Looking forward to a very long day with numerous controversial items, including parkland dedication fees, license plate readers and police oversight, Mayor Steve Adler said Tuesday that he would allocate just one minute per speaker at today’s meeting. According to the city clerk’s office, a total of 178 people have signed up to tell Council their thoughts on various agenda items. However, it won’t be an all-nighter; several Council members expressed a desire to go home by 10 p.m. So, the Thursday meeting will simply be in recess until Friday. As City Attorney Anne Morgan explained it, Council would need seven votes to pass the Austin Police Oversight Act or an election to consider that ordinance on a single reading. If there are merely six votes for either option, Council will have to take that vote on three different days. That is why Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday as well as Monday. Of course, any Council member could change his or her vote to avoid extra meetings.
Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor. More by Jo Clifton