Dear Neighbors, 

On February 15th, we took an important vote when we removed Spencer Cronk from his role as Austin’s City Manager and appointed Jesús Garza as Austin’s new interim City Manager. I have already met with Mr. Garza multiple times and am experiencing a more productive and effective approach to governing. 

This change in leadership is a key step in rebuilding our community’s trust and improving emergency preparedness and communications citywide. I remain steadfast in my hope for a community that can do more than just weather storms: I believe in an Austin that can deliver essential services, foster trust, grow our workforce, and lay the foundation for all families to thrive. 

Public Safety Contract Negotiations

In a second critical vote last week, Council evaluated several police contract options. After almost a year of negotiations, earlier this month the City’s labor relations team and the Austin Police Association reached a tentative agreement on a 4-year contract. Together with a proposed ordinance granting distinct powers to the Office of Police Oversight, this proposed contract would 1) strengthen police accountability and civilian oversight and 2) improve recruitment and retention of officers in a fiscally sustainable way. 

After much study and discussion, I ultimately considered the 4-year contract to be the best option for the City, our officers, and our community. You can view my remarks from the dais here. At the end of our deliberations, my colleagues did not share my assessment of the advantages of the multi-year contract approach and they opted to direct City staff to negotiate for a one-year contract instead.  

I was disappointed, but not surprised, that the Austin Police Association (APA) walked away from negotiations after the vote. Going out of contract is harmful for the City, our officers, and our community. It is also destabilizing for our civilian oversight system. This was certainly a factor in my vote against the one year option last week.

I will continue to closely monitor the contract negotiations and keep you updated when the Austin Police Association decides to return to the table. In the meantime, at today’s council meeting, I joined Council Member Ryan Alter, Mayor Kirk Watson, and Council Member José Velásquez to co-sponsor an ordinance that does two important things in the absence of a contract. First, we extended the current salary and benefits for our police officers. Second, we expanded the scope and strength of the Office of Police Oversight. We also directed the interim City Manager to return with a proposed compensation package no later than March 31 to address officer shortages.

Austin Energy & Ice Storm Update

Before I conclude this email, I also want to highlight two briefings we received about the 2023 ice storm and how we can fortify our utility and community from future crises. At both of these sessions, I emphasized that the lack of preparedness and breakdown in communications we experienced were not new problems, and these challenges have solutions. You can view the video of the Feb. 7 work session here and/or view the Feb. 21 Austin Energy Oversight Committee meeting briefing here and access AE’s slides here. 

Austin Energy and the City of Austin are producing an “After Action” report, which will contain analyses of the City’s preparation and response to the storm, along with policy and budgetary recommendations to improve our response. As with Winter Storm Uri, I intend to carefully review the report, and to champion the implementation of its recommendations. I believe we will see more of these necessary policy changes actualized under interim City Manager Garza. You can view some of the questions and considerations I want addressed in this report in this Council Message Board post.

Austin Resource Recovery

As a reminder, you can find multi-agency resources for disaster cleanup and financial assistance at AustinTexas.gov/Recovery. Please note that Austin Resource Recovery is making multiple trips through each neighborhood to pick up storm debris and brush. If it appears that your home has been skipped, Austin Resource Recovery will either return on a subsequent trip when they have more truck capacity or contact you if your brush needs to be cut or moved before pickup. More information on ARR here. Residents of ESD4 can request a pickup from the County at no cost by emailing their street name to tnr.dispatch@traviscountytx.gov.

In March, I will share a full-length newsletter, including community announcements and updates on my work to improve the reliability of our water utility.

Regards,