Tag Archives: Austin City Council Audit and Finance Committee
Tuesday, February 7, 2017 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Audit criticizes city’s historic program management
Citing a lack of staff dedicated to the city’s historic preservation program, an outdated fee collection system and inadequate coordination between historic preservation staff and those higher up in the chain of command, the Office of the City Auditor has…
Tuesday, November 15, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Audit critical of city, neighborhood contact teams
The city’s neighborhood planning processes “are inequitable, lack transparency, and may constitute a risk to fair housing choice,” according to an audit conducted by the Office of the City Auditor. Auditors presented their findings to the City Council Audit and…
Monday, October 31, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Audit finds employee abused city’s tax-free account
Using the city’s tax-free account to reduce his sales tax bill by only about $100 has led to a city employee’s being placed on administrative leave, city officials say.The Office of the City Auditor’s Integrity Unit continues to see a…
Thursday, October 27, 2016 by Jo Clifton
Police
Chief addresses complaints, demotions
Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo on Wednesday strongly defended his decision to suspend and demote two supervisors for failing to appropriately investigate two high-profile use-of-force complaints. He also scoffed at Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday’s call for him…
Tuesday, June 28, 2016 by Jo Clifton
Austin
Audit finds bilingual services disorganized
An analysis prepared by the Office of the City Auditor shows that although the city spends $2 million per year on bilingual pay programs, the vast majority of city departments do not collect data on the residents they serve. The…
Thursday, May 19, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
No new members for animal advisory group
The City Council Audit and Finance Committee on Monday postponed for one month a vote to recommend adding members to the city’s Animal Advisory Commission from Travis County, as requested last year by County Judge Sarah Eckhardt. In doing so,…
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 by Caleb Pritchard
Transportation
Audit pinpoints Transportation Department trouble
Austin’s top local transportation official is taking in stride a newly released report from the city auditor that finds plenty of room for improvement on city transportation initiatives.Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar said he wasn’t surprised by any of the…
Thursday, April 14, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Charter
Too many land-use professionals?
At Monday’s City Council Audit and Finance Committee meeting, Council members rejected the idea of allowing the Environmental Commission to have five land-use professionals among its 11 members.The current rules governing membership on the Environmental Commission allow for only three…
Tuesday, April 12, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
No third-party audit likely for Resource Recovery
Members of the City Council Audit and Finance Committee declined Monday to endorse a recommendation from the Zero Waste Advisory Commission that the city hire an independent third party to audit Austin Resource Recovery.However, they did endorse a recommendation from…
Monday, April 11, 2016 by Audrey McGlinchy
City Hall
Code Department slammed (again) in city audit
The department charged with policing overgrown grass, short-term rentals and illegally discarded junk fails to follow a consistent protocol for overseeing violations and does not enforce violations with equal fervor on city-owned property, reads a report from the Office of…
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 by Jack Craver
City Hall
African American Advisory Commission membership raises questions at Audit and Finance
The Audit and Finance Committee spent just under an hour trying to resolve a dispute over membership on the African American Resource Advisory Commission at its Dec. 14 meeting.At issue were the six seats on the 17-member commission reserved for…
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 by Jack Craver
Austin
Animal Services chief responds to department audit
Austin is a leader in animal shelter and care, but the common metrics used for auditing animal care facilities have not kept pace with its no-kill policy, Chief Animal Services Officer Tawny Hammond told the Audit and Finance Committee on…
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 by Elizabeth Pagano
City Hall
City audit finds trouble with affordable housing
A city audit has found that Austin does not have an effective strategy to meet its current affordable housing needs.The audit of the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department found that NHCD “has not adopted a clear goal, established timelines,…
Friday, October 30, 2015 by Jo Clifton
Elections
Adler proposes dark money ordinance
Mayor Steve Adler, who was the subject of dark money attacks during his campaign for mayor in 2014, is proposing an ordinance to deal with the problem. Members of the City Council Audit and Finance Committee discussed the matter Wednesday…
Thursday, September 24, 2015 by Elizabeth Pagano
Austin
Courthouse proposal gets shut down in committee
A city proposal to relocate the county courthouse from downtown to East Austin didn’t gain any traction at the Audit and Finance Committee on Wednesday, but it did spark a heated conversation.Though City Council Member Ellen Troxclair moved to approve…
Thursday, September 24, 2015 by Jo Clifton
The Code
Committee gets preview of lobby registration fight
Two things became clear Wednesday when the Audit and Finance Committee heard a brief presentation and two speakers on proposed revisions to the lobby registration ordinance: First, the proposed changes will be controversial. Second, City Council Members Ellen Troxclair and…
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 by Jack Craver
The Code
Ethics Commission begins to examine proposed lobbying changes
The Ethics Review Commission is under pressure to deal quickly with proposed changes to city lobbying rules.On Monday, City Council Member Leslie Pool, the chief backer of a resolution directing the city manager to draft a substantial revision to the…
Tuesday, September 1, 2015 by Jo Clifton
Development
Committees fail to agree on Whisper Valley deal
A relatively small change in an agreement between the city and the developer of the Whisper Valley and Indian Hills Public Improvement Districts has failed to win approval from two committees charged with making such decisions and passing them on…
