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City of Austin

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City Manager’s Annual Review Postponed

City Manager’s Annual Review Postponed

Mark Ott’s Performance Review Now Set for August 16

by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Thursday, August 2, 2012 8:43pm

Marc OttAustin City Manager Marc Ott didn’t get his annual performance review today as scheduled.

Shortly after noon, Mayor Lee Leffingwell read the agenda items to be discussed in a closed-door executive session. The council meeting agenda was posted for the executive session to include Ott’s performance. But Leffingwell announced that Ott’s review was being postponed at the request of Council Member Bill Spelman.

Spelman had arrived in council chambers and took his seat on the dais shortly after 10:30am, about 20 minutes after the meeting started. And Spelman was present preceding the mayor’s announcement of the postponement.

City Manager Faces Crucial Annual Review

Bulldog Background Investigation Comes as Marc Ott’s Performance Gets Council Scrutiny

8-2-1 Plan Certain to Go on Ballot

8-2-1 Plan Near-Certain to Go on Ballot

City Council Votes on Second Reading
to Put Competing Election Plan on Ballot


by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted July 31, 2012 2:35pm

The Austin City Council in today’s work session voted 5-2 (Council Members Mike Martinez and Bill Spelman opposed) to put the 8-2-1 plan for electing council members on the November ballot.

Sheryl ColeA five-vote majority is sufficient to pass any measure on the council’s agenda on all three readings for final approval, and dispense with further consideration. Today, at Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole’s request, the vote was limited to second reading only.

It now appears to be a foregone conclusion that at least four votes in favor of the 8-2-1 plan will be cast on third reading, which Mayor Lee Leffingwell said he anticipated would be scheduled for an August 7 work session.

That will set up head-to-head competition on the November ballot between the 8-2-1 plan and the 10-1 plan, which already garnered sufficient signatures to go on the ballot.

10-1 Plan Qualifies for November Ballot

10-1 Plan Qualifies for November Ballot

Consultant Estimates That 22,435 Signatures Are Valid;
Austinites for Geographic Representation Readies for Battle

by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Thursday, July 26, 2012 11:35pm

Shirley GentryCity Clerk Shirley Gentry e-mailed a statement late this afternoon to announce that the plan petitioned for by Austinites for Geographic Representation is qualified to put the proposition before voters in November. The plan calls for election of council members from 10 districts, a mayor elected at-large, and an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw district boundaries the council would have no choice but to approve.

The City Council voted 5-2 on June 28 to put the same plan on the ballot but the petitioners chose to complete the work and get the measure on the ballot to make it the “people’s plan” and not something the council was offering.

When the petition approval was announced at tonight’s meeting of Austinites for Geographic Representation (AGR), the crowd of some 30 members broke out into a loud and sustained applause and cheers. As well they might after completing the petitioning that began last October and planning that started in February 2011.

But AGR is wasting no time and is gearing up for two immediate chores:

Petition Drive Completed for 10-1 Council Districts

Petition Drive Completed for 10-1 Council Districts

Austinites for Geographic Representation Claims 33,000
Signatures, of Which About 22,800 Are Considered Valid

by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Monday, July 16, 2012 10:57pm
Updated August 7, 2012 2pm

City Clerk Shirley Gentry (right) accepts petitions from Linda CurtisDuring the June 28 meeting in which the City Council voted to put more City Charter propositions on the ballot for voters to consider in November, Austinites for Geographic Representation (AGR) stacked up seven white boxes next to the podium when AGR volunteer political consultant Peck Young addressed the council.

After holding a press conference at City Hall today, AGR petition coordinator Linda Curtis presented two purple plastic boxes of signed petitions to City Clerk Shirley Gentry. At 3:32pm Gentry date-time-stamped a copy of the cover page of a petition and gave it to Curtis as a receipt.

Asked later to explain how the seven boxes shown to the City Council shrunk to two today, Young told The Austin Bulldog, “I’m a professional politician.” Were those seven boxes brimming full when shown to the City Council on June 28? “I didn’t say that,” Young replied.

Political showmanship aside, at today’s press conference AGR members held up placards indicating the group had collected 33,000 signatures.

After submitting the petitions to the City Clerk, Curtis told The Austin Bulldog that the petitions submitted to Gentry contain 22,800 some-odd signatures considered to be valid.