During Tuesday’s work session, City Council had numerous questions about a plan to establish a city marshal office as a division of the Austin Municipal Court and seemed ready to postpone taking action on the item on today’s agenda. The…
Last Thursday, City Council considered the creation of a new municipal court division that would replace its use of sworn Austin Police Department officers. The ordinance would create a City Marshal Office, an agency separate from the Austin Police Department,…
After considering the available options, the city is ready to make the first move to relocate the Downtown Austin Community Court across Interstate 35 into a planned three-story building at 1719 E. Second St. The city intends to bring a…
In the continued search for a new home for the Downtown Austin Community Court, the Office of Real Estate Services has encountered serious constraints against moving the court into the first floor of the John H. Faulk Library or the…
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Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo gave the Public Safety Committee a public safety budget overview at its meeting on Monday. Much of the discussion centered around the Austin Police Department budget. Community members and some City Council members have…
In the middle of a pandemic that has led to a sharp decrease in the Travis County Jail population, Austin City Council plans to leverage its influence to keep the jail population low by reserving use of pretrial detention for…
Four years ago, the Austin Municipal Court generally took under 190 days to close cases. The number of days has since gone up to roughly 215 days, due to Senate Bill 1913 passed by the Texas Legislature in 2017, said…
So far, the process of reviewing plans and preparing for relocation of the Austin Municipal Court has been “very, very extensive,” according to Municipal Court Clerk Mary Jane Grubb. Impatient with the lagging timeline, City Council is pressing staffers to…
A significant shuffling of operations is in store for Austin Municipal Court in the coming months, thanks in large part to Friday’s permanent closure of the court’s south substation on Manchaca Road. The closure will leave South Austin residents with…
Last week, during discussion of whether City Council should approve a 10-year lease for Austin’s Municipal Court at the Met Center in Southeast Austin, Council Member Ora Houston opposed the $31 million contract with Zydeco Development. Her reasoning was partially…
Although Council Member Ora Houston made numerous arguments against a 120-month lease for Austin’s Municipal Court at the Met Center in Southeast Austin, only Council Member Pio Renteria joined her during Thursday’s Council meeting in voting against authorizing city staff…
Council Member Ora Houston raised objections during Tuesday’s work session to an item on Thursday’s Council agenda authorizing staff to enter into a 120-month lease agreement for 96,000 square feet of office space at the Met Center on Montopolis Drive…
