Tag Archives: Texas Open Meetings Act
Wednesday, September 1, 2021 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Conduct of meetings is going to change – and change again
Just as Austin’s most civically engaged citizens – including some new to the process – have gotten used to phoning in their comments on the City Council agenda, the rules are changing. In addition, Council will be considering new rules…
Monday, November 2, 2020 by Elizabeth Pagano
City Hall
City ethics commission wrestles with access during pandemic
In its previous, pre-pandemic incarnation, the city’s Ethics Review Commission met in a back room of City Hall that was often jammed full of commissioners, accusers, defenders, and occasionally, reporters. But the meetings were open to the public, and once…
Monday, December 2, 2019 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Neighbors win Open Meetings suit again
Once again, the city of Austin finds itself on the losing end of a legal battle over public information. Last week, the 14th Court of Appeals sided with the Lake Austin Collective, which sued the city for failing to give…
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Courts
Council rules unlikely to change despite opinion
Despite a ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismantling a provision of the Texas Open Meetings Act that prevents local government officials from meeting in small groups in what is known as a “walking quorum,” it seems unlikely…
Thursday, June 7, 2018 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Questions arise over CodeNEXT votes
Attorney Bill Aleshire has alerted Mayor Steve Adler that a constituent saw a problem with the new method of counting City Council votes at Tuesday’s work session on CodeNEXT. That method required members to signal their support for an idea…
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Courts
Judge finds city violated open meetings law again
Litigation about the Champion tract never really goes away. Originally filed in the early 1990s, the litigation simply morphs from one issue to another and one venue to another. It has cost the city of Austin an almost endless amount…
Tuesday, June 6, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Courts
Lake Austin group sues city over open meetings
A group of Lake Austin homeowners on Monday sued the city of Austin, claiming that the city’s notice concerning the zoning and waiver of environmental regulations on what is known as the Champion tract, was inadequate and therefore violated the…
Thursday, April 6, 2017 by Jo Clifton
The Region
Bastrop’s lawyer claims Aleshire in contempt
David Bragg, the attorney for the city of Bastrop, has threatened to seek a contempt of court ruling against Austin attorney Bill Aleshire because of Aleshire’s representation of a Bastrop resident in a lawsuit accusing the city of violating the…
Tuesday, January 24, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Politics
Water conference raises open meetings questions
An attorney for the nonprofit League of Independent Voters of Texas warned the Texas Water Development Board on Sunday that the agency was in jeopardy of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. However, by the end of the day Monday,…
Monday, October 3, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Judge considers Rodgers’ Pilot Knob claims
How much notice should the City Council agenda provide to citizens who want to know what Council is doing that may impact their taxes and water rates? That’s one of the questions Judge Stephen Yelenosky will have to answer when…
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Suit: Pilot Knob vote violated state, federal law
Civic activist Brian Rodgers has amended the lawsuit he initially filed in February against the city of Austin, challenging the city’s entire scheme for financing water and wastewater improvements at the controversial Pilot Knob development in Southeast Travis County. Rodgers’…
Monday, February 3, 2014 by Michael Kanin
Development
Groups petition federal court to join city’s White Lodging lawsuit
An attorney representing the Workers Defense Project filed legal documents Saturday that ask a U.S. District Court judge to allow the workers center and the Save Our Springs Alliance to become party to ongoing legal action between the City of…
