City Council joined environmentalists across the globe last week, celebrating the 53rd annual Earth Day with a pair of resolutions aimed at lowering the city’s carbon footprint. The resolutions, sponsored by Council Member Leslie Pool, mandate use of lower-carbon-footprint concrete for future city construction projects and urge federal action to reinstate funding for the Energy […]
City Hall
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TipSheet: Austin City Council, 4.20.23
Today, City Council will once again convene for its regular meeting. Given the speed of the newest incarnation of our city government and the fact that this is the second such meeting in as many weeks, it looks like this could be a short meeting, though saying that in print could invite a cosmic jinx. […]
Posted inTipSheets
TipSheet: Austin City Council, 4.13.23
Today City Council will convene for its regular Thursday meeting. As usual, anyone can read through the agenda, which is posted online, but we’ve done our level best to pick out the most interesting bits to make things a little easier for our readers. After two deaths and a lot of online speculation, Council looks […]
Posted inAustin
Arts, music commissions to renew push for short-term rental tax collections
It appears arts and music advocates will likely ask City Council to reach an agreement with short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and begin receiving millions of dollars in uncollected hotel taxes that could in part benefit the local creative community. Both the Music Commission and Arts Commission have in the past year asked the […]
Posted inCity Hall
Former airport CEO had conflict of interest, report shows
Jacqueline Yaft, who recently resigned her job as CEO of the Austin Aviation Department, had a conflict of interest beginning in June 2019 when she went to work for the city, according to an investigative report from the Office of the City Auditor. Although she was required to inform the city of the conflict by […]
Posted inAustin
Drained from emergency debris collections, Austin Resource Recovery prepares for a squeeze this budget cycle
As it continues to pick up the pieces of Winter Storm Mara, Austin Resource Recovery is preparing to weather financial challenges thanks to the $20 million relief effort. Four months out from budget season, Director Ken Snipes and Finance Division Manager Victoria Rieger stopped by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission last week to begin charting […]
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Austin Energy’s general manager, Jackie Sargent, steps down
Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent has retired – effective immediately – according to a memo from interim City Manager Jesús Garza. Sargent served as the public utility’s top executive for nearly six years. Sargent was the highest-paid city employee, earning a base salary of $403,374 a year. “I wish Jackie Sargent the best in retirement,” […]
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Conservation Corps sees success, and possible expansion, in city memo
An evaluation of the city’s Civilian Conservation Corps program shows that nearly 200 people have been placed in city jobs in areas that had been historically difficult to fill. A memo released last week by Kimberly McNeeley, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, gave a comprehensive progress report on the CCC, which was created […]
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Audit claims fraud by contractor for city health department
In a report released Thursday, the Office of the City Auditor detailed its investigation into allegations that a nonprofit contractor for Austin Public Health “committed fraud by misrepresenting over $1.1 million in financial transactions across three contracts” with the health department between December 2020 and September 2021. The Central Texas Allied Health Institute (CTAHI) had […]
Posted inCity Council
A new plan for libraries calls for expansion
City Council approved a plan for Austin Public Library last Thursday that features a new set of strategic goals and calls for the expansion of libraries across the fast-growing city. In early 2022, a Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) started assessing both external and internal factors affecting Austin’s library community. “It was a process that involved […]
Posted inCity Hall
Garza makes major changes to city organization
Interim City Manager Jesús Garza announced a series of major organizational changes in a press release late Friday, saying his “highest priority is to organize our people and our work so that we are operating cohesively and focused on problem-solving.” The new structure “will be conducive to reducing process redundancies and to operating at the […]
Posted inCity Council
How realistic is the idea to bury Austin’s power lines? Council wants to know.
At its regular meeting Thursday, City Council approved a pair of items aimed at exploring the possibilities for burying existing utility power lines as well as ones to be constructed in new capital projects such as Project Connect. The idea surfaced after the devastating February winter ice storm that left thousands of Austinites without power […]