Austin is in the process of updating its rules regarding cemeteries, and they are almost ready. The Parks and Recreation Department created its first draft after reviewing current rules and policies regarding cemeteries along with recommendations from the 2015 Cemetery Rules Project Report. This draft was then reviewed internally and by the city Law Department. After this, the department held two stakeholder meetings for community feedback, which was incorporated into the current draft. Now it’s time for the public review period: The final draft of the proposed rules was posted by the Office of the City Clerk yesterday, and the review period will continue through Friday, Jan. 12. Following the review period, the rules will be sent to the cemetery administrator for adoption. You can view the proposed rules here, and send comments to D’Anne Williams at Danne.Williams@austintexas.gov.

Longtime commissioner Shudde Fath was not the only one to step down at the Electric Utility Commission meeting on Dec. 11. Following the formal farewell extended to Fath, the recently retired longest-serving member, ever, of the Electric Utility Commission, Commission Chair Karen Hadden announced that she too would be stepping down from her position as chair. She explained that she would continue serving on the commission but that her work duties had increased and so would need to step back from the driver’s seat. Although she has announced her resignation, there is not yet anyone to replace her as chair.

In November, District Judge Scott Jenkins ruled that City Council’s vote in favor of a controversial zoning case in November 2016 violated the Texas Open Meetings Act because key details of the zoning change were not publicly posted ahead of the vote. While city staff had posted information about the case, the posting had not stated that the proposal would make changes to the Hill Country Roadway Ordinance and the Lake Austin Watershed Ordinance, two facts the judge deemed essential. Council Member Alison Alter said during a Tuesday work session that she wants to prevent similar mishaps in the future, so she has authored a resolution that Council will vote on Thursday that instructs the city manager to “prepare recommendations regarding notice requirements and agenda posting language for site-specific settlement agreements.” Alter said that she would like staff to examine “best practices” for posting language.

Count Council Member Ann Kitchen as one vote against any proposal to redevelop the city’s Butler Park property into a stadium for a proposed Major League Soccer team. In a letter to constituents sent out Monday, Kitchen outlined her reasons – traffic, noise and possible stress on the area during Austin City Limits Festival among them – why she won’t support the use of parkland along Lady Bird Lake.

This week the council is expected to receive a report from staff on possible public and private sites in Austin that could accommodate a stadium to hold up to 20,000 fans. The letter also said Kitchen will suggest pulling an agenda item for Thursday’s meeting calling for discussion and possible action related to the report on the soccer stadium.

The letter, in whole (slightly edited to incorporate the link to the agenda item backup):

Dear Neighbors –

I’ve received many emails regarding the Major League Soccer stadium proposal and want to provide you all with an update on where we are in process and reiterate, while the idea of a soccer stadium is an exciting opportunity for Austin – I strongly assert it must be located in the right place.

There are a number of concerns I share with many of you regarding the initial suggestion for the Butler Shores location. That location is not the right place for many reasons. Extreme concentrated traffic impacts, challenging and limited access, stadium lighting and noise on the Barton Place condos as well as Zilker Park, surrounding neighborhood, and park land would add to an already overburdened area (given the impacts of ACL and other events for example).

The resolution passed in November directed the City Manager to identify city-owned sites and to include underutilized parkland for a Major League Soccer stadium and practice fields. The report back item is posted for this Thursday’s Council meeting as Item 92. Council is expected to discuss the item at work session on Tuesday, but unfortunately staff’s report will not be released until Wednesday.

This is no way to proceed on such a major council action that could involve the use of some of our City’s public parkland and particularly prime parkland along Lady Bird Lake. Any action must be thoroughly reviewed and must look for opportunities to increase access to parkland for our increasing population, not diminish access.

I will be advocating for the item to be removed from Council’s Thursday agenda at Tuesday’s work session. We will not have benefit of staff’s report in time for that discussion and a single day prior to Thursday’s meeting is simply not sufficient. If the item moves forward to Thursday, I will continue to argue for more time and exploration of opportunities to provide the public and Council the time that should and needs to be provided for such a major project.

To date the soccer interest, Precourt, is acting on its own – the city has not suggested or sanctioned or participated in any drawings of a stadium. Nor has city council approved the Butler Shores location or considered any location for that matter. The only action Council has taken is to direct the staff to create a list of all potential locations within the entire city – private land as well as public land.

You can count on me to oppose the Butler Shores location; to ensure that the public is involved in discussion of any location; and to properly vet any proposals.

Best Regards,

Ann Kitchen
District 5

Friends and admirers gathered in the foyer of Austin Energy’s Shudde Fath Assembly Room last night to honor the recently retired longest-serving member, ever, of the Electric Utility Commission, Shudde Fath. Fath, who will turn 102 in January, retired after 40 years on the EUC in November because it had become physically difficult for her to go to the meetings. Council Member Delia Garza, who was the final City Council member to appoint Fath, read a proclamation declaring Monday as Shudde Fath Day in Austin. Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Jimmy Flannigan also came by to congratulate Fath and thank her for her service. For her part, Fath told the group she has a mantra to explain how she does what she does and why: “You’ve got to give a damn about something. And then work to try to make it happen. And you can’t do it alone. You need others to help you. And you don’t win them all, but it might’ve been worse if you hadn’t tried.”

In an effort to persuade City Council to approve a new contract for its members this week, the Austin Police Association released a survey Monday that it described as evidence that the community thinks highly of local police and supports the proposed contract. The survey of more than 2,000 residents (with a margin of error of 2.2 percent) conducted by political consultant Mark Littlefield, asked respondents whether they believed Austin police officers were “professional” or “out of control.” Seventy-nine percent opted for professional, compared to 10 percent who said out of control and 11 percent who were unsure. Asked whether Austin police officers are effectively disciplined for serious misconduct, 46 percent said yes, 29 percent said no and 25 percent were unsure. Fifty-one percent said they believed APD treats minorities fairly, while 28 percent disagreed and 21 percent were unsure. The sample polled was whiter and far older than Austin as a whole. While African-Americans accounted for 10 percent of the polling sample (higher than their proportion of the population), Hispanics only accounted for 20 percent, while the last census estimated that Hispanics account for 35 percent of the city’s population. Forty-four percent of respondents were over 65 and only 14 percent were under 40. Eighteen percent of respondents came from the west side’s District 10, while only 4 percent came from District 2 in Southeast Austin or District 3 in Central East Austin. African-Americans were almost evenly split on whether APD treats minorities fairly or unfairly (42 percent versus 41 percent) and they were more likely to describe local officers as “out of control (25 percent) than Anglos or Hispanics. However, one should be cautious when analyzing the results based on demographics, since the margin of error for each subgroup is much higher than for the overall survey.

Mayor Steve Adler and his wife, Diane Land, were thrilled to visit their older daughter, Karen, in Brooklyn this weekend, and welcome to the family their first grandchild. Her name is Remy Short. Adler said she weighed in at 8 pounds at birth, last Thursday. “It just really reaffirms what’s important and it’s still amazing to me that somebody who didn’t exist four days ago is now such a central part of our life. It’s fascinating and wonderful,” he said, to see his daughter as a mother for the first time. We predict more trips to New York.

This week will be a busy one for local government watchers, with two specially called meetings in addition to the jam-packed regular City Council meeting on Thursday. On Tuesday night, the city will hold a town hall meeting with the two city manager finalists at the Austin Convention Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event will take place from 7 until 9 p.m. The town hall will feature a moderated Q&A session, with the opportunity for audience members to ask questions. That meeting will be broadcast live on Channel 6 and Facebook, and Austinites will be able to weigh in on the candidates after the meeting through a survey. Then, on Wednesday, Council will hold a meeting to hear public testimony and take up the Austin Police Department contracts. That meeting will take place at City Hall and is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

This Monday, the Austin Monitor will be teaming up with our CodeNEXT Hub partners to talk about the Land Development Code rewrite, why it has become so contentious and how to move the city forward, together, despite the differing opinions about the massive undertaking. The discussion, “ATX Together: Decoding CodeNEXT,” will be live-streamed on Monday as well as broadcast on KLRU at a later date. The event is free and open to the public, which is invited to RSVP here. The taping will take place at KLRU’s Studio 6A from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m.

The Ethics Review Commission hearing to determine whether former police monitor Margo Frasier violated city ordinances or policies by using her city time and computer for activity related to her private consulting business has been postponed to March. A notice on the city’s website simply says the meeting, which had been scheduled for Tuesday night, has been canceled. But Nathan Wiebe, head of the investigative unit in the Office of the City Auditor, told the Austin Monitor that Frasier’s attorney, Perry Minton, had requested the postponement because he has not been able to get the evidence he is seeking. The commission subpoenaed the evidence, including the name of the whistleblower who first alerted auditors to the possibility that Frasier had violated city regulations. However, City Auditor Corrie Stokes objects to releasing the whistleblower’s name because it could have a chilling effect on other employees who might want to report wrongdoing. Council was scheduled to take up the matter at last week’s meeting, but the item was postponed to this week. There is not another Council meeting until February, but a March postponement should give it plenty of time to weigh in on the matter. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo and Council Member Leslie Pool have both said they are concerned about revealing whistleblowers’ names. Although Wiebe responded to the subpoena with the information the commission was seeking, Wiebe said Sunday that he believes the city attorney’s office has not turned the information over to the commission.

On Thursday, City Council finally approved the somewhat slimmed-down version of the marketing plan for Visit Austin, formerly known as the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo objected to language in the plan because of its numerous references to reductions in the budget. Those reductions were the subject of several serious conversations back in the fall, which resulted in Council directing the group to lower its budget and stop spending money on alcohol and entertainment by non-Austin musicians. Tovo and Council Member Leslie Pool declined to vote for the budget on Thursday. Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, who referenced his past role as an executive in the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, defended Visit Austin and its references to a reduced budget. Council members Ellen Troxclair and Delia Garza were out of town on city business. Troxclair was a major player in reducing the Visit Austin budget and redirecting its funds in the fall.

It’s a rare occurrence, but today is officially a snow day in Austin, Texas. Last night, Austin Independent School District officials made the call to cancel all Dec. 8 classes “to ensure the safety of students and staff,” given the forecast of freezing temperatures and the potential for black ice on roads. AISD advises the community to follow its social media accounts to stay up-to-date on the situation. City offices and facilities will have a delayed opening time of 10 a.m. Capital Metro buses will be staying off of overpasses until 9 a.m. The University of Texas will also remain closed until 10 a.m. Stay safe, everyone!