Extra security, extra stress, new rules at Council meeting

Each speaker at a City Council meeting now has three minutes – instead of two – to speak on each item they signed up to address because of a temporary restraining order granted Wednesday by Travis County District Judge Madeleine Connor. At Thursday’s meeting, that ruling had some impact on timing, but the meeting generally ran smoothly. A more noticeable difference was the presence of more police officers than is typical in Council chambers.

Their presence shifted the proceedings as reporters, speakers, city staff and onlookers entered. The officers were not standing quietly in the back as usual, but telling people not to stand in the aisle for too long, questioning a reporter trying to take photos, policing water bottles and generally making their presence known.

A city spokesperson told the Austin Monitor, “We do want to accommodate you and others who wish to take photos of speakers or the dais, but we also need to make sure photographers are not a distraction to council proceedings. We plan to meet with our security team soon to discuss how we can work more effectively with our media partners.

Connor entered her ruling in the suit filed by Save Our Springs Alliance and its executive director, Bill Bunch, against the city of Austin and each member of Council. Bunch filed suit last week after Mayor Kirk Watson refused at an April 11 meeting to give him more than a total of two minutes to speak on a variety of items. Under the rules Bunch objected to, all speakers were given two minutes to speak, regardless of how many items they wanted to address. Bunch told Watson he was violating the Austin City Charter and the Texas Open Meetings Act.

The order from Connor also sets a hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 25, on the plaintiffs’ application for a temporary injunction. A city spokesperson said, “We believe we have complied with the Texas Open Meetings Act. However, we respect the court’s decision and will abide by the Judge’s ruling. We look forward to the April 25 hearing on this issue where we will have an opportunity to discuss the full merits of the case.”

At that April 11 meeting, Bunch offered objections to two items on the agenda. One of those items was a contract with HDR Engineering Inc., for a study to determine where the water utility might locate an additional new pump station and reservoir. The judge’s order says the city may not take any further actions to move forward with the contract until they post the item on a Council agenda, take public input and vote on it again.

Bunch also opposed item 43, which set a public hearing on May 2 to consider an ordinance amending the Land Development Code to create a new zoning district in the vicinity of the South Central Waterfront. “It probably doesn’t have that much practical effect” because of the hearing next Thursday, Bunch said. “But what it means if we keep the injunction in place is they can’t go forward with that hearing unless they re-post it and readopt the hearing setting.” He said it’s possible the city and SOS will reach an agreement before next week’s court hearing.

For Bunch, SOS supporters and any number of other citizens, the three-minute rule is the gold standard. For decades, Bunch pointed out, the public was given three minutes per item. One night in 1990, citizens stayed all night at a Council meeting to voice their opposition to developer Jim Bob Moffett’s building plan that threatened Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer.

“That right changed the course of our city,” he said. That meeting essentially launched the Save Our Springs movement.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.