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Your Guide to Proposed City Charter Amendments
What’s on the ballot, how much it will cost taxpayers, and
by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog
Posted Thursday August 30, 2012 8:20pm
When Austin voters go to the polls starting October 22 for the November 6 general election, they’ll be faced with a potentially bewildering 18 propositions on the City of Austin’s portion of the ballot.
And voters won’t see those propositions until they’ve finished wading through voting for federal, state and local candidates, and deciding whether to support Central Health’s proposed 5 cent tax hike to help fund a new medical school in Austin.
The Austin City Council and a number of citizens are really, really hoping voters don’t just vote a straight party ticket and go home. At stake are $385 million in seven bond propositions, 10 separate proposals to change the City Charter, and one proposition to allow emergency medical personnel to get the same civil service protections as police and firefighters.
Other down-ballot taxing jurisdictions on the ballot are also hoping to keep the voters attention long enough to mark the entire ballot, including Austin Independent School District, Austin Community College, and a bunch more.
In an effort to de-mystify the Austin portion of the ballot, The Austin Bulldog is providing the exact ballot language for each of the 10 propositions involving charter amendments and the emergency medical services proposition, and links to the ordinances that placed each of those on the ballot.
City Manager To Get Raise if Employees Do
As will the city clerk and city auditor; the
municipal court clerk gets 5 percent bump
by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Austin City Manager Marc Ott will get a pay raise after all—if the City Council gives the city’s non-civil service employees a raise when a 2012-2013 budget is adopted next month.
The Austin Bulldog reported August 16 that the City Council reviewed Ott’s performance in executive session that day and dismissed the item in open session when Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole said, “... we look forward to his continued service.”
Resolutions passed at yesterday’s council meeting state that the city manager, city auditor, and city clerk all will get whatever percentage pay raise is granted to the city’s rank-and-file.
The city manager has proposed a 3 percent pay increase for non-civil service employees.
Austin Board and Commissions Get E-mail Policy
Fifteen months after City Council ordered changes, board
and commission members to be assigned city e-mail accounts
by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:50pm
It took the City of Austin 15 months to establish a formal procedure but, finally, the 368 members of the city’s 51 boards and commissions are going to be brought into the city’s e-mail system.
The action is needed to bring the city into compliance with the Texas Public Information Act by enabling the city to collect, assemble, and maintain e-mails about city business that board and commission members send or receive. This will allow the city to search the city’s server to find information responsive to public information requests and produce those records for inspection.
For many years the city’s website for each board and commission listed each member’s personal e-mail address.
“This is easily the most well thought-out policy addressing this issue, both from the private device/account and city server side, that I have seen,” said Joseph Larsen, special counsel to Sedgwick LLP. Larsen is an expert on open government laws and a volunteer attorney for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “... overall I think this could serve as a template for policies for other City officers and employees and for other governmental bodies.”
This is the third and final phase of improving the city’s handling of electronic communications in response to our lawsuit, The Austin Bulldog v. Mayor Lee Leffingwell et al filed March 1, 2012, and the county attorney’s ongoing investigation of the City Council’s violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act that The Austin Bulldog exposed January 25, 2011.
Some Council Members’ Finances Change Significantly
Mayor carries campaign debt, Riley adds domestic partner,
Martinez adds investments, Cole reports spouse separately,
and Tovo pays off $528,000 in real estate loans
by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Wednesday, August 22, 2012 10:05am
City Council Member Chris Riley, an attorney, initially failed to comply with the Austin City Code by not fully reporting the financial activity of his domestic partner in his latest Statement of Financial Information.
The Austin Bulldog’s June 2, 2011, report covered similar discrepancies in Riley’s annual financial statements for 2009 and 2010.
Riley’s mid-year Statement of Financial Information covering the first six months of 2012, filed July 27, indicates that his domestic partner, Denise Brady, is an “attorney/state employee.” The report contains no other information as to Brady's specific employer, her income, investments, real property interests, debts, or boards of directors on which she may be serving, as required by City Code Sections 2-2-72(A) and 2-7-2(10).
No Raise, No Praise for City Manager Marc Ott
executive session, despite absence of Council Member Spelman
by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Thursday, August 16, 2012 10:25pm
The Austin City Council adjourned today for a closed-door executive session to tackle five posted agenda items—not the least of which was to evaluate the performance of and consider the compensation and benefits for City Manager Marc Ott.
Four hours and 20 minutes later the council reconvened in open session. After quickly disposing of two other agenda items, Mayor Lee Leffingwell called on Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole.
Cole said, “I just wanted to say that we did in executive session take up Item Number 70, with respect to the compensation and benefits of the city manager, and we look forward to his continued service.”
That was the entire discussion of Marc Ott’s performance evaluation. Cole’s statement lasted a mere 12 seconds.
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Areas of Coverage
Austin City Manager: Dallas discard vs Austin retread
Lame duck council set to vote on 20-year sweetheart tax deal for developer
Environmentalists assail plan for lakeside high rises
Urbanists vie to replace council member Kathie Tovo
First-ever opportunity to elect appraisal board members
District 10 Council candidates jump in early
Announcing the Government Accountability Project
Central Health launches search for new CEO
First-ever opportunity to elect appraisal board members
Announcing the Government Accountability Project
Project Connect
Lawmakers weigh axing Project Connect’s ‘blank check’ loophole
Project Connect scope drastically scaled back
Austin Transit Partnership gears up for key decisions on light rail design
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