Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 9 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
At the first City Council work session of 2026, Mayor Watson called the meeting to order, recessed for the Austin Energy Oversight Committee, and then took up two items. Item D1 concerned council appointments to intergovernmental entities and council committee memberships for the year; the mayor outlined proposed changes, including Council Member Siegel becoming vice chair of the Housing and Planning Committee and joining Public Safety, Council Member Qadri taking seats on the Clean Air Force of Central Texas board and the firefighter pension board, Qadri leaving the Public Health Committee, and reactivating the Regional Affordability Committee with Laine, Fuentes, and Watson as contacts. Council Member Laine also requested to become a voting member of the Audit and Finance Committee, and Harper-Madison said she was considering dropping off the Mobility Committee but asked for a few days to decide. Item D2, a planning commission appointment matter, was briefly discussed and deferred; no vote was taken in this work session.
0:04 You are watching a meeting of the Austin City Council with Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor pro, tim Vanessa
0:13 Fuentes, council members Natasha Harper Madison, José velazquez, she Vela Ryan Alter, crystal lane, Mike Siegel, Paige Ellis, zoe
0:36 cadre, mark uchin, city attorney deborah thomas, city clerk erica brady, and city manager tc broad.
0:55 Good morning everybody. It's nine o'clock in the morning on January 20th, 2026.
1:00 And I'll call to order the meeting of the, uh, Austin City Council for the first work session
1:07 of 2026, um, members and members of the public.
1:11 What we're gonna do is I'm gonna, I've called this meeting to order.
1:13 We're meeting in Austin City Hall at 3 0 1 west second street in the City Council chambers.
1:18 We have a quorum of the Austin City Council present for the work session.
1:22 And what I'm going to do, unless there's objection, is we will recess the work session and uh,
1:27 I will turn it over to the Mayor pro tim, who will call as chair.
1:31 He will call of the Austin energy oversight committee.
1:34 He will call that meeting to order.
1:36 So without objection, the Austin City Council is in recess at 9:01 am thank you very much.
1:42 Um, I'll call back to order the Austin City Council.
1:45 We were in recess.
1:47 It's 10 22. Um, members, uh, we have two items on the work session agenda.
1:52 One that, um, uh, well, we'll, well come, I'll deal with both of 'em.
1:57 The first one is council appointments to intergovernment intergovernmental entities and council committee memberships.
2:03 For the record, let me, uh, be clear, we don't have any speakers that have signed up to
2:08 speak at the work session, is that correct?
2:10 That's correct. Beer. Great.
2:12 Um, so we'll go to item d one members.
2:15 You'll recall that the code sets out that council committee membership, uh, is determined at the first council
2:22 work session of each calendar year.
2:24 So welcome again to the first council work session of the calendar year.
2:28 Um, and the way that is done is that, uh, the Mayor in consultation with members of the
2:35 council will also designate a chair and a vice chair for each of the committees.
2:40 As you know, I've been putting up on the message board of the, the committees, the intergovernmental committees
2:47 and the, the specific committees, and, um, have asked for feedback, uh, with regard to those.
2:54 And that's the, the, and we've been, we've been doing that.
2:58 The way it all plays out to, to refresh everybody's memory is once we finish this meeting, um,
3:05 and we've reached the conclusion, which I think is gonna be pretty easy because based upon the, the
3:10 feedback I've gotten, um, on the message board, what we will do, what it then happens is the
3:16 Mayor is to present that to the clerk, and those are the committees.
3:21 Uh, so I will, uh, commit to you that if we get it all solved here, uh, in
3:27 the next 10 minutes to 10 hours, um, we'll, um, uh, I'll, I'll make that presentation and I'll
3:33 let everybody know by posting on the message board when that presentation's done.
3:37 That being said, uh, the feedback that I have received and what I would, I'll just tell you,
3:46 it's, it's pretty easy.
3:47 Uh, everybody would stay where they are in terms of their committee appointments, with a couple of exceptions
3:56 on the housing and planning committee, uh, Council Member Siegel would become vice chair Council Member Vela would
4:03 remain a member of that committee, but Council Member Siegel would become a vice chair.
4:08 And then on public safety, I, I would step off of that committee and Council Member Siegel would
4:14 become a member of that committee.
4:17 The, uh, the other potential change is that we went with, uh, last year the regional affordability committee,
4:27 uh, basically had become inactive, uh, Council Member lane, particularly because of the way her district operates is
4:35 very interested in the possibility of doing something to reinvigorate that.
4:42 We're not really sure how that would look, but I'm going to go ahead and make that a
4:48 committee, uh, a group.
4:52 When I make the presentation to the clerk's office, I'll make that a, a group that's not inactive
4:58 so that we can explore those possibilities.
5:02 And for now, uh, I'll put me and Council Member lane on there as the, the contacts to,
5:09 to be involved. We will, uh, report back and, and let you know how that goes, so that
5:14 if other members of the City Council ultimately wanna become part of that, we will do that at
5:20 another work session in the future.
5:23 Yes. Council Member and Council Member cadre, thank you very much.
5:26 And, and we can put this on the message board.
5:28 I meant to do it the other day, and that's, that's my fault.
5:30 Um, I've spoken with Council Member lane about the clean air force of central texas board and would
5:38 like to take her place on that board.
5:40 Um, so that's an environmental board.
5:42 And then secondly, a change we've already made.
5:45 But just reflecting in the document, uh, that I have taken your place on the firefighter pension.
5:52 Oh, yes. And, and that will, that's a very good point.
5:54 Um, if you'll, everyone will recall that on the firefighter, uh, pension board, the legislation we passed last,
6:02 the legislation we went into the session with, uh, made it a mandatory requirement that the Mayor serve
6:09 on that board. Uh, the legislation we ultimately passed said that it's, uh, the Mayor or the mayor's
6:16 designee and Council Member Alter has already taken you.
6:20 You'll, you'll all recall we did that some time ago, so we will make sure, I'm glad you
6:24 called that to my attention.
6:25 I think we have that right.
6:27 But I'll double check that and, and make sure, uh, Council Member lane, because, uh, I just scratched
6:33 through your name to put his name.
6:35 I wanna make sure I did that right.
6:36 You're, you're in. Alright, very good.
6:39 Um, other thoughts? Yes, Council Member cadre, I forgot.
6:42 Yeah. And apologies on, on my end.
6:44 We, we could get this on the message board as well, but I was looking to, um, draw
6:48 public health committee from my list of committees.
6:52 It's been a wonderful time serving on the public health committee, <laugh>.
6:55 I, I, I was just looking at everything from the intergovernmental to the other committees of council and
6:59 I was like, I, I'd rather take one off.
7:01 So, alright. Uh, wonderful committee though, if anyone wants to join.
7:04 Yeah. That, what that does members is it creates an opening if anybody's interested in that opening right
7:09 now. If not, we can come back at some point and take care of that.
7:13 But, uh, for now, what what I will do is when I, uh, make the presentation to the
7:18 clerk's office, I will, um, have, uh, Council Member cadre removed from that.
7:24 Thank you. Council Member.
7:26 Any other discussion? Council Member lane.
7:29 Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you so much for, uh, leading this, uh, I, and, and to those who
7:34 have taken things off of my plate, um, as it relates to the regional affordability committee.
7:40 I've been in pretty close and continuous conversation with Council Member Fuentes, so I don't know if she
7:45 would no, she like to be the third.
7:47 She's, she's, uh, actually going to speak after you, so, um, great.
7:52 So I think it makes sense if she's interested in having her be part of the small group
7:56 that we have. Well, that's why I brought it up.
7:57 'Cause I wanna make sure we get everybody that's interested.
7:59 Great. Just let me know.
8:00 And then as it relates to the audit and finance committee, I, I've expressed that, um, I would
8:06 like to join that committee as a voting member.
8:08 Um, I have very much appreciated everything I've learned by dropping in and also the committees I'm on.
8:15 Um, but with it being early in my tenure, I would really like the opportunity to be a
8:21 voting member of that committee, particularly considering that I currently am only on two committees, and so it
8:28 would make sense to add a third, um, particularly with regional affordability is going to take some time
8:33 to get it going officially.
8:35 So, um, I do not favor making that a committee of the whole, however, I will express clearly
8:42 that I would like to be a voting member of that committee.
8:46 If if somebody thank you, if somebody is ready or wants to step off of that committee, then,
8:53 then they've not yet told me that.
8:56 And, and, um, and I, and you've been very clear and I appreciate your clarity with regard to
9:00 that. Uh, it's very difficult to get committees of the whole, uh, get quorums for committees of the
9:07 whole and allow those committees to operate.
9:09 You've been a very, uh, welcome addition to the meetings and, and as I, I hope everybody appreciates,
9:18 I try to make it very clear everybody's invited to that I will allow full participation in it,
9:23 um, as you, as you have participated.
9:26 But when we, it's just very difficult.
9:29 The reason the Austin energy oversight committee, uh, meets and, and takes up so much time on our
9:37 tuesdays is because it's a committee of the whole.
9:40 And one of the problems that it was conveyed to me when I first came into the mayor's
9:45 seat, uh, this time was that as a committee of the whole, it was almost impossible to get
9:51 a quorum. And so my suggestion was at that time to the then chair, uh, Council Member poole,
9:58 was that what we would do is we would just have it meet on work session days, which
10:02 are days that at least ostensibly we were all gonna be here anyway.
10:08 But as you can see, it adds a lot of, a lot of time, uh, to, to those,
10:13 to those tuesdays, I would prefer us not to go.
10:15 And I think you're agreeing that we could not go to a committee of the whole, but I,
10:19 I'm glad you're saying it so that everybody knows your level of interest and, and, and I would
10:24 encourage you to continue to go if nobody drops off.
10:28 Member Fuentes. Yes. Thank you.
10:29 Good morning, everyone. Uh, just wanna echo Council Member lane's sentiment on the regional affordability committee.
10:36 This is a topic that I know she's very passionate about.
10:38 We've had several conversations and we all share in the joint mission of wanting to address affordability in
10:43 our city. Um, and I appreciate Council Member lane's vision on the committee and the structure that she's
10:49 kind of laid out or, or is fleshing out both addressing affordability from a transportation perspective, but childcare,
10:57 um, you know, wages, workforce, really a holistic view.
11:01 And I join her in that mission, especially as someone who represents the other, the opposite end from
11:08 northwest to southwest. I think we would make a, a great tag team effort on that.
11:12 So just wanna also echo my support for the regional affordability committee.
11:16 And what I'll do is I'll put, so, so now that what I'm gonna do is put on
11:19 that is, um, lane Fuentes and Watson.
11:23 So, perfect. Um, and then, uh, thank you Council Member cadre for your service on the public health
11:28 committee. It's my understanding that it conflicts with your service on cat metro, so I totally understand, um,
11:34 your need for wanting to step off of it.
11:36 I just wanna signal to my colleagues, I know we have a year or so ahead of us,
11:40 but I will be completing my fourth year as chair of public health this year.
11:45 So just signaling that next year I'll be looking to see if anyone else would like to take
11:49 the leadership mantle on that.
11:50 So just putting it out there.
11:52 Thank you very much.
11:53 Council Member. Council Member velazquez, you had very gentle signal.
11:58 Say that again. I, I'm good.
12:00 Good. Alright. Um, all right.
12:05 Any more discussion on these committees?
12:07 Yes, councilor Harper Madison, it's, it's discussion in the sense that it's a statement more than anything.
12:12 I'm not making any declarations.
12:13 I'd like to remain where I'm at, um, on housing and planning.
12:16 I am potentially considering dropping off of mobility.
12:20 Um, and that's just exclusively for the purposes of really just fo focusing real hardcore on succession planning
12:26 this year. Um, that said, though, I just wanted to echo and although I'm not able to serve,
12:32 um, I really appreciate the service of Council Member lang, Council Member Fuentes, and you Mayor Watson on
12:37 that regional affordability committee.
12:38 I do very much see the importance.
12:41 And so you made reference to the northwest southwest connection and I'm the, the jelly in the middle.
12:46 And so, and we all, you know, boarded that s you know, those same boundaries and borders that
12:51 take into consideration our direct and immediate neighbors.