This Friday, at 3:30 p.m. at City Hall, there will be a joint work session between the Charter Commission and the Austin City Council. This work session we will be reviewing the City Charter and the proposed changes made by the Charter Commission.
Council Member John Martin and I have a few differences of opinion on the changes. The goal of this meeting is to find common ground. This would cut down on the issues that would be brought to the voters in November. The commission would still have the final decision on the changes to be brought to the council.
Originally, I had asked for this meeting through the city administrator after our vote. In the January Charter Commission meeting, this proposal was not discussed. In February, the commission discussed having a meeting with us, but it would be in private and only one member of the commission would attend with the two of us. After the March commission meeting, we got offered a public meeting and we agreed to it. Everyone is invited to attend, listen and learn. This will not be televised.
I would also like to ask the people of Austin if they would like to be involved in changes in how the city does business. What are you willing to do without? Do you have any ideas on what the city can do to save money?
It was discovered in the United Way's assessment that there seemed to be a difference in what the people were happy with and what key informants thought that the people should be happy with. I think that we can take a big lesson from this survey. A lot of us survive just fine without things that we want that we can't afford.
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Please feel free to contact me or any council member on questions that you might have about the charter, the budget or any other city issue.
Marian J. Clennon
Ward 3
Austin City Council
