Monday, July 20, 2026, 9:30 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall, 301 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701
Committee: Audit and Finance Committee
The Audit and Finance Committee held a special called meeting covering several items: approval of May 20, 2026 minutes (adopted); a briefing on the nonprofit contract performance management audit, in which the City Auditor reported that most sampled contracts missed performance expectations and management proposed centralizing contract and grant oversight; discussion of bylaw amendments for several boards and commissions, with recommendations forwarded to the full Council; a proposed timeline for November 2026 charter amendments, with the committee recommending previously approved staff/charter commission amendments and a certified petition amendment move forward for public hearings; discussion of a potential 2026 bond election, where staff continued to recommend waiting until 2028 and members voiced differing positions; a briefing on the public safety mental health audit; and the City Auditor's semi-annual integrity unit investigations report. Members also questioned staff on contract management, bond equity, and mental health support for sworn employees.
0:03 Everybody. It is nine 30 in the morning on July 20th, 2026.
0:07 And I will call the to order, uh, the audit and finance committee.
0:11 Uh, it's a special called meeting of the audit and finance committee of the Austin City Council.
0:16 And we have a quorum of the members of that body present.
0:20 And we are meeting at 3 0 1 west second street, which is the City Hall.
0:25 And we're meeting in the council chambers, um, at City Hall.
0:28 We have a very full agenda today.
0:30 So what I'm gonna do is immediately go to our, uh, public general public communication.
0:35 We have five, uh, speakers that have signed up for that.
0:38 Each will be, uh, given the opportunity to speak.
0:41 And I'll ask you if you please call the their names.
0:44 Yes, sir. First we have thomas or joel thomas, dr. Rosa, maria.
0:51 Maria, dr. Liz schoenfeld.
0:55 Jeffrey bowen, mary mcgowan. Well, thank y'all for being here and, uh, we'll start right here.
1:04 Thank you. Thank you.
1:08 My name is joel thomas, and I'm speaking on behalf of one voice central texas.
1:13 Um, I wanna, in particular highlight, um, the second document in the backup for item number seven, the
1:19 2025 audit, and in specifically to refer you to page 10 and the table that is found there.
1:26 I will now yield the rest of my time to the chair.
1:29 Dr. Rosa maria murillo. Thank you.
1:33 J I'm dr. Mur yu.
1:36 I serve as the chair of the one voice, central texas.
1:39 I am also the ceo for el wea marano.
1:42 But before coming to elano, I serve in state and local, um, government, including Austin public health.
1:51 So I, I bring that to my testimony, um, with you today, having the, uh, privilege to sit
1:59 on both sides. I wanna start by saying that I absolutely support the audit.
2:06 If an independent review fails to identify opportunities for improvement, it has not done its job.
2:14 Independent oversight strengthens government and public trust.
2:20 My concern is not the audit.
2:23 My concern is what happens with the audit.
2:26 Good government depends not only on accurate findings, but on accurate interpretation of those findings.
2:34 Over the past week, many austinite have understandably come away with the interpretation that nonprofit organizations broadly failed
2:44 to deliver services and failed to be accountable.
2:49 That is a powerful public interpretation, but it's not the conclusion that this review was designed to reach.
2:57 During our meeting with the auditor's off auditor's office, we were advised that this review was not designed
3:04 to evaluate austin's nonprofit sector as a whole, and was not intended to determine whether social services funding
3:13 should be increased or decreased.
3:16 Last week, the city manager reminded the council that we should not manage by newspaper headlines.
3:24 And I absolutely agree.
3:27 Headlines simplify, and specifically the headlines that were intended to damage the very partner that the city depends
3:37 on to serve tens and thousands of residents in Austin, texas.
3:43 There is one additional point that I want that I believe is important.
3:48 Today, there are four separate government processes occurring at the same time, the audit is asking whether the
3:57 city's contract management system can be improved.
4:01 Second, the contractor evaluation rubric assesses contractor performance.
4:07 Third, the city's budget process determines how limited public, hang on one second.
4:15 Did you sign up to speak independently?
4:17 Uh, so we have a system for donating time.
4:21 Um, but you'll be given your three minutes now starting.
4:26 Excellent. We're gonna start.
4:27 Yes. Thank you, Mayor, you, you were supposed to donate your time in a different way, and, um,
4:33 we'll audit that later.
4:34 Alright, thank you Mayor <laugh>.
4:37 Third, the city's budget process determines how limited public resources are allocated.
4:44 And fourth, the council the policy decision to establish community priorities.
4:49 These are four processes that are related, but not interchangeable.
4:54 They answer different questions, they rely on different information.
4:59 As someone who has spent career, a career administering public contracts, I respectfully ask three governments questions, if
5:09 only a limited number of contracts were reviewed, what basis exists for applying those findings beyond the contracts
5:17 examined? Did this review distinguish between a material failure to perform a contract variance resulting from approved modifications
5:26 or operational realities? And third, if the audited, if the auditor has stated this review was not intended
5:33 to characterize the nonprofit sector as a whole, what safeguards will ensure these findings are not interpreted beyond
5:42 their intended scope? This is not a criticism of the audit.
5:46 These are government questions.
5:49 Ultimately, this is not about nonprofits.
5:52 It is about the tens and thousands of individuals that nonprofits serves in Austin, texas.
6:00 They represent children, they represent seniors, survivors, families.
6:05 These are not simply nonprofit contracts.
6:09 They are public investments.
6:12 My request today is simple, implement the recommendations that strengthen the city's contract management system, but also protect
6:21 the integrity of this review by ensuring its findings are interpreted within the scope for which they were
6:28 intended. Because accountability should always follow evidence.
6:34 Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.
6:36 Appreciate you being here and what you do.
6:40 Good morning, Mayor. Council members.
6:42 My name is liz shaunfeld.
6:43 I serve as the ceo of lifeworks, and also as a member of one voice, central texas.
6:48 I wanna begin by thanking the city auditor for the work that went into this report, and also
6:52 thanking the Mayor and Council Member Alter for sponsoring this audit.
6:56 Because accountability matters when public dollars are invested in services for our community.
7:03 There should be clear expectations, strong oversight, and meaningful measures of performance.
7:09 Nonprofits that can consistently underperform or fail to deliver on their contractual obligation should not continue to be
7:15 awarded city contracts. At the same time, I urge the committee to interpret this report with real care.
7:23 The audit reviewed a small sample of contracts and explicitly notes that the results cannot be generalized to
7:28 the broader portfolio of nonprofit contracts.
7:33 Additionally, the report identifies concerns related to reporting, delays, communication practices, and inconsistent contract management processes that are
7:42 more a reflection of the city's own contracting system than the performance of any single nonprofit provider.
7:49 These details matter, especially in the middle of a budget process where millions in social service contracts are
7:56 already under consideration for elimination.
7:58 Without the appropriate con, uh, without the appropriate context, the public narrative can become overly simplistic that nonprofits
8:06 fail to deliver this risks causing unintended reputational harm to high performing nonprofits at exactly the time when
8:14 organizations are being asked to increase private fundraising and diversify revenue sources.
8:21 Ultimately, accountability only works when it is complete.
8:24 When performance expectations are not met, we should understand why were modifications approved.
8:30 Were there external factors that affected participation or service delivery?
8:35 Were residents ultimately served in the way the contract intended?
8:40 Such questions helped to distinguish between a reporting variance, a contract management issue, and a true, uh, failure
8:47 to perform. As council considers this report and broader budget decisions, I would encourage a careful evidence-based approach.
8:56 We should absolutely strengthen accountability systems.
8:59 We should also ensure that conclusions are proportional to the information available and that essential community services are
9:06 evaluated on a contract by contract and agency by agency basis, our most vulnerable residents deserve nothing less.
9:13 Thank you. Thank you.
9:19 Morning, ladies and gentlemen, mr.
9:21 Mayor, council members. Jeffrey bowen, district eight.
9:25 Uh, many of you May know I've, I've been a long time contract manager, construction manager, um, both
9:31 profit and for nonprofits.
9:32 Spent a lot of time in a nonprofit for the air force.
9:36 So I appreciate the work being done, uh, through this audit.
9:40 And as somebody that has read many of the, the past, uh, performance evaluations or of the audits,
9:47 those type of things, it constantly brings up to me the thought of where are the, where the
9:54 issues that are lacking.
9:56 It constantly seems to be that there's a, maybe it's a training issue because we're not completing out
10:01 final evaluations. We're not completing, uh, some of the paperwork as, as we see.
10:07 And so it's these past reports that what are we actually learning from this process?
10:14 Uh, I see the continuation of the same things.
10:17 These ladies made some very great points in that how is this affecting not just the nonprofits, but
10:25 the rest of us that don't see what are actually being, um, maintained or what's being actually provided
10:36 or the, the evaluations of how well these programs work.
10:40 So the lack of understanding, uh, seems to be one of the things that the public needs to
10:45 understand and that the rest of us need to understand what's going on and identifying the points and
10:51 the programs that are actually working and actually failing.
10:55 How do we fix those failures?
10:57 How do we, how do we, um, make those that are working work in other programs?
11:03 Also, this should be a continuous process.
11:07 Um, as somebody that taught total quality, quality management for a while, it was always about continuous process.
11:14 It May be called something different now because management has a tendency to change the names of what
11:20 the latest, greatest thing is.
11:22 So, but this needs to be a continuous process.
11:25 It needs to be continuously reviewed, even by, by yourself, mr.
11:30 Mayor, you've noted that many, many times.
11:33 But it does have effects on whether a program fails or succeeds because the effects of how it,
11:41 uh, on services on our budgets that we're talking about right now.
11:45 And we need to com constantly be looking at these issues.
11:50 'Cause it affects all of us and it affects the way the city operates and the impacts on
11:57 not only the programs, but also on the taxpayers.
12:00 Um, actually, I appreciate the extra time.
12:02 I'm now trying to figure out what the hell to do with extra 15 seconds, but yeah, you
12:07 know, I can figure that out.
12:08 You can, you can always not talk well, you know, that's not gonna happen.
12:12 So, um, again, I appreciate the work that the audit, uh, committee has or the audit team has
12:17 done, and they need to be.
12:19 Um, thank for that service.
12:21 Thank you. Thank you, me.
12:28 Right. Good morning. My name is mary mcallen.
12:32 I work in permanent supportive housing and family elder care.
12:35 Family elder care is a local nonprofit dedicated to helping low income older adults and adults with disabilities
12:42 remain safely housed and live with dignity.
12:45 We provide housing and supportive services to individuals facing housing instability, food insecurity, physical, mental and emotional health
12:53 challenges. Unfortunately, older adults are facing increasing hardships compared to last year.
12:59 More older adults are living in poverty, experiencing homelessness, and becoming victims of financial exploitation.
13:06 At the same time, many eligible seniors are not receiving critical public benefits and are losing access to
13:13 medicaid. I see these challenges every day at work.
13:17 Our mission is to help older adults remain independent, financially stable and healthy.
13:22 And that begins with the safe place to call home.
13:26 Here in central texas, older adults are fast, fastest growing population experiencing homelessness between 2023 and 2025.
13:35 Homelessness among seniors increased by 70%.
13:39 Why does that matter?
13:40 Because preventing homelessness and keeping people housed costs far less than allowing someone to fall into homelessness and
13:47 then trying to help them recover.
13:50 At family elder care.
13:51 We provide affordable housing paired with wraparound services that work me.
13:56 We help older adults enroll in medicare, medicaid, social security, veterans benefits, disability programs.
14:03 We offer financial stability services, protection from exploitation and scams and support for social isolation and depression services
14:12 that help people remain housed and reduce, reduce the need for more costly emergency interventions.