As she exits Council, Kelly sees police contract passage among highlights of 2024

While cleaning out the District 6 satellite office that was opened to give residents in Williamson County and far Northwest Austin easier access to their City Council member, outgoing D6 seat holder Mackenzie Kelly took time to reflect on her four years representing the district.

“We are the furthest district from downtown, and we’re the only district that doesn’t touch downtown,” said Kelly, who lost her reelection bid in November to challenger Krista Laine. “The initial idea of having this here was so that people could be closer to their government and their representative. I spent many days out here working some work sessions. I would be virtually here and my team would be here and we’d have people drop in all the time.”

Looking back on her final year in office, Kelly said she is proud to have helped pass the city’s new contract with the Austin Police Association after two years of work and negotiations. While critics have raised concerns about the five-year $218 million agreement and its approach to transparency and oversight, Kelly feels it creates certainty for the city and reached a middle ground that might not have been possible with a different Council makeup.

“The police contract definitely is at the top of that list. It was something that I wanted to get accomplished probably for two years since we didn’t have the opportunity to pass it the first time,” she said. “I’m glad that the city was able to do that under this Council because there’s no telling what would have been had it gone into another year.”

Her other highlights for 2024 include leading on action to eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – cancer-causing chemicals known by the shorthand PFAS – from firefighting equipment; securing safety bollards at hospitals citywide following a tragic incident at St. David’s Medical Center; initiating a study to explore housing options for public safety cadets; allocating $150,000 from her office budget to develop a district park; and organizing the honorary renaming of Officer Justin Putnam Drive.

Like others who are involved in the city’s public safety concerns, Kelly said the financial risks faced by incoming police cadets and trainees in other departments make it difficult to recruit. On top of removing the question of finding and affording housing during the cadet academy process, Kelly said dormitory or other focused living would help to build community among potential new hires.

“It is a difficult spot to be in, to lift up your entire family sometimes or even just uproot yourself and take a chance on coming to the city of Austin or any city to potentially get a position. Public safety employees have to go through cadet academies and nothing is guaranteed,” she said. “They have to pass all the tests, they have to do all the physical requirements, and then they have to get their state certifications. And while they’re going through the academy, they’re not getting paid as much as if they were a city employee full time.”

Kelly said she sees the value in offering housing for other public sector employees to address the city’s affordability problem, but said public safety could serve as a good proof of concept and help to solve ongoing problems with hiring for Austin Police Department and other related fields.

“​​I would love it if we could just do like something more broad for public sector employees, like people who worked at the city, but I thought that by focusing on public safety and making it broad enough to where we’re not just doing it for one public safety entity, we could use it as a case study for future public employees.”

Looking back on her whole term, Kelly said she came into office knowing her more conservative views would make it difficult to pass as many resolutions and ordinance changes as she would have liked. She notes her record of 40-plus approved items far exceeds the numbers posted by previous conservative Council members Don Zimmerman – who served only a two-year term – and Ellen Troxclair.

She knew success would often look like passing amendments on items where she had common ground with others on the dais, or getting more oversight or clarity from staff on other items to spark discussion that could lead to changes prior to passage.

“I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get everything done that I wanted to do just because of the makeup of the Council, and so I tried to pick subjects and topics that would really resonate with my colleagues and try to ensure that they had the most successful time of passing so that I had the most successful chances of passing,” she said. “I really learned to understand the speed of government. People make jokes about the speed of government being so slow, but it’s so important, I think, as part of the process, to ensure that all the voices are heard and all the research is done and everything looks OK on the outside and it’s OK on the inside in order to pass.”

Asked about her future plans, Kelly said she doesn’t see a return to elected office because of the demands that campaigning can put on her family. She said she’s been exploring opportunities in the nonprofit sector but declined to specify what kind of role or organization would be to her liking.

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Posted In: City Council, District 6