City Council

Thursday, November 20, 2025, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall, 301 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701

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0:06 You are watching a meeting of the Austin City Council with Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor pro, tim Vanessa

0:15 Fuentes, council members Natasha Harper, Madison, José velazquez, cheat, cheeto Vela, Ryan Alter, crystal lane, Mike Siegel, Paige Ellis,

0:38 zoe cadre, mark uchin, city attorney deborah thomas, city clerk erica brady, and city manager tc broad.

0:57 Good morning everybody. It's 10 o'clock in the morning on November 20th, 2025, and I will call to order this

1:04 regular meeting of the Austin City Council.

1:07 Uh, we are meeting in the City Council chambers, which are located at City Hall, which is at

1:11 3 0 1 west second street in Austin, texas, and we have a quorum of the City Council present both

1:16 in person and virtual.

1:18 We're joined virtually. Uh, so let me run through how we're going to, uh, conduct the meeting today.

1:25 Uh, I'm gonna read here in just a second, changes and corrections into the record.

1:29 Uh, then I will, uh, then what we will do is we will go to the consent agenda.

1:34 Uh, there have the only items that have been technically pulled from the agenda are those items related

1:40 to the budget. Those are items four, five, and six items four, five, and six.

1:45 We will take up, uh, public comment for the consent agenda, and then we will, uh, go to

1:52 what are broadly labeled non-consent items.

1:55 Those include items related to imminent domain and the public hearings that we will conduct, uh, by 12

2:02 o'clock, uh, or at 12 o'clock, regardless of where we are in the agenda.

2:07 At 12 o'clock, we will pause so that we can take up our time, certain posting, which is

2:12 public communication. We will probably take a little bit of a break there.

2:16 We will recess, uh, we will have live music, and then we will come back and I, and,

2:21 and I'll, I'll make the call on that as we get to it.

2:24 Uh, we will come back.

2:26 We have a two o'clock time certain and that are, those are our zoning items.

2:31 My intention would be that we will take up the budget items, items four, five, and six, uh,

2:37 at the, at the end of this regular scheduled agenda.

2:40 However, if during the course of the day we, uh, finish a, a, a section and we have

2:49 something that all we have left are things that are time certains, for example, the 12 o'clock time

2:54 certain or the two o'clock time certain, we will have public communication on those items, four, five, and

3:01 six at those times so that we have an efficient use of our time.

3:05 So that's, unless there's questions, yes.

3:07 Mayor proti. Thank you, Mayor.

3:10 I would just ask before we take up the budget items that we have an opportunity to meet

3:13 with our sub quorums, so a recess before, well, we we're gonna take a re we will take

3:18 our, our typical normal recess, uh, around the 12 o'clock time.

3:22 Okay. And then we'll come back at, we'll come back at like one 10 the way we typically

3:27 do, because about 12, we'll be taking public comment to 1230.

3:32 So that gives us about 45 minutes.

3:34 Right. Okay. I, I think that can work.

3:38 Okay, very good. So, member, uh, members, any other questions?

3:43 Great, then, uh, let me read into the record changes and corrections items.

3:48 30 48, 49, 50, 51,

3:55 And 54 have been withdrawn from the agenda items.

4:00 30 48, 49, 50, 51,

4:05 And 54 have been withdrawn from the agenda.

4:09 On item number 57, it should add Council Member page Ellis as a sponsor of that item.

4:17 And again, the only items that have been pulled from the consent agenda are items four, five, and

4:21 six, and those are items related to our budget.

4:24 So with that, we will go to, uh, speakers on the consent agenda.

4:29 Members. I want to note for the record that on the consent agenda, Council Member cadre has on

4:37 item number 44, he has direction that you have in your backup direction to the manager's office with

4:45 regard to item number 44.

4:47 So when the chair accepts a motion to accept the consent agenda as it's read, Council Member cadre's

4:54 direction on item number 44 will be a part of that motion.

4:58 Council Member cadre, you wanna say anything about that?

5:01 Okay. Very good. With that, I will now turn it over to the city clerk to help us,

5:05 uh, by calling out people to speak on the public communication when your name is called.

5:11 It's really helpful to us if you make your way to the front so that we know you're

5:16 here. And if there's a, an open chair in front of one of these microphones, please go ahead

5:21 and take that, and then we'll call on you in order, and you can state your name for

5:26 the record. So I'll turn it over to the city clerk.

5:28 Thank you, Mayor. First for item one, I have Mike minz and tios belay.

5:57 Please go ahead, just state your name for the record, please.

6:02 Uh, good morning. Uh, my name is <inaudible>.

6:04 Uh, I live in, uh, district one, and I'm with the us african institute.

6:09 Uh, good morning Mayor and, uh, members of the City Council.

6:12 Uh, our organization, us african institute, uh, is a national organization that, uh, empowers, uh, immigrant communities, uh,

6:21 in Austin and around the country.

6:23 And today, um, I'm here to urge, uh, all of you to not cut fundings for, uh, uh,

6:31 uh, critical social service and also, uh, legal immigration support for, uh, the immigrant communities.

6:37 Uh, our immigrant communities are already, uh, carrying the weight of economic hardship and discrimination and increasingly harsh

6:44 immigration policies and enforcement already, you seeing, uh, those supports and, and critical, uh, social supports, uh, to,

6:51 uh, not only to our immigrant communities, uh, but also, uh, uh, the residents of, uh, Austin, uh,

6:58 would deepen the, the struggle of, uh, our communities and also limit our community's ability to stay safe,

7:06 informed, and stable. And social service and legal immigration assistance are not extra.

7:12 They are essential, uh, tools, uh, that keep our immigrant families understand their rates, access protection, obtain legal

7:19 support, and navigate the complex immigration system that shape their daily lives.

7:24 When these service are defunded, people fall through, uh, the cracks and the, the entire community feels the

7:31 impact. Uh, Austin is a city of immigrants, and our strengths comes from the people who continue to

7:37 build their lives today and in, in the future here in Austin.

7:42 If we want Austin to remain a welcoming city for all of us, we must protect the programs

7:48 that allow, uh, allow, uh, immigrants in another re residents regardless of their immigration status.

7:55 And I urge you all, uh, to support, uh, all these, uh, uh, social supports and then critical

8:00 immigration support programs. Thank you so much.

8:02 Thank you. I have a remote speaker for item two qua bruce.

8:15 Ms. Brewster, are you there?

8:18 I am here. Hi, counsel and Mayor, my name is qua and I'm actually speaking on the item

8:25 four. I think that I May need to be replaced.

8:31 Sorry, we'll need to call on you later.

8:32 If you signed up on item four, we'll need to call you later.

8:37 Yes, thank, sorry about that, ma'am, you only signed up on item two.

8:48 Ma'am, if you're still there, you only signed up on item number two.

8:54 Do you wish to speak on item number two?

8:58 No. Okay. Thank you very much for item number eight.

9:05 Brad massing.

9:09 I,

9:17 brad, are you there?

9:26 Please go to the next one.

9:30 Monica guzman, item eight, and then brent davy for item 13.

9:39 I then have bill bunch for item 23.

9:42 Please come forward.

9:50 I, all right, my notes are not quite where they need to be, but good morning, Mayor and

9:57 counsel. I'm monica guzman, policy director at gava, sharing thoughts from various commissioners in the revised bylaws template,

10:05 specifically article seven, item j, lines 31, 2, 34.

10:09 There is verbiage about limiting speakers to three minutes and no less than two minutes per agenda item.

10:16 And there was concern about presenters.

10:19 How are they supposed to give presentations in such a short time?

10:23 Um, and, and that is the main thing, is allowing the commissions or the commissioners to set those

10:31 rules. They explained to me that, um, sorry, in my, like I said, my notes are a little

10:36 bit out of it here, like the, the board of the board of adjustments.

10:45 Um, I'm sorry, I apologize.

10:48 Like I said, these were texted to me.

10:50 But basically they're used to somebody else setting them, not council, having a one size fits all, and

10:56 they're just concerned about people not being able to present.

10:59 And I believe for anything going to be oa and community development commission, others that are critical to

11:06 what's going on in the community, they really need to be able to give the amount of time

11:10 needed for presenters. Thank you.

11:12 Thank you. Yes, sir.

11:14 Hi, council. I'm brent davy.

11:16 I'm a performing artist.

11:18 And, uh, thank you guys for having us.

11:20 It's actually absolutely terrific how open this council is.

11:24 Um, I am a recovering addict, and I've been going through the rehab process and I've been interfacing

11:32 with a bunch of assistance, you know, from state, local, uh, rise, community navigation center, um, the works.

11:42 And one of the issues, this is related to the work, uh, workforce board and the city's relationship

11:47 with it. Um, I think there might be an opportunity here.

11:50 What are the issues that I found coming up frequently, um, is even among the workforce clerks right,

11:59 that I'm interfacing with, is all of these notifications are sent by mail to people, and they're, these

12:06 people are typically transient.

12:09 You know, they're going through different housing situations.

12:12 Um, I didn't get a notice on my snap meeting till after the snap meeting <laugh>, right?

12:21 Um, so I kind of just thinking that we could, uh, email it, text it.

12:29 I don't know. It's 2025.

12:31 So, um, maybe the city can put some pressure with the state and develop a solution there, and

12:38 you might even save some money doing it.

12:39 That's all I have.

12:40 Thank you guys.

12:49 Good morning. Uh, bill blanc, uh, save our springs alliance, uh, district five.

12:54 I'm here speaking on item 23, which is $12 million, uh, for a couple of contractors to help manage

13:02 water and wastewater, uh, capital improvement projects.

13:06 Um, that budget is way bigger than it needs to be.

13:10 Um, the one project this mentions, and it's for managing a bunch of 'em, is the biggest one

13:16 in the water wastewater utilities budget.

13:17 That's the walnut creek wastewater treatment plant.

13:20 That is a project that really needs to be put on hold.

13:24 Uh, we're never gonna need the scale of expansion, uh, for that $1.1 billion project.

13:31 We're at a time at record or near record, uh, municipal bond interest rates.

13:37 Every single capital project that you have that's not urgent should be put on hold.

13:44 Certainly recognize this is not part of the general fund budget, uh, but these projects are driving these

13:52 water and wastewater rate increases, and that's directly affecting the budget.

13:59 Uh, at minimum, you should postpone this item until you reevaluate your wa your capital infrastructure, especially with

14:08 Mayor watson's announcement last night about, uh, basically abandoning the, uh, aquifer storage and recovery project, which is

14:18 the big kahuna in the middle of our water forward plan.

14:22 Uh, I hope this is, this is a radical re shift in realignment that we can all celebrate

14:27 towards conservation and reuse investments.

14:31 Um, and this, this item right here points directly to that because those projects that will save our

14:38 water future and make us sustainable aren't these big, big giant capital projects.

14:44 They're doing a whole bunch of other stuff that's small scale, and that's embracing the community to, uh,

14:52 thank you for different water culture.

14:55 I'm gonna try brad massengill one more time.

14:57 Brad massengill, item eight.

15:05 Brad, are you there?

15:07 Brad? Okay. Mr. Massing also signed up for 18 and 20.

15:13 Brad, are you there?

15:17 Yeah, sorry, I'm a little disorganized here.

15:22 Um, I, item 20 and in the items after it up to 20 street, the, the item that,

15:29 uh, mr. Bunch was just describing, um, I agree there, there's, there's a lot more room for trying

15:36 to figure out how to roll these out.

15:38 That's, that's a big expenditure, uh, on the part of the city.

15:42 And the other outlier, and this is something I I mentioned yesterday, when we're talking about these big

15:49 tie in projects and and large, uh, infrastructure projects, they involve our city employees and our resources to

16:00 make them happen. And some of those resources and people can be used elsewhere to do things that

16:06 are more closer to the community.

16:10 Um, thanks. Thank you for item 44, megan meisenbach.