Austin Energy, emergency management on agenda

Today’s City Council meetings start with the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee at 9 a.m. Mayor Kirk Watson has indicated on the City Council Message Board that Council will immediately go into executive session following the AE part of the meeting. Council members are scheduled to evaluate the performance of the city clerk, the city auditor and the Municipal Court clerk, and consider whether to give each a raise and how much. None of the three has been in a negative spotlight, so it seems likely that the discussions will go smoothly and not take up much time. The more interesting questions will come during discussion of “legal issues related to City of Austin 2023 labor contract negotiations.” As the Austin Monitor reported last week, the city’s legal team stopped participating in arbitration with the Austin Firefighters Association, citing a Texas Supreme Court case related to firefighters and police officers in Houston. While it seems unlikely that Council will resolve the issues its legal staff brought up in deciding to stop the arbitration, it can move toward a resolution. Watson said in his post that Council will return after executive session to hear briefings on management of emergencies, as well as the Austin-Travis County Sobering Center. A second post on the message board indicates that Watson, interim City Manager Jesús Garza and city staff have already started working on new procedures to follow in case of serious emergencies. The mayor indicated that he may have to leave the meeting in order to go to the Capitol for meetings “related to bills important to Austin.”