Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 9 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
The Austin City Council work session took up two briefings after hearing public speakers, most of them on 9-1-1. Mission Critical Partners presented its joint emergency communications center feasibility study, which recommended keeping civilian 9-1-1 call taking within the Austin Police Department, adding civilian emergency communications leadership reporting to the police chief, a quality assurance unit and technology upgrades; it said a fully unified center as envisioned cannot be implemented under current legislative and contractual conditions and put a standalone call center's costs at about $11.8 to $12.2 million. Public speakers were divided between asking the council to reconsider its August decision to fund a standalone office and urging it to proceed with an independent 9-1-1 center; Council Member Laine proposed moving through the report's first steps with quarterly reports to the Public Safety Committee before deciding the reporting line. Budget staff then reported that 133 social services agreements were reviewed, with 106 recommended to be maintained, 27 modified and none reduced, ahead of a broader reset taking effect October 2027. No votes were taken; Council Member Alter questioned continuing to fund contracts with performance concerns, and Mayor Watson said current spending should not define the level of need.
0:07 You are watching a meeting of the Austin City Council with Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor pro timm cheadle,
0:16 Vela. Council members Natasha Harper Madison, Vanessa Fuentes, José velazquez, Ryan Alter, crystal lane, Mike Siegel, Paige Ellis, zoe
0:39 cadre, mark uchin, city attorney deborah thomas, city clerk erica brady and city manager tc broad.
0:59 Well, good morning everybody.
1:00 It's nine o'clock in the morning on September 22nd, 2026, and I will call to order this work session of
1:06 the Austin City Council.
1:07 We are meeting in the City Council chambers located at the City Hall at 3 0 1 west second street
1:12 in Austin, texas, and we have a quorum of the City Council present.
1:16 Uh, the way we're gonna operate today is I'm going to, as, as you can tell, I've just
1:20 called a meeting to order.
1:22 Um, I want to say a couple things about that and then we're gonna recess the work session
1:27 so that, uh, the Mayor pro tim, who is the chair of the Austin energy, uh, utility oversight
1:33 committee, can call that meeting to order and conduct that meeting.
1:35 And then we'll come back to the Austin City Council work session.
1:39 All I wanna say about the work session before we break is that items a 21 and a
1:43 31 were originally pulled by Council Member uchin.
1:47 Um, he has, uh, pulled his pulling, is that the way to say that?
1:52 Yeah. Uh, he's, he's actually put them back on the agenda, and so we're not gonna take those
1:57 two off. We will just go straight to the briefings when we come back.
2:01 Um, with that being said, uh, if there's not an objection, we will, uh, recess the Austin city
2:06 council at 9:01 am we will come back as soon as the Austin energy utility oversight committee meeting is
2:13 conducted. And, um, we are recessed at 9 0 1 and I'll turn it over to the Mayor Pro Tem
2:18 tim. Uh, I'll call back to order the work session of the Austin City Council at 9:47 am on
2:23 September 22nd. Members, as I indicated, we have two items of, they're both briefings, uh, but we also have
2:29 a number of people that have signed up to speak, uh, primarily on the first item, which is,
2:34 uh, item b one, but there are also a couple people to sign up to speak on item
2:39 b two. So, uh, without objection, what we'll do is we'll have the speaker speak first, and then
2:45 we will, uh, have the briefings if that, if, if that works.
2:48 Alright. That being said, I'll turn it over to the city clerk to call names when she calls
2:53 names. Uh, as you're called, please come forward, uh, and, and have a seat, uh, that way we
2:59 know you're here, we know you wanna speak, and, and we can, uh, move efficiently for those who
3:03 will follow you as speakers.
3:04 Uh, they won't be held up.
3:06 So if you'll please, I have a few remote speakers for b one.
3:10 The first is bridget tobin.
3:18 Bridget, are you there?
3:19 Please unmute.
3:25 Pam madi.
3:31 Hi, my name is pam made.
3:33 I'm a native austinite.
3:35 I love the city.
3:36 I appreciate, uh, this council for having this work session today.
3:40 I am, um, here to speak on, uh, the separation of the 3 1 1, uh, 9 1 1.
3:48 From the, um, uh, full public safety regime, I wanna make sure that, uh, we as a community
3:56 do not confuse independence with coordination.
4:00 What I feel like our community really needs right now is one system where police, fire and ems
4:07 have the same picture of an emergency, the same real time understanding of what is going on and
4:13 not another layer of bureaucracy between the person making the nine one one call and, uh, the team that is
4:20 attempting to respond to it.
4:23 I think we're in a very sensitive time in the city of Austin right now where, um, the
4:28 community is very concerned about fiscal responsibility, budgeting, and the like.
4:33 And I feel like by separating these two, we are moving from the community's goal of, um, you
4:41 know, financial, um, efficiency, um, better use of taxpayer funds and greater integration into a structure that's creating
4:51 more organizational separation, bureaucracy and cost.
4:55 So I would respectfully request the council consider, uh, keeping, uh, nine one one call with the overall public safety,
5:05 um, regime. So thank you for taking the time to look at this issue today.
5:12 Louis granger.
5:18 Thank you. Good morning, mr.
5:20 Mayor, counsel and mr.
5:21 City manager. My name's louis granger.
5:24 I as well, I'm a wife's long off tonight, currently residing in district nine.
5:29 Uh, I'm speaking in opposition to the proposed creation of a standalone joint emergency communications department.
5:36 The recent report from mission critical partners recommends enhancing existing already sign improvements with faster emergency response times
5:50 in all 10 districts.
5:53 Um, I believe most austinites that have a legitimate concern for 9 1 1 response times in this city were
6:01 confused and frankly baffled by the city's council's vote in August.
6:05 Prior to receiving the results of the very report, it was requested that vote, uh, and the result,
6:13 uh, was at best a hasty decision and it works totally irresponsible.
6:19 Uh, we have seen the results and continue to struggle with the previous marion council's anti first responder
6:26 agenda and how it has now inarguably, uh, can be viewed as misguided and damaging.
6:32 Please don't make the same case.
6:35 Please reconsider. Thank you.
6:39 Okay, I'm gonna move to in-person speakers for b one stacy schmidt, jennifer stevens, roger boor, borg corby, gastro
6:51 and grace enters ms. Schmidt.
6:57 Good morning, Mayor and council.
6:59 Thank you. I'm stacy schmidt with opportunity Austin.
7:02 I'm here this morning to ask you all not to move forward with creating a standalone 9 1 1 department
7:09 and August, many of or several of you voted to move forward on separating nine one one call taking from
7:15 the Austin police department despite the concerns that were brought forward from our emergency leaders and staff and
7:23 the city manager. Now that the findings are in, in front of you and you have the report,
7:28 I believe that support, that report supports a different path.
7:31 Here's what I understand to be true.
7:34 Every council district is seeing faster 9 1 1 response times than into 2024, across, across both high priority and
7:42 low priority calls. Austin, Austin is already in crea, created a mental health line into 9 1 1.
7:49 And since that was added, there has been 35,000 calls that have been directly rooted to integral care.
7:56 The city's consultants have recommended strengthening the current system at an estimated $1.7 million, rather than standing up a
8:02 new department, a 2.5 million, that itself would not improve response times.
8:09 Austin has made real measurable progress on 9 1 1 through steady investment and operational improvement.
8:18 Many of those things you all were a part of making happen.
8:22 I respectfully asked the council to reconsider the position that was taken in August and direct the staff
8:28 to move forward under the recommendation of the consultant to strengthen the system we already have in place
8:34 with civilian leadership quality assurance technology and continued training that is the path that builds on the progress
8:42 without cost disruption and uncertainty of creating a new apartment from scratch.
8:48 Thank you. Thank you mr.
8:50 Boal. Good morning, Mayor and council.
8:53 Uh, my name is roger borgelt.
8:55 I'm a lifelong austinite and a resident of district 10 with an office in district eight.
9:00 Uh, I, uh, I'm also here, uh, to ask the council to reconsider the decision that was taken,
9:06 uh, in August regarding the nine one one call sitter.
9:11 Uh, I understand you're gonna get a briefing in just a few minutes from mission critical partners that
9:16 have now released their final report, mission critical partners was tasked with reviewing the 9 1 1 operations and their
9:24 final recommendation is to retain civilian nine one one call taking within a pd while adding dedicated civilian emergency communications,
9:32 leadership, targeted technology and improvements, and a dedicated quality assurance team.
9:38 This council allocated in August 1.4 million in the fy 26 27 budget to create a standalone office of joint
9:47 communications before receiving the final consultant report.
9:52 Austin has spent the last several years rebuilding public safety capacity and restoring confidence in core city services.
9:59 Undoing that momentum for an untested new department isn't the reform Austin needs.
10:04 This enhancement approach is estimated at 1.7 million, while the standalone department approach is estimated as 2.5 million, the standalone
10:14 approach would not would, it would add new leadership and overhead without inherently improving response times or customer
10:20 experience. And I think that's what you'll see your own consultant has found.
10:25 As the city has continued to navigate tough budgets over the last few years, we don't think it's
10:30 the time to, and I don't think it's the time to stand up an entirely new department with
10:34 its own ongoing leadership.
10:36 So I'm asking the council to reconsider the August decision that vote was made before you had this
10:42 report and now that the report is out, the council should follow its own consultants' recommendations ma'am?
10:51 Good morning, Mayor City Council.
10:53 I'm jennifer stevens. I am also here to ask for you to respectfully reconsider the decision made in August.
11:00 I'm a mom and a small business owner in the community and I'm also a volunteer serving as
11:05 president of the board of the central texas public safety commission.
11:09 When someone calls 9 1 1, they are likely facing one of the most moments of their lives, maybe a
11:16 heart attack, a fire, an assault, a choking baby.
11:20 We should treat any change to the first point of emergency contact with extraordinary care.
11:27 The shooting at buford's really brought this home for me.
11:30 Some of my employees were there, some of my children's best friends were there.
11:34 Police officers and medics reached the scene in one minute after the first nine one one call absolutely extraordinary and
11:43 no doubt saving so many lives in an emergency seconds matter.
11:49 Austin is currently answering more than 97% of 9 1 1 calls within 15 seconds exceeding the national benchmark.
11:58 Our call takers have also worked with mental health clinicians since 2020 to connect appropriate callers with specialized
12:05 care, the city commission and expert review, and I'm glad you did.
12:11 It's recommendations are clear.
12:14 Keep the nine one one call center within a-p-p-d-a-p-d while improving the leadership technology quality assurance and call processing.
12:23 And those are improvements we should make.
12:26 Moving the call taking into a separate department does not by itself make an emergency response faster.
12:33 The experts would say that it does add cost complexity and transition risk when lives depend on fast
12:41 coordinated response. That risk is simply not worth taking.
12:46 I urge you to act on the reports recommendations and those of the city manager, the deputy city
12:52 manager for public safety and our chiefs.
12:54 Thank you very much.
12:54 Thank you mr. Stro.
12:56 Good morning. Excuse me.
12:57 Good morning, Mayor and council.
12:59 My name is corby stro and I'm a resident of district 10.
13:04 I'm here this morning to ask you to please keep austin's nine one one call center within the Austin police
13:11 department. Every single council district, all 10 of them are seen faster.
13:17 9 1 1 Emergency response times now than in 2024 across both high priority and low priority calls.
13:26 Austin, as you heard this morning, Austin has already added a mental health line into 9 1 1 since it
13:32 was added. More than 35,000 calls have been routed directly to our mental health partner, integral care, getting
13:39 people in crisis the right kind of help without needing a new new department to do it.
13:45 This progress happened through steady investments in our system.
13:48 We already have not by tearing down anything, tearing anything apart or starting over, that doesn't mean we
13:55 stop there. We should keep asking what more can be done with our current structure.
14:00 More capacity, more training, deeper partnership with integral care to make sure mental health calls are prioritized and
14:07 routed well. Austin nine one austin's 9 1 1 system is a critical part of our public safety infrastructure.
14:14 The men and women answering emergency calls are the first link to the chain of response and their
14:19 ability to quickly communicate with law enforcement.
14:22 Fire and travis county ems can directly affect outcomes in an emergency.