City Council

Thursday, March 12, 2026, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall

Video of the meeting

On the agenda

Roll-call votes

Documents

Summary

The Austin City Council met on March 12, 2026, adopting a consent agenda (with Council Members Fuentes and Alter shown voting no on item 2, lobbyist regulation amendments) and approving two Austin Housing Finance Corporation items, including a $5.5 million Foundation Communities loan. Two non-consent public hearing items (30 and 31) were adopted with no speakers. During the 2 p.m. zoning session, the consent agenda was amended to remove contested items 35, 36, 40, and 41 after significant neighborhood opposition from Blackland, Oak Hill, and Montopolis residents. Items 35 and 36 (East 22nd Street rezoning) failed on first reading 5-5 with one abstention, and items 40 and 41 (Montopolis Fairway rezoning) were denied on a motion by Council Member Velásquez. The meeting also featured a Flo Mob Day proclamation and live music, and adjourned at 4:02 p.m.

Transcript

0:08 You are watching a meeting of the Austin City Council with Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor pro, tim cheadle,

0:17 Vela council members Natasha Harper Madison, Vanessa Fuentes, José velazquez, Ryan Alter, crystal lane, Mike Siegel, Paige Ellis, zoe

0:41 cadre, mark uchin, city attorney deborah thomas, city clerk erica brady, and city manager tc broad.

1:00 Well, good morning, everybody.

1:01 It is 10 o'clock in the morning on March 12th, 2026, and I will call to order the meeting of

1:07 the Austin City Council.

1:09 Uh, all council members are here, and we are meeting at the, in the City Council chambers located

1:14 in City Hall at 3 0 1 west second street in Austin, texas.

1:18 Um, members, uh, the way we'll proceed today and for members of the public as well is in

1:24 a moment, I will, for the record, read the changes and corrections into the record, although there aren't

1:29 any, but I'll, I'll do that for the record in just a minute.

1:31 Uh, we will then begin with our consent agenda.

1:34 Currently, I don't have any items that have been pulled from the consent agenda.

1:39 I have no items that have been pulled from the consent agenda.

1:42 We will hear from speakers that have signed up to speak on those items that are on the

1:46 consent agenda, and around 10 30, or as close to 10 30 as we're able to do it.

1:52 Um, I, or immediately following the consent agenda and comments and discussion by members of the council, I

1:59 will recess the meeting of the Austin City Council and call to order the board of directors meeting

2:04 of the Austin housing finance corporation.

2:06 We have two items on the a hfc agenda.

2:10 We will adjourn that meeting, and then we will go to non-consent items.

2:13 We have two non-consent items.

2:14 Those are, uh, public hearings on items 30 and 31.

2:19 Uh, at as close to noon as we can, we will have our public communications, uh, at the

2:25 conclusion of the public communications.

2:27 We will recess for a period of time, uh, and we will have live music during that period

2:32 of time. And then at, uh, two o'clock, which is we have a time certain for our zoning

2:38 and neighborhood planning items.

2:41 That's the order of the agenda we will follow today.

2:44 Now, for the record changes and corrections to be read into the record, there are no changes and

2:50 corrections to be read into the record.

2:52 And as I've indicated, there are no items that have been pulled off the consent agenda.

2:58 So members, unless there's objection or questions with that, I will turn to the city clerk and ask

3:04 that the city clerk please, uh, begin calling the names of people that have signed up to speak

3:10 on the items are on our agenda.

3:13 If you're in the room and you're called upon to speak, please make your way to the front

3:18 of the chambers or, and, or take one of the seats that's here so that we'll know that

3:23 you're here and we can, uh, move through in an efficient way for those that are wanting to

3:28 speak. So, I'll turn to the city clerk.

3:31 Thank you, Mayor. We do have, uh, in-person speakers on item two, bill bunch, jennifer robo and jeffrey bowen.

3:42 If your name's been called, please come forward.

4:00 Good morning, Mayor and City Council members.

4:04 My name is jen rho.

4:05 I'm a longtime Austin resident.

4:07 I'm speaking on item two, the proposed amendments on lobbyist regulations.

4:11 As a taxpayer, deeply interested in government transparency, I see the city stripping away key accountability measures.

4:19 This ordinance originally acted in 2016, set a high standard for Austin by requiring sign-in sheets for lobbyist

4:26 visits, something no other major texas city mandates a way for Austin to be a leader in government

4:32 transparency and something that its residents highly value.

4:36 These sheets allow city officials to independently track paid influence, providing a verifiable crosscheck against lobbyists own reports,

4:46 ensuring accuracy and exposing omissions.

4:48 This also gives city officials clarity and understanding how money is being used to influence their decision-making.

4:55 The proposed revisions would eliminate these requirements, shifting the onus of reporting to the lobbyists, creating serious risks

5:02 without independent records. What incentives do lobbyists have to report?

5:07 Honestly, city officials have a duty to know who's influencing their decisions.

5:12 How do you know if you're not tracking it?

5:16 Removing this checkpoint erodes public trust, and ignorance is no excuse for unethical behavior.

5:22 So why make it harder to do the right thing?

5:25 The good news is that we don't have to choose between efficiency and transparency.

5:29 Instead of getting these protections, we can adopt smarter, modern tools, which are readily available.

5:35 Digital forms are ubiquitous, and many businesses interested in robust data use these to track their visitors.

5:41 Instant data collection removes the headaches of paperwork, enhances the auditor's reviews, makes public information requests simpler, and

5:49 builds confidence that ethics are enforced.

5:52 I'm asking you today to prioritize ethics and transparency, keep the internal tracking requirements, and instead pursue efficient

6:00 digital alternatives that make data readily available.

6:03 Thank you, mr. Bowen. Uh, good morning everybody.

6:07 Jeff bowen, uh, member of district eight.

6:10 I did remember this time, mr.

6:11 Mayor <laugh>. Um, so like my friend here, ms.

6:17 Roba, said, uh, I have an issue regarding this over transparency.

6:21 Uh, I understand that there's, uh, there's a need and there's some changes in here, but what really

6:26 caught my eye is that removing requirements, uh, this is regarding regulating lobbyists and, and changing some of

6:34 the definitions around, but I, I need to ask this one question first.

6:39 What is the line between a lobbyist and an activist?

6:45 What, I mean, do we have people here that have come and spoke in front of this council

6:49 in front of this body that have received some type of payment and just have spoke?

6:54 Um, more than likely, yes, but they're not registered.

6:58 So what is the definition of trying to make sure people get registered?

7:01 One of the other issues that I have is this, is that even in these reports that are

7:06 supposed to be done every four, every, every quarter, what if an item gets left off?

7:11 How do we know through any other ways, any other ways that they May have made a visit

7:17 to, to whatever person is the case?

7:20 What if that gets left off?

7:22 Are there any punishments?

7:23 Are there any any rules that account for that?

7:26 It, it talks about, uh, enforcement.

7:29 Okay, what's the enforcement?

7:31 You're not allowed to have supper tomorrow.

7:34 I mean, we really need to be looking at this.

7:37 This body has talked about the need to be more transparent.

7:42 How about more accountability?

7:44 So, I see issues with this in a matter of what we're trying to streamline this, but I

7:50 believe that there's issues that need to be discussed, need to be, uh, very public in order to

7:56 do this, because even the auditor gets to look at this every three years.

8:00 That's a long time between audits and trying to find out what has actually happened in that process

8:05 and what has been affected that affect us as taxpayers and as citizens.

8:09 Thank you for your time.

8:11 Thank you, mr. Bowen. We have one remote speaker on item two, tracy witty.

8:21 Good morning. Um, thank you for your public service and for considering how to improve requirements for documentation

8:26 of meetings between decision makers and lobbyists.

8:30 A primary goal of switching from an at large council to attend one system was to promote representation

8:35 that's more accessible and responsive to smaller geographic constituencies.

8:39 One very visual way to document a council office's accessibility to its constituency is to keep digital sign-in

8:46 sheets that record the names of visitors in real time, whether they're compensated for the activity and by

8:51 whom. And of course, the municipal question at hand.

8:54 And then post interaction log the calendars online in a searchable format as close to real time as

8:59 possible. Include virtual or remote meetings, as well as in-person meetings inside and outside the office.

9:05 Include informal unplanned interactions.

9:08 Expenditure of office resources is worth it.

9:10 Why would a district representative abrogate her right and c her responsibility to convey to the public with

9:16 whom she or her staff spoke about?

9:17 What, why let lobbyists tell her story unless representative's own complete records would show her time disproportionately spent

9:25 with lobbyists rather than with constituents?

9:28 I've heard that sometimes council offices don't realize their meeting with a lobbyist.

9:31 The office can access a searchable lobbyist database and require people with whom they meet to certify whether

9:37 or not they're attending a meeting for compensation before they set the meeting in their calendars.

9:41 If an error somehow occurs, an online interaction blog searchable by the public, makes it more likely that

9:46 oversight will be corrected quickly.

9:49 Today. Please rate the bar for yourself to provide complete and accurate reporting of your meetings rather than

9:54 denying your critical role in ensuring transparent government that's accountable to the people, your authority to leave the

10:00 city rest, and how you are seen to move through the world as you carry out your duties.

10:05 It begins with your commitments to transparent government that leaves as little doubt as possible about why you

10:10 take the actions that you do on behalf of the people.

10:12 Thank you. We'll move back to in-person speakers on item three, nyla sankofa.

10:25 Moving to item four, nyla sankofa, zenobia joseph on item four, and ben sotheby on item four.

10:37 You'll have two minutes.

10:45 Hello, Mayor. Mayor, pro tem council.

10:48 My name is ben sotheby.

10:50 I'm a resident of district four and a resident of st.

10:54 John's. Uh, I'm, I'm just a few blocks away from where this project is.

10:58 The, the old home depot and, and trucks lot, uh, that the city owns.

11:03 And I'm here to speak very much in favor of this project and the changes here that are,

11:09 uh, expanding, uh, deepening the affordability and making sure that this continues moving forward.

11:14 As somebody who, whose bus stop is right next to that lot, and I bike past this pretty

11:19 much every day, um, this is something that the entire neighborhood will benefit when it's implemented and the

11:28 folks who spend lots of their time in and around that area, um, whether housed or unhoused will

11:35 see great benefit. One of the biggest issues facing the working class in our country is the cost

11:42 of living and a huge component, if not the biggest is housing costs.

11:48 And one thing that we can do to make concrete progress in our city is to continue making

11:55 sure that we're building housing so people have options, and especially in mixed use projects like this that

12:03 have a, a mix of affordability in it as somebody who will be a neighbor to those perspective

12:10 neighbors. I'm here to speak again, strongly in favor of this.

12:14 The process has been accessible to us in the neighborhood.

12:17 I get the newsletters in my email.

12:19 I look forward to including art that pays, uh, uh, holds onto the history of that area.

12:27 I look forward to the water retention <laugh>.

12:29 I was talking to my Council Member about that.

12:31 I look forward to, uh, having those new neighbors in our area.

12:36 So, uh, just wanted to come down here and speak in favor of this.

12:40 Uh, I know that lots of people will come down and speak against zoning changes and against new

12:45 neighbors and against buildings.

12:47 I say, build this to the sky house as many people as you can in my neighborhood.

12:50 Welcome on item five, bill bunch.

12:57 I've not seen mr.

12:57 Bunch. Come in mr.

12:58 Bunch. Are you here?

13:01 He doesn't appear to be here.

13:03 Moving on to item six, jeffrey bowen.

13:17 Oh, uh, good morning.

13:21 Uh, jeffrey bowen, district eight.

13:23 Um, I'm actually wanting to just throw in a couple things about item six that, um, I understand

13:30 the need for wanting to have some type of temporary services.

13:33 I, I get it.

13:34 Uh, even looking at some of the, the areas that they're looking at, administrative accounting associates, dispatchers, uh,

13:42 mail service clerks, uh, and and so on, and heating and air conditioning.

13:47 Uh, one of the issues, and I know that it's come up several times, is the amount of

13:53 pay. And I'm hoping, and I, I more than likely believe mr.

13:57 Broad necks and his team are looking at what does it take to make sure that we're getting

14:02 people so that we're not having to pay an outside source.