AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a flurry of elections, your body of local leaders is now set. You’ll have three new Austin City Council members, including District 7’s Mike Siegel, who is projected to win that district after a runoff election over the weekend.
Siegel got just north of 51% of the vote in his runoff for Austin City Council against Gary Bledsoe. Nearly 8,600 people in that district voted.
Meanwhile, the three council members outgoing just finished their last city council meeting last week. Siegel and two others — Krista Laine and Marc Duchen — will be on the body the next time council votes on major policy that impacts you.
“It’s what our local government’s do that have the most impact in our lives,” Brian Smith, a political science professor at St. Edward’s University, told me heading into the election.
If you don’t agree with Smith’s assessment of how important our local government is, just take a walk with us through some of the most significant decisions Austin City Council made on your behalf in 2024.
HOME part 2
Of the most contentious votes the council took this year, HOME part 2 was at the top of the list.
After the first phase of HOME was approved by Austin City Council in December 2023, the second phase was considered this year. The ultimate ‘yes’ vote came after more than 14 hours of public debate.
The second phase of HOME focuses on minimum lot size — meaning, how much land you need to put a house on it. The idea is that smaller lots will allow for the creation of more housing.
Previously, most single-family lots were required to be a minimum of 5,750 square feet. Austin City Council voted to drop that down to 1,800 square feet.
As of Monday, the city of Austin’s Development Services Department told KXAN it has received:
- HOME Phase 1: 260 applications
- HOME Phase 2: Four applications (application process fully opened in November 2024)
A new city manager
The HOME part 2 meeting was T.C. Broadnax’ first as the new permanent city manager of Austin.
“It was interesting. I will tell you, I think not having been here as it relates to all of the breadcrumbs that led to that meeting, for me it was telling just one how engaged the residents are and two how important the issues particularly around land use and zoning are,” he told us then.
Austin City Council picked Broadnax as its next city manager and approved him in the role on April 4. He serves as the functional CEO of our city and makes roughly $470,000 a year doing it.
“I think he is going to prove very worthy of that salary moving forward,” Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter said.
Broadnax and Sara Hensley were the finalists for the position of roughly 40 applicants. They met with the public, with city of Austin staff and with the mayor and council members before that selection was made.
APA labor agreement
One of Broadnax’ main priorities when he first took on the role was getting a long-term police contract signed. The Austin City Council voted in favor of adopting a Austin police contract shortly after.
Council Member Zo Qadri was the only member who voted against it.
The City’s negotiations team and the Austin Police Association (APA) reached the tentative agreement on the police contract in September. City council had to vote it through before it could be ratified, as is the case with all sworn labor contracts in Austin.
It comes after, in February 2023, the city and Austin Police Association (APA) reached a tentative agreement, but city council voted it down to wait for the results of a May 2023 vote on a police oversight measure.
That measure, the Austin Police Oversight Act, which included the call for the release of once-sealed primarily unsubstantiated misconduct claims against officers, passed. It spent the following months making its way through the court system before a judge made a ruling that prompted the city to begin releasing those files via official public information requests from members of the public.
You can read more from KXAN’s public safety reporter Brianna Hollis here.
Other significant votes
- Approving a new police chief
- Signing off on a record $5.9 billion budget
- Voting to keep a temporary homeless shelter at the Marshalling Yard open until at least next year
Austin City Council’s next regular meeting will be at the end of January.
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