owners are sufficiently maintaining their properties in the City for the benefit of the community as a whole; and WHEREAS, the Code Compliance Department should be consistent in ...

Yes, CM Gallo,

I would like to prioritize a committee technical review of the solar power subsidy program for both residential and business sites.

Thank you City Manager Ott for releasing the draft version of the Zucker Report. I appreciate that you posted it on the city’s website: http://www.austintexas.gov/department/zucker-working-report I believe the report calls for $3.5M in additional funds to help implement some of the recommended chang...

Thanks for that update; I presume that there still cannot be a "public hearing" because the original posting (3 days in advance under TOMA - Texas Open Meetings Act) said the public hearing was closed. Please advise if that's not the case.

Fellow Council Members, for your consideration, we'd like 3 co-sponsors for this resolution. WHEREAS, the Planning and Development Review Department is a major component of the City of Austin; and, WHEREAS, in 2014 the City of Austin hired Paul Zucker’s consulting firm Zucker Systems for $250,000 to...

I'd like to invite an expert like Jess Fields (TPPF policy analyst and former city council) to challenge the presumption that Chapter 380 performance-based agreements and other corporate incentives are good policy, even if they are legal under the 14th Amendment (Equal Protection under the Law) of t...

Ms. Sarria and Council Colleagues:
I have recommended Mr. Brian Rodgers from Change Austin for the panel; Brian has worked on campaigns against subsidies and authored many editorials on the subject of incentives and growth.

Council Member Committees: I submit the following ideas for prioritizing agendas for PUBLIC hearings. For PUBLIC hearings/meetings, agendas must be posted 3 days in advance. This proposal suggests how Agenda priority could be handled. In case multiple agenda items have been submitted by 2 council me...

UPDATE: Our proposed bill was submitted for drafting by the Legislative Council: The draft number for the bill, 'Relating to the role of local government officials in the evaluation process used by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to determine the approval or rejection of awards...

Hello Vanessa - a correction needs to be made here. We had invited Mr. Bill Peacock (TPPF, expert on energy policy) for this question: What feasible alternatives exist to the Austin Energy monopoly on providing retail and commercial electrical power? This question absolutely needs to be asked, and B...

Is the any update to this? CM Pool had a request for adjustment based on her particular committee appointments - we'd like to see that adjustment ASAP.

Recommendation for "Resource Recover" March 2nd

Rebecca Melancon, Exec. Dir, Austin Independent Business Alliance

Policy Question: Can certain Austin policies/requirements favor very large business because of small business inability to pay?

I'm pulling item #7 for the work session, and intend to have River Place constituents speak on this crucial issue on Feb 26th. Here are additional questions regarding Agenda Item 7 - Authorize negotiation and execution of a legal services agreement with Webb & Webb, Attorneys at Law, for legal r...

Council Colleagues: FYI, I plan to introduce this with the background technical data to the new Public Utility Commission once we get our agenda started. It affects the western edge of District 6 on Lake Travis. Resolution No. ______________ WHEREAS, the Travis Vista Water and Sewer Supply Corporati...

As a member of the Open Space, Environment & Sustainability Committee; I request that we add the following topic to the committee agenda: In order to help increase proper disposal of Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), the City of Austin should have a remote HHW Collection Day at least one Saturday...

CM Kitchen:

Just realized I could have answered the question more concisely - our changes are to

Texas GOVERNMENT CODE

TITLE 10. GENERAL GOVERNMENT

SUBTITLE G. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS INVOLVING BOTH STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

CHAPTER 2306. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

Open Space Workshop suggestion:

Randy Denzer, Austin Firefighter and recognized expert on wildfire control and mitigation

Along the same lines -- it should be more precise to say the "Consent" agenda is actually the "No Discussion" agenda; in practice, we agree those so-called consent items are clear (or unclear) enough - at least to council members - that we know how to vote -- for, against, or abs...

CM Kithcen: Thanks for your inquiry. We have posted the highlighted revision draft in the file below -- as we announced in our press conferece a few days ago, this was delivered to TDHCA Region 7 State Reps and State Senators on Monday. As you see the changes are very simple -- they just add local e...

Amendment to CM Garza Amendment to CM Troxclair’s Agenda Item #50 regarding 20% Homestead Exemption. Strike & Replace: “ The analysis shall include a district level analysis, the potential financial impact for renters, and recommendations from the City Manager regarding how any potential funding...

Dear Mayor Adler: I do have concerns, on behalf of District 6 residents and others deeply concerned with traffic congestion, about the contents of this letter and I'm requesting that this letter be forwarded to the Open Space, Environment & Sustainability (OSES) Committee for review and public c...

I intend to make a housekeeping motion to direct the Agenda Office to change the practice of posting agenda items as "Approve..." to "Consider and possibly take final action on...". To "Consider" more correctly identifies what the Council should be doing. Stating the ag...

Dear Council:

I intend to pull items #6 and 7, regarding $3,000,000 of ART spending, and items #20-31 regarding subsidized housing grants of ~$6 million and resolutions supporting subsidized housing projects.

Dear Colleagues: Regarding 12-Feb-2015 Agenda item #86 (Addendum to the meeting agenda) Owing to the fact that this very interesting and crucial issue of a "Mayor's Cabinet", financed by an outside corporation, was posted so late that it was not included in the 10-Feb-2015 work session, I ...