City Council

Name: Austin City Council meeting
Start: 2026-01-22T16:00:00+00:00
Location: Austin City Hall

Thursday, January 22, 2026, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall

Video of the meeting

On the agenda

Roll-call votes

Documents

Agenda

Transcript

0:00 Acts.

0:05 Good morning, everybody. It's 10 o'clock in the morning on January 22nd, 2026, and I will call to order the

0:12 first regular meeting of the Austin City Council for the year 2026.

0:17 Welcome, everybody here. Uh, we are meeting in the City Council chambers, which are located in City Hall

0:24 at 3 0 1 west second street in Austin, texas, and we have a quorum of the Austin City Council

0:30 present. Uh, before we get started, uh, as you just saw when you were, if you were paying

0:36 attention to that video, uh, we have a new Mayor Pro Tem.

0:40 The way the council has done this, uh, over the past few years is, uh, we elect a

0:45 Mayor Pro Tem in, in some cases we elect a Mayor Pro Tem for a year.

0:48 And then, uh, we also designate who's gonna be the Mayor Pro Tem for the following year.

0:53 So I wanna say a big thank you to former Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes, uh, who served

0:59 us very well last year, and, and we greatly appreciate that and welcome our new Mayor, pro tem

1:10 Mayor, pro tem Chito Vela.

1:12 And I, as part of that, I wanna make a special presentation to Mayor Pro Tem Vela, uh,

1:19 of a gavel, a ceremonial gavel, and it reads José Chito Vela 2026 Austin Mayor Pro Tem, presented

1:27 by Mayor Kirk Watson, and we're looking forward to your service.

1:35 That's nice. Thank you.

1:36 Uh, thank you very much.

1:39 Uh, Mayor, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm honestly, I'm, I'm touched and, and, uh, uh, Vanessa has set a

1:45 very high, high bar for, uh, uh, for communication and for, you know, performing the duties of, uh,

1:51 Mayor Pro Tem. I'm looking forward to it, uh, although wow, uh, they think I've been in court

1:56 many times and I think folks have been, never give him the gavel.

1:59 So <laugh>, but thank you, uh, very, very much.

2:02 Sure, sure. Customer Velásquez, did you wanna say something?

2:05 Uh, yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor.

2:06 Uh, first I wanna say that I heard José the beginning of that, and I thought y'all had

2:11 gotten the names mixed up in the, in the election, and I thought I was coming up next,

2:14 so got a little excited there, but I, I just wanted to, uh, make a few comments.

2:18 First. It is a historic day in Austin.

2:21 Tejas Austin held its first council election in 1840, and it took 138 years for us to elect

2:29 our first latino Mayor Pro Tem.

2:32 May he rest in peace another 20 years for us to elect our second one and another 10

2:37 after that, to elect a third.

2:39 Never in the history of this city have we elected back to back latino mayors pro tem in

2:47 the 172 years before we passed this district representation.

2:51 In 2012, we only elected three latinos Mayor Pro Tem.

2:55 Since ten one, we have elected three latinos mayors pro tem in just 14 years.

3:02 That is not coincidence, that is progress, and that will be the legacy of ten one, a system that

3:10 widened the circle of leadership that made representation real and that pushed this city to work harder to

3:17 acknowledge its shortcomings and live up to its promise of progressivism.

3:21 Not as a slogan, but as a practice.

3:24 Chito and Vanessa, you are our ancestors, wildest dreams whispered in prayers that cross borders, generations and hardships.

3:32 And for a boy that is born and raised in east Austin, who has seen up close, how

3:37 this city's liberalism doesn't always reach the shore of people of color, you are my wildest dreams come

3:43 true. Your proof that was once denied can still be claimed, and that was once imagined can still

3:50 be realized. I'm blessed and honored to serve alongside you and to witness history not as a chapter

3:55 loss, but it's something that we are writing together.

3:58 And it is my dream that in my life I will see the seventh, eighth, and 20th latinos

4:03 Mayor Pro Tem, and that I'll get to see the fourth, fifth, and sixth 50th african americans Mayor

4:09 pro te, the first muslim Mayor, pro tem, the first trans Mayor, pro tem.

4:16 I want us to get a, get a get.

4:19 I want us to get to a place in Austin where these moments are no longer called historic,

4:23 where they're commonplace, where the presence of a person of color as Mayor Pro Tem, does not challenge

4:28 our sense of what normal is, because it is norm, the norm.

4:33 A city where leadership looks like it's people where representation is not remarkable, but reflective, where we stop

4:40 marveling at progress and instead live, live it so completely that it simply becomes who we are.

4:47 My mentor, big sister, and our all around chingona county attorney dera, says it best.

4:53 Our charge is not to ensure that we are the first, but to ensure that we are not

4:57 the last to our latino mayor's pro tem Mayor, pro tem john tino, 1978, Mayor gus garcia, 1999

5:05 Mayor Pro Tem, Mike martinez, 2009, travis county attorney delia garza, 2019 Mayor Pro Tem Fuentes 2025, and to

5:15 our newest edition, Mike mpa and big brother Mayor Pro Tem José Chito Vela for 2026.

5:22 I stand on your shoulders.

5:24 Thank you for your service ante.

5:26 Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much, Council Member.

5:32 Alright, so, um, with that we will, um, I'll tell you how we're gonna go through the rest

5:37 of this day. In just a few minutes, I'll read changes and corrections into the record for the

5:42 January 22nd meeting. Um, we will then go to our consent agenda.

5:46 Members. I don't have any items that have been pulled.

5:49 Uh, one item that had been pulled is now, that's item number 52 has now been withdrawn, so

5:55 we have no items pulled, uh, from the consent agenda, we will have speakers on the consent agenda,

6:02 um, and then we will also a, after that we will go to our non-consent items.

6:07 Members, uh, as you know, those are items, uh, from, uh, council committees.

6:12 We have, uh, two items, items 57 and item 85.

6:17 We will also have our public hearings.

6:19 Items 58 59, 60, 61, 60, tru two, I'm sorry, 61, 62, 63.

6:28 Uh, item 64 has with been been withdrawn, 65, 66, 67, and item 86 has been withdrawn.

6:36 When we're around, when we're at 12 o'clock, um, we will have our time, certain public communication, we

6:43 will recess, uh, at the end of that.

6:46 I anticipate that will be about 1230 or 1235, and we will have live music.

6:51 We will recess until probably around one 10.

6:55 When we do that recess, we have some time certains at two o'clock that are public hearings.

7:01 Those are, um, I'm sorry, those items that were set for two o'clock time certain have been withdrawn.

7:07 The two, the two items, 68 and 69.

7:11 So if anybody's listening or here because they wanted to be part of the public hearings on item

7:17 68 and 69, those two public hearings have been withdrawn at two o'clock.

7:24 We will also have our time certain on zoning.

7:27 Those are items 70 through 84.

7:30 Unless there's questions, I will now read changes and corrections into the record.

7:36 Item number 15 has been withdrawn.

7:39 Item number 16 has been withdrawn.

7:43 Item number 32 withdrawn.

7:46 Item 41 withdrawn. Item 52 withdrawn.

7:52 Item number 61 should read, conduct a public hearing and consider an ordinance adjusting the city's boundary limits

8:01 by dis annexing approximately delete 0.06, delete 0.06, and replace it with 0.0 5.05 acres of land located

8:18 in the city's full.

8:19 Four five, what'd I say?

8:22 I'm sorry, point. It's the first meeting of the new year.

8:28 Let me see if I can get these numbers right.

8:30 It should read 0.04 5.045.

8:36 Um, and I don't know what I said, but I said it wrong.

8:39 Point zero four five acres of land located in the city's full purpose jurisdiction and at 3 1 0 1 fritz hughes park road,

8:48 et cetera. Item 64, when public hearings are taken up, this item will be withdrawn.

8:55 Item 68. When the 2:00 pm public hearings are taken up, this item will be withdrawn.

9:02 Item number 69. When the two o'clock pub pm public hearings are taken up, this item will be

9:08 withdrawn. Item number 86.

9:10 When public hearings are taken up, this item will be withdrawn that those are the changes and corrections

9:18 to be read into the record members, we will now go to the consent, unless there's objection or

9:24 questions. We will now go to the consent agenda as we go into the consent agenda.

9:29 Let me point out on item number 48.

9:33 Item number 48 relates to appointments on item number 48.

9:38 Uh, there's a potential appointment.

9:40 There was a potential appointment to the board of adjustment for district one.

9:44 The name patrick howard is being withdrawn.

9:47 So at the time we take up the consent agenda, the motion on the consent agenda will be

9:53 to withdraw the name.

9:55 It, it will not include the name patrick howard because the name patrick howard is being withdrawn from the appointment

10:01 to the board of adjustment.

10:03 With that, we will now go to the consent agenda and I will turn to the clerk and

10:09 ask you to help us navigate through that.

10:12 Starting with item one, we have zenobia joseph,

10:27 welcome ms. Joseph, happy new year.

10:32 Thank you, Mayor. Happy new year.

10:35 I just wanted to make some comments specifically as it relates to the minutes from December 11th, 2025.

10:41 I just want you to annotate in the record that I was on the, the line I called

10:46 in remotely. So it's a bit problematic because I could hear the meeting through its entirety, but then

10:52 you close the public comments and then I was disconnected.

10:57 So I'm not real sure what I need to do to ensure that if I register for remote

11:03 testimony that I'm able to speak.

11:05 The other thing I would call to your attention as a technicality is that if you register to

11:10 speak remotely, it only allows one position unlike the kiosk.

11:15 So the person has to be for on or against or do multiple registrations.

11:20 So I just don't know if you're able to fix that, uh, so that it mirrors the kiosk.

11:24 The kiosk allows us to register for multiple items at once, but then it actually delineates each of

11:30 the items and you can register that you wanna speak yes or no, and then it also allows

11:35 you to put your position on for against.

11:37 Those are my comments.

11:38 Just wanted to make you aware that I was on the line.

11:41 I heard mr. Bunches testimony and other people as well.

11:44 Um, but there's gotta be a way for the person on the line to actually contact the clerk

11:49 or the person that's the vendor.

11:52 Um, it does give us a message that says, if you wanna ask a question, press zero, but

11:56 that doesn't work. So if they can enable that function, I would appreciate it and others May do

12:01 so as well. Thank you so much.

12:02 Thank you. Item number three, uh, is a members.

12:07 Item number three is a, uh, potential settlement.

12:10 And so we have a presentation from legal and I'll ask, um, legal to make that presentation for

12:16 us. Good morning, mr.

12:19 Mayor, uh, new Mayor, pro tem, uh, members of the council.

12:24 My name is jeremy thompson and I'm here today to recommend that you prove settlement payments, um, in two

12:30 personal injury suits that show up as items number three and number five in your agenda today.

12:35 I'll take those in turn.

12:37 Item number three, a Mayor versus city of Austin.

12:41 We recommend that you approve a payment totaling $155,000 to settle the lawsuit titled Mayor versus city of

12:48 Austin. This lawsuit relates to a November 20, 24 car accident involving an Austin police department vehicle where plaintiffs

12:56 seek payment for injuries allegedly sustained in the accident.

12:59 In exchange for the payment, plaintiff will release any and all claims against the city from the accident

13:04 and will also dismiss the lawsuit filed in the district court of travis county.

13:08 The Austin city attorney's office recommends that you approve payment based upon these terms.

13:13 Item number five, before we go to item number five, just for clarity purposes, the name of the

13:19 plaintiff is Mayor <laugh>, m-a-y-e-r.

13:24 Yes. Uh, we, uh, we ought to have some clarity though to that.

13:28 Uh, yes, sir. Uh, all right, item number five.

13:31 Item number five, uh, we recommend that you approve a settlement payment totaling $172,000 to settle the lawsuit

13:38 titled timothy jones individually and as next friend of bradley jones, a minor versus city of Austin, dba Austin

13:46 energy. This lawsuit relates to a July, 2024 car accident involving an Austin energy vehicle where the plaintiffs seek

13:53 payment for injuries, allegedly, excuse me, allegedly sustained in the accident.

13:58 In exchange for the payment, the plaintiffs will release any and all claims against the city and will

14:03 dismiss their lawsuit filed in the district court of travis county.

14:07 The Austin city attorney's office recommends that you approve payment based upon these terms, and I'm here to

14:12 answer any questions if you have any.

14:13 Appreciate your presentation members.