City of Austin

As reported by The Austin Bulldog January 25, County Attorney David Escamilla is conducting an inquiry about a complaint that the Austin City Council may have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

This is a serious matter and the city is taking it seriously. In lieu of the private meetings that for years have been held among the mayor and council members to discuss items on the Thursday council meeting agendas, the council is now holding work sessions to discuss the agenda in posted open meetings.

If the mayor and council members should be found to have in fact violated the Act, they may be subject to criminal prosecution under Section 551.143 of the Government Code, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500; confinement in the county jail for not less than one month or more than six months; or both the fine and confinement.

The Austin Bulldog is publishing selected text excerpts from each of the exclusive interviews conducted with the council members before breaking the story. The complete copyrighted MP3 audio file for each interview is linked at the bottom of each article for easy access. You may listen to these recordings to gain a better understanding of the published excepts within the context of the complete interview.

Council Member Bill Spelman was interviewed in his office at City Hall on Monday, January 24, 2011. The recording runs 38 minutes 52 seconds.

The Austin Bulldog: 
I don't want to take too much of your time so let's jump right in. As I said in my e-mail requesting an interview I'm developing story about working relationships among the mayor and the council members and understanding how these folks work together to develop public policies. One thing that stands out of my mind is the four of you are pretty transparent on how you spend your time on council duties because you publish your calendars online.

Bill Spelman:
 Right.

The Austin Bulldog: 
Do you have any ideas about why (Mayor) Lee (Leffingwell), (Mayor Pro Tem) Mike (Martinez) and (Council Member) Sheryl (Cole) don't publish their calendars?

In the wake of the Austin City Council’s first work session in recent memory, held February 9, City Manager Marc Ott told the city council he was concerned about the new policy of conducting Wednesday work sessions in advance of the regular Thursday council meetings, where decisions are made and votes are cast.

“It potentially has an adverse impact on productivity because we have so many people ... dedicated to two meetings,” KUT radio reported February 9.

The work sessions were reinstituted after Travis County Attorney David Escamilla announced on January 25 that he was conducting an inquiry in response to a complaint about possible violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

The mayor and council members have been reluctant to publicly state that the work sessions were instituted because of Escamilla’s inquiry—in spite of the fact the private meetings among the mayor and council members were immediately cancelled and the first work session was held the day before the next city council meeting.

But Council Member Bill Spelman conceded as much in a February 9 interview with KUT radio: “That may have been the original genesis behind it (initiating work sessions) but I think anything which allows us to talk freely with one another is a good idea and leads to better decision-making on all of our parts,” he said.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell described the work sessions like this: “It’s kind of like a pre-council meeting,” according to a February 10 report by KXAN-TV.

On February 10, the Austin American-Statesman reported that City Manager Ott asked during the work session whether the city’s department heads would have to spend every other Wednesday on call to answer council questions. Or should the council use the sessions to simply talk with one another—in lieu of the now-cancelled individual meetings.

After that meeting, Ott said he would bring his team together “and dissect what it is going to take for us to prepare ourselves for both a work session, study session, pre-Council meeting—whatever it ends up being called—as well as the regular Council meeting,” In Fact Daily reported February 10.

The council’s second work session is scheduled to begin at 1:30pm tomorrow, February 16, in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall, 301 W. Second St. The agenda includes an item for discussion and possible action on work session procedures. No action will be taken and there will be no citizen participation during the work session. Citizens will be permitted to address agenda items at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Thursday, February 17, 2011.

Larry Schooler, the city’s community engagement consultant, said in an interview with KUT radio on February 9 that the city council had asked for a review of “best practices” in other cities and had gotten a memo from the city manager that outlines a number of different ways that other city councils elsewhere in the country discuss their agendas prior to a public vote and public comment. “This is going to have to be a work in progress,” Schooler said.

Possible meeting options

As reported by The Austin Bulldog January 25, County Attorney David Escamilla is reviewing a complaint about allegations that the Austin City Council may have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

This is a serious matter and the city is taking it seriously. In lieu of the private meetings that for years have been held among the mayor and council members to discuss items on the Thursday council meeting agendas, the council will now hold work sessions to discuss the agenda in posted open meetings. The first work session was held this morning. No action will be taken during work sessions and no citizen participation will be allowed. As always, citizens will be permitted to address the agenda items during the Thursday council meeting.

If the mayor and council members should be found to have in fact violated the Act, they may be subject to criminal prosecution under Section 551.143 of the Government Code, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500; confinement in the county jail for not less than one month or more than six months; or both the fine and confinement.

The Austin Bulldog is publishing selected text excerpts from each of the exclusive interviews conducted with the council members before breaking the story. The complete copyrighted MP3 audio file for each interview is linked at the bottom of each article for easy access. You may listen to these recordings to gain a better understanding of the published excepts within the context of the complete interview.

Council Member Randi Shade was interviewed in her office at City Hall on Monday, January 24, 2011. The recording runs 42 minutes 33 seconds.

The Austin Bulldog:

As I said in my e-mail requesting the interview, I’m developing a story about the working relationships among the mayor and the council members and how the city council works together to develop public policies. One thing that stands out in my mind is that four members, including you, keep your calendars online. So, you’re being pretty transparent. You mentioned at your event the other night that you thought you were the first one (to post your calendars online).

Randi Shade:

Oh yeah, I was. ...

The Austin Bulldog:

... I got you now. Okay. ... Something that caught my eye in the published calendars is it indicates the mayor and the council members spend considerable time with each other meeting, typically in the days right before a council meeting. It seems all of you are making a big effort to do that. So, I was wondering, what sort of things do you discuss in these meetings?