TipSheet: Austin City Council, 2.15.24

City Council will, once again, meet for a regular meeting today. And we, once again, have gathered some highlights from today’s agenda to get you excited for the bonanza of public policy that will soon be upon us. For even more information, the entire agenda is posted online here. 

Following approval of a stopgap measure, Mayor Kirk Watson made it clear that he was ready to resume negotiations with the Austin Police Association. Today, that will be affirmed (or not) with a vote on legal services for said negotiations. In other policing news, Council will also contemplate increasing the police budget to add six full-time positions for its victim crisis intervention project. While this might not seem that controversial on the surface, a 2021 state law penalizes cities that reduce police budgets, so any increase tends to be met with scrutiny for those who would like to reduce the scope of policing in the city. 

Spurred by the loss of Blues on the Green, Council will also contemplate using city funds to preserve free live music events, as we reported last week. 

As we reported on Wednesday, Council is also looking at how it can put money into the many climate change plans that they have drafted recently. And, even though city have officials have warned against a bond election in the next couple of years, that exploration just might end in an environmental bond on this November’s ballot.

Even though there have been no incidents this year, after a few years of winter-inflicted power outages in Austin, a push to bury power lines took hold. Today, Council could approve a $1.725 million contract to look at whether that’s a good idea and study the resilience of the current overhead system.

Council Member Vanessa Fuentes has sponsored an intriguing, but preliminary, resolution that lays out guidance for “transparent and ethical citywide artificial intelligence guidelines and procedures, accountability strategies, and workforce considerations.” The resolution seeks a framework for using AI in city work and establishing guiding ethics to ensure that it is employed without causing harm. In other words, this resolution could ultimately produce the rules for how AI is used at City Hall.

Changes to the city’s telework policy have historically been yet another source of tension with the interim city manager, who sought to strongly reverse the teleworking that had become the norm during the pandemic. That didn’t really work and, since then, the city’s boards and commissions have rallied for stronger support for teleworking based on environmental and transportation mode concerns. Those changes, which would be to the Austin Climate Equity Plan and the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, are up for a vote at City Council today.

In potentially good news for local bike trails, Council will also consider applying for federal funds (as much as $25 million) to help make the Bergstrom Spur Trail a reality using 2024 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity funds.

Council will also consider a $2 million buy-in for a mental health diversion pilot program. The program would be a joint effort between the city and the county, and during Tuesday’s work session, Council seemed supportive of the concept but had many questions about how the deal was structured – in terms of things like factoring in land value and how strong of a role the city should play in a public health effort, considering the existence of Central Health. 

And, finally, it looks like Council’s public comment period will be dominated, once again, with calls for official support of an Israeli cease-fire. Watson’s response to such calls and the recent stabbing of a Palestinian American activist in Austin has only intensified the calls for a cease-fire. Following the attack, Watson wrote, “The proposed resolution of the Austin City Council will not realistically end the violence on the other side of the globe. Nor will it stop federal taxes from being used to implement U.S. foreign policy. That is not in our power. … The resolution, however has the power to divide Austin – and will.”

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