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Tag Archives: City Legal
City anticipates legal challenges to race-based grants, including Live Music Fund
The city may need to roll back or adjust race-based considerations in some of its grant programs over concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts may in the coming months rule against the use of such criteria.…
City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 14, 2022
State Bar accepts complaint against former assistant city attorney
The State Bar of Texas has determined it will be pursuing a formal investigation of former Assistant City Attorney Brent Lloyd. Lloyd was the subject of a complaint filed last month by Board of Adjustment Chair William Burkhardt and former…
Courts • By Jessi Devenyns • Jul 3, 2019
Board of Adjustment members file grievance against former assistant city attorney
On Monday, Board of Adjustment Chair William Burkhardt and former Board Member Bryan King, with the support of Board Member Don Leighton-Burwell, filed a complaint with the State Bar of Texas against former Assistant City Attorney Brent Lloyd. The complaint…
City Hall • By Jessi Devenyns • Jun 4, 2019
Changes ahead for Planning Commission?
At this week’s meeting, City Council is scheduled to consider changes to how members of the city’s Planning Commission are selected. The city attorney’s office has offered two alternative approaches – one of which could have a radical impact on…
City Charter • By Jo Clifton • Apr 23, 2018
Featured Collection: Austin Energy 2022 rate case
Austin Energy ramps up outreach for proposed rate changes
Austin Energy has entered the public hearing phase of its base rate review process, following its proposal to raise service costs. The monthslong dialogue with stakeholders and city staff, slated for resolution by City Council in November, has surfaced predictable…
More Headlines for Austin Energy 2022 rate case
Council flees posted meeting place for interviews
City Council continued to try to hide the names of candidates for city manager on Thursday, taking the unusual and possibly illegal step of leaving the location advertised for its executive session with the candidates and meeting in a place…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Nov 3, 2017
City attorney presence could be scaled down at land-use commission meetings
The city’s land-use commissions may lose their on-call legal counsel, according to Mitzi Cotton, assistant division chief at the Law Department, who presented at the Nov. 29 joint meeting of the Planning Commission and the Zoning and Platting Commission. After…
City Hall • By Joseph Caterine • Dec 1, 2016
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Legal battle over Shoal Creek PUD intensifies
A few months ago, residents of Austin’s Shoal Creek neighborhood sued to stop a massive new development from going up. Now that legal battle is getting more complicated. Twenty homeowners filed a lawsuit in district court in April over a…
Courts • By Syeda Hasan • Jun 15, 2016
Update: City loses appraisal district lawsuit
Update: Moday, Nov. 9 After Judge Tim Sulak’s ruling dismissing the city of Austin’s lawsuit on Friday, several parties weighed in. Mayor Steve Adler said, “We need a court to rule on the fairness of the property tax system. The…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Nov 9, 2015
Austin Police Department Budget, 2012-2022
During the 2020-21 budget process, City Council cut $31.5 million from APD’s budget, citing the protests and “community outcry against the disproportionate impact of police violence on Black Americans, Latinx Americans and other non-white ethnic communities,” according to the approved…
TCAD appraisal letter worries some citizens
Retired U.S. Air Force Technical Sgt. Henry Boothe was surprised and worried when he received a letter from the Travis Central Appraisal District in early August informing him that the city of Austin had filed an appeal of TCAD’s commercial…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • Aug 20, 2015
New BoA soldiers on, despite concern
With two member appointments outstanding, the new Board of Adjustment held its first meeting Monday, despite the concerns of a former board member. Assistant City Attorney Brent Lloyd said that, as a rule, in cases that require a majority of…
City Hall • By Elizabeth Pagano • Jul 15, 2015
Commission drops secrecy, shares legal opinion
After some deliberation, the Planning Commission has released the legal interpretation that clarifies how much discretion it must deny subdivisions that include required connections to streets, if the commission disagrees with the connections. The city’s legal opinion, according to a…
Land Development Code • By Elizabeth Pagano • Mar 11, 2015
Commission powers remain unclear, residents remain agitated
On Tuesday, Planning Commissioners opted to postpone an item that should clarify whether they have the ability to approve a subdivision without requiring connectivity. But the sea of bright yellow t-shirts at the meeting made it clear that the issue…
