City staff has been whittling down an assortment of 123 suggested changes to the city’s ordinance on short-term rentals. The result, sent in a memo on Thursday to Mayor Steve Adler and City Council members, is a list of 13 recommendations, including a penalty for those operating with an expired short-term license and a requirement […]
Austin City Council
The Austin City Council is the body with legislative purview over the City of Austin. It offers policy direction, while the office of the City Manager implements administrative actions based on those policies. Until 2015, the body contained seven members, including the city’s Mayor, all elected at-large. In 2012, City of Austin residents voted to change that system and as of 2015, 10 members of the Council are elected based on geographic districts. The Mayor continues to be elected at-large.
Posted inBudget
Council scrutinizes proposed police officer increase
City Council members spent over an hour Wednesday grilling Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo and other APD staff on the department’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget, zeroing in on a plan to add 82 sworn police officers to the force at a cost of $6.6 million. Several Council members appeared hesitant about the costs […]
Posted inPreservation
City Council talks historic preservation goals
City Council members found themselves tackling the underpinnings of historic preservation on Tuesday, as they wrestled with whether to proceed with four very different cases of historic landmark designation on today’s agenda. Ultimately, Council members remained undecided on whether to proceed with decisions on all four cases. They seemed more certain about the need to […]
Posted inBudget
Budget proposal catches Council off guard
With a city budget of $3.5 billion, there are a lot of line items that don’t get individual attention during Austin City Council’s budget talks. But on Monday, there was one Parks and Recreation Department allocation request that was curious enough to prompt questions from a number of Council members. The Parks and Recreation Department […]
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: Austin City Council, Zoning 8.13.15
The Austin City Council will have its monthly zoning meeting Thursday. Below is a list of items we’re watching. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda. The City Clerk’s office posts a copy on its website, here. 6. CD-2015-0009 – Approve the baseline site development standards for determining development bonuses and […]
Posted inTransit
Lone Star Rail not in city budget but still on track
Although there is no funding for the Lone Star Regional Rail Project in the proposed city budget, the Georgetown-to-San-Antonio passenger rail plan can still get up to speed in due time. Lone Star Rail District Rail Director Joe Black told the Austin Monitor on Monday that his organization is not overly concerned about the omission. […]
Posted inDevelopment
Council likely to postpone “Grove” zoning decision
A quorum of City Council members sent a clear message at a Tuesday work session that they plan to postpone a zoning decision set for Thursday related to the Grove at Shoal Creek. “Frankly, I don’t know enough about this tract at this point to set a baseline zoning, so I would anticipate on Thursday […]
Posted inBudget
Zimmerman seeks cut to Chapter 380 funding
City Council Member Don Zimmerman has proposed that Council cut by 50 percent payments to companies that have Chapter 380 agreements with the city, as a way to “reduce the tax burden by over $6.8 million without cutting city services.” Zimmerman’s message as posted on the Council Message Board states, “This would just be for […]
Posted inBudget
Code budget talk quickly turns to STRs
City Council managed to tear through budget presentations for seven city departments yesterday. Of those, the Code Department seemed to bear the lion’s share of scrutiny, with the promise of more to come. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this part of the budget doesn’t come back several times over the course of the […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: The return
Council changes positions – literally… At their Thursday meeting, City Council members drew from a hat to determine where they will sit on the dais for the next six months. Mayor Steve Adler, who will remain seated in the middle between the city attorney and city manager, explained, “We decided as a Council we would […]
Posted inPremium Types
TickTock: Austin City Council Meeting 8.06.15
Tick Tock is the sortable-by-item-number transcript of Monitor intern Sunny Sone’s Twitter feed from City Council. Simply click on the item number to scroll to the corresponding tweet. It’s embedded below. ITEMS 1 2 5 19 44 45 46 49 51 69 Tick Tock Participants: sunnysone95 206 JennCurington 2 eraycollins 1 AKMcGlinchy 1 cubbie9000 1 […]
Posted inAustin, City Council
Austin Monitor Radio: Council Member Sheri Gallo
Austin City Council Member Sheri Gallo joins Monitor publisher Mike Kanin to talk about her first months in office, the Bull Creek tract, Austin Oaks PUD, and much more. Show is embedded below. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/218466148″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]