Judge to hear arguments today on addressing Council

The Save Our Springs Alliance and the city of Austin will be back in court today to battle over whether the rules the City Council has been using to allocate citizens’ speaking time are legal under the Texas Open Meetings Act. SOS and its Executive Director Bill Bunch won a temporary restraining order earlier this month requiring Mayor Kirk Watson to allow speakers to address Council for three minutes on each item they wanted to talk about. Previously, Watson had allowed only two minutes regardless of the number of items the citizen wanted to address. Bunch filed suit and Travis County District Judge Madeleine Connor granted a TRO. Today, they will be back in court at 2 p.m. before Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle, 261st District Court, at the new civil courthouse, 1700 Guadalupe St. That court is on the 10th floor, courtroom 10B.