City Council Work Session
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What does the council do at the beginning of the meeting?
You're watching a meeting of the Austin City Council with Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor Pro Tem Cheeto Vela, Council Members Natasha Harper-Madison, Vanessa Fuentes, Jose Velasquez,
Ryan Alter,
Krista Lane,
Mike Siegel, Paige Ellis. Zoe Khadri. Mark Duchin. City Attorney Deborah Thomas. City Clerk Erica Brady. And City Manager T.C.
Brodnax.
Everybody, it is 9 o'clock in the morning, and it is May 5th, 2026, and I will call to order the work session of the Austin City Council. We have a quorum of the City Council present. We are meeting in the City Council chambers located in Austin City Hall at 301 West 2nd Street in Austin, Texas.
The order of the day, members, is that we will go into an executive session to discuss
two items, and then when we come out of the executive
session, we will go in the order of the agenda which will be the briefings and then the council item of interest. So unless there's objection, the city council will now go into a closed session to take up two items. Pursuant to
section
551071 of the Texas government code, the city council will discuss legal issues related to item C1. Discussion regarding a resolution directing the city manager to postpone any departmental reorganizations or employee transfers associated with the one ATS initiative
until such time that council is presented with sufficient information to justify those aspects of the initiative and until council affirmatively approves their implementation. And we will discuss legal issues related to item E1. Discuss legal issues related to yogurt shop criminal cases. Again, both of these are private consultation with legal counsel under Section 551071 of the Texas Government Code. Is there any objection going into executive session on the items announced? Hearing none, the council will now go into executive session at 9.01 a.m. And as I've indicated, when we come back out after the executive sessions, we will go in the order on the
agenda, which is the briefings, items B1, B2, and then we'll go to council items of interest, item C1. With that, at 9.01, we'll go into executive session. Thanks, everybody. We were
already in order. We were just in an executive session. We are now out of that closed session. And in the closed session, we discussed legal issues related to items C-1 and E-1 pursuant to 551071 of the Texas Government Code. It is 10-20 on Tuesday, May 5th. Members, as
I indicated, what we will do is we will go in the order of the agenda. So we will start with item B-1. And the way I'm going to suggest what we do is since these are briefings and items of interest, I'm going
to ask that we go with the speakers on that item so we get it all done together and we have all the consideration together. So I'm going to turn to the city clerk because we have speakers signed up on item B-1. and ask that the speakers be recognized.
Thank you, Mayor. Betsy Greenberg and Travis Schneider. You have two minutes.
My name is Betsy Greenberg. I live in District 9 and I'm opposed to the citywide density bonus program as drafted. I'm sure you all remember the Acacia Cliffs rezoning to DB 90 and the heartfelt testimony from residents who were about to be displaced by your decision. Before taking testimony about the case on May 22nd, Mayor Watson mentioned that DB 90 has been an extremely unhappy experience, has created significant unintended consequences, division in our community and contributed to making some people feel helpless. He committed to a resolution directing staff to fix the problem. Councilmember Fuentes agreed and expressed support for looking at one-for-one replacement on affordable units. The resolution on this issue was passed on June 6th at the same time that the Acacia Cliffs rezoning was approved.
Instead of working to avoid displacement and the loss of existing affordable housing, the new proposal is focused on giving developers more options, a height bonus of 15, 45, and 60 feet in addition to the 30-foot option allowed by DB90. The Planning Commission even recommended adding more levels up to a 190-foot bonus.
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Agenda
7 items
1
What does the council do at the beginning of the meeting?
0:01–16:26
2
How does the discussion shift from the executive session to the density‑bonus briefing?
16:26–52:41
3
What are community members saying about the proposed homeless‑encampment sweeps?
52:41–2:10:14
4
How are district representatives being reassigned to support homeless encampment outreach?
2:10:14–2:23:52
5
What are the arguments for using non‑police personnel versus officers for safety and community engagement?
2:23:52–2:40:20
6
How is mental‑health care being integrated into the Homeless Encampment Management (HEM) program?
2:40:20–3:33:45
7
What are the phases, governance model, and benchmarking approach for the 1ATS IT consolidation?
3:33:45–4:20:16
Speakers
2 identifiedOfficials recognised by voice; public commenters shown as “Speaker N” unless they state their name.