Regional Affordability Committee Meeting Transcript – 09/19/2016 Title: ATXN 24/7 Recording Channel: 6 - ATXN Recorded On: 9/19/2016 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 9/19/2016 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== [3:12:12 PM] >> Garza: I think we're ready to call us to order. There are seven of us so we have a quorum. We should have a pretty short meeting. We have -- pretty short meeting. We have the one item. If folks have been able to flip through the videotape, I know it's about five meetings in the -- through the strategic plan, I know it's about five meetings in the making. So Katherine going to go through -- thank you, Sherri, for adding your own input and helping us make this better. Actually, the first item is the approval of minutes from may. So I'll entertain a motion to -- >> I move approval. >> All those in favor of the minutes say aye? That passes 7-0. The second item is citizen communication and I don't believe we have any citizen communication. So that's -- our third item is discussion and possible action of the regional affordability committee. And if I didn't say we are in the boards and commissions room at 301 west second at 3:13 for the regional affordability committee. Sherri Greenberg made some changes and we'll go over what the changes were and we'll have a discussion and hopefully adopt it today. >> Thank you, committee members. And yeah, thank you to Ms. Greenberg. She helped us out to rework a little bit of the items. All the items discussed during the process are included so the draft, what it does, it incorporates a lot of the suggestions that that were brought up at the last committee. [3:14:13 PM] It also incorporates the mission and the vision of the committee and this is based on the original resolution that put together the committee, so that's -- this language is based off of that. And I'll move along through the document if you guys want to follow. First the mission and the vision and then on page 2 the introduction is also -- an introduction to the regional affordability committee, and it emphasizes the factors that the committee considered in deliberating this strategic plan. The main ones are the impacts on the quality of life, the cost per Austin residents and the opportunity that you all have of having different governmental entities at this committee in order to work through some of the challenges. So that's the introduction. Please stop me if you have any questions at any point. Moving along on the strategic goals and initiatives, as we massaged the document, the main goal and initiative you guys addressed very strongly is household affordability at different levels. So that is your strategic developmental goal is to address household affordability and that came awe from a lot of the conversations we had throughout this process. To achieve the goal you guys did point out early entities that you would like to -- several entities that you would like to work with and support, for example, the equity office and disparity tools such as the equity atlas that was presented. I think this works this way a little bit better than was presented the last time. That is your main goal. And this spells out the six strategic initiatives that are based on the work that we did on the board the first time you all met in [3:16:13 PM] order to address this. So one of them is affordable and attainable housing, the accessibility of transportation. Under government efficiency it was related mainly about the efforts to eliminate duplication of services. And then number four is affordable childcare. Number five the quality of health care. And number six is education and workforce training. You had talked about it at different levels so all of these are the initiatives you talked about that will address household affordability. So each initiative has strategy or -- there are several strategies. And -- sorry, it has an outcome and then each outcome has a strategic and an objective. So that's how the document is split. If we go first with affordable and attainable housing, we have several out guys that you guys emphasize that you wanted to see by addressing this topic, this initiative. And you also talked about several strategies and what those strategies will bring up as an objective. Any questions until now? Do you all want me to go through all the affordable and attainable ones or do you want me to move on? >> I think what would be helpful is to define strategies and essentially the potential action items or policies that might be and that way the public can hear more insight into this document. That would help me as well. [Inaudible - no mic]. >> So on affordable and attainable housing, one of the outcomes you wanted to see from the work that you guys do is encourage affordable housing in jobs next to transportation. And some of the strategies are policies we are talking about is looking at the link [3:18:14 PM] of density and land use, promoting affordable housing along corridors and helping the committee with past efforts that have been done. There was a comment about the housing and jobs team action plan so this would be one of the places where you would talk about a briefing that you would get about the outcome. And this was something that I think vice-chair Paul Saldana also addressed, how housing and transportation ties. And the last one was the understanding of different tools and subsidies available to get to this outcome. And the objective would be really to recommend -- you all would recommend certain policies that would address funding options and alternatives. This is also based a lot on understanding there's a lot of public land that you talked about that each entity owns and how to address affordable housing and that public land that's close to public transit and to jobs. >> I don't want to get into too much of this, but I do think the county has just -- [inaudible - no mic]. The county has just launched a new tool to assist with the development of affordable housing called a pid, which is a public improvement district. And normally the county has oven hits on when it comes to -- we have no land use powers whatsoever. Except in a pid. And one of the state requirements for a pid, there's a list of things that can be done with pid financing because it's basically a financing tool. It's like a mud, but it gives the developers the money upfront as opposed to a reimbursement mechanism is probably one of the biggest differences. But one of the specific things allowed for by the state legislation is affordable housing so we've been really pushing hard to get the developers to increase the amount of [3:20:14 PM] affordable housing within the pid, but I don't think we've been looking at the transportation nexus. So for me this is like an important additional reminder that that needs to be part of the conversation about the pids as well because I don't know how much our staff is mindful about that. Maybe I haven't been as mindful. So to me this is a great reminder to be asking what are also the transportation connections with the proposed affordable housing in these pids because we have a bunch of them coming down the line. >> That's interesting. I didn't realize y'all had a bunch of them coming down the line. >> At least six and there are more coming. >> It would be nice to see a map of and so maybe this -- I'm just brainstorming here, but it might be good to have -- I don't know what the timing you're working with, grinch, but it might be nice to have a map showing the pids that the county will be dealing with. The city has pids also. Anyway, there's a lot of transportation stuff going on, but that could focus the conversation in understanding where you're talking about. And then we could talk about that in the context of what we know about all the other transportation that's out there physical cap metro and campo and the city and all those places. >> Exactly. And where these have any overlap on the city, the first one that kicked it off was wild horse pid and we're still in the works on on that, but it was very help Dolph have a council resolution back to us that said we won't cost participate in the five to seven-million-dollar cost of a road in this pid unless there's meaningful affordable housing in the pid. So that was very helpful to us. It reinforced a sense that we had that this should be one of the net positive results from a pid. [3:22:14 PM] But I know there are more coming because of the annexation or certainly within the city's etj. So I think that kind of tag teaming if you will on what needs to be in the pids is helpful. And because it's a new financing tool that adds great financial benefits for the developers, there has to be community benefits. >> I don't know if that's an action item for the group or not, but it might be interesting to discuss that. >> Sure. That could be -- we could add that. And I think that's what the whole goal of the strategic plan is. I think that would fall into different tools and subsidies that are available. So I think that falls into number 2. But I can scribble some notes because the last item is future agenda items. So we could have a presentation and better understand the pid. >> I'm sorry to interrupt. If we might not only have a map, but a timeline of when these things are coming online and that kind of thing. Both for county and the city. I don't think the school district has any involvement in that other than we'd be concerned about issues involving our kids and our families and transportation. And that kind of thing. But having a timeline and a map together would be helpful. >> Okay. And we actually got a good presentation at our work session. We had I think a pid presentation that I think would be helpful for everybody as well. >> Is that something you can send us the link to? >> Sure. >> That would be fabulous. If I may add, yes, I think that's the initiative that we're undertaking here is with this strategic plan with these strategy goals and initiatives to organize in such a way that we took those disparate ideas and put them into buckets, if I could say that, with strategies and objectives and outcomes that we could then approach. And if you'll notice under outcome 1, under the affordable and attainable, the objective says at the end, and future policies Sha should be considered by the diverse taxing jurisdiction the committee represents. So I see an overarching goal [3:24:16 PM] of all this is to do what we're talking about here. And that's embedded in this plan. >> That's good. It will give us a big step on that. >> Right. >> We already see it working. >> >> Next one, the outcome number two, is work and gage with future use land use and planning tools. Obviously here there was a focus on codenext, a conversation that y'all had focuses around codenext, the smart growth index and looking at community hubs such as public schools and community centers and seeing how they can be part of the it development code. Based on what I hear right now the pid is a financing tool. At the same time it is -- can be used as a planning tool to push certain land uses. So you could see that overlap. And like committee member Greenberg said, it doesn't overlap, but it is guide the conversation to keep y'all working on these items like that. So on the pids it could be item one and two somehow overlap. >> I think this would be another good future agenda item around codenext. And we -- at a minimum we would want to talk about the affordability prescription paper for codenext because it could be broader than that. That prescription paper may be too limited. But basically point being that we're in the process right now with rewriting the land development code to start to identify the policy issues that the city will be dealing with. And there's overlap and there may be the same kind of issues that are important for the school districts and for the county, for all of us to understand. So I think that if with -- perhaps a meeting where we're briefed on the [3:26:20 PM] prescription paper for affordability, but -- >> And transportation too. >> Yeah. It would be more than one prescription paper, but basically it would be a discussion of how these changes to codenext and land use impact all of our jurisdictions and what kind of policies we ought to be thinking about. I think -- >> If I may add, what may be worthwhile is after we go through this -- and I don't want to be a burden on your staff, but to go back and look at the items that have either come before this committee previously or that have been discussed and see how they fit within this framework. So we could go back to the discussion of having this database of not just available land, but useful land that is idle or can be reapproximate purpose for housing. So where could that fit in here? I think that would be useful to once action is taken on this, then to take this and align it with looking at the previous discussions. And future items. >> I'm glad you mentioned that. I was thinking about something similar. I think I would suggest, and it's up to you guys, when an item comes forward in the backup we can add also outcome one -- to link it back to your strategic goals and that way the conversation when y'all are here you can go back and look at that goal because the document is a living document. >> Right. That's what I'm saying. >> If we can tie it back to some of those goals you can all have a check and balance on what you've been achieving over the next months. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Well, and -- we talked a little bit about this one. Then number three is to support the work of other housing corporations, the non-profits and other community efforts. There was some conversation on just familiarizing what [3:28:21 PM] the collaborations that nhcd does and other non-profits and corporations about housing. And the other partnerships in order to improve that. Outcome number four is to encourage affordability in diverse parts of town. You all did emphasize a lot diversity in different parts of the city. And so there were certain things that you addressed such as community land trust, how you can use bond money or other funds in order to create more permanent affordability, not only rental. There were some studies that you mentioned there is that mapping tool that talks about gentrification so that got added in here. Again, this would be some briefings if y'all want to. >> When we give an example like that it's just to give an example. It's certainly not comprehensive and I think part of our work on the strategy is what else is out there. But we want to just give the flavor, give an example. >> >> So in this case if you wanted to address any type of briefings you had you would do recommendations to see how different partnerships between the entities that you would have would help with the permanent affordability. >> This is timely because of our staff research on the pids one of the questions we're struggling with is what is the best structure or couple of options for structures of the affordable housing within the pids we raised the concern about if the affordable housing is only affordable for the first time the house is purchased, and then once it's resold if it's sold at market value then it's lost [3:30:22 PM] as an affordable housing asset and how do you structure that so that the lower income family can afford the affordable house but is not penalized on the sale of the house. So we're looking hard at that. I literally just came from a discussion with staff about that. And I think this would be a great sort of exhibit a or case study on how we structure these things because they're reaching out and seeking advice and guidance and examples of model programs from other entities that have structured them. So that could be another kind of working laboratory, if you will, for this exact issue in how to structure these. >> And I think -- >> These models. >> I think will permanent affordability is key and there are examples from here in Austin with Mueller and some others. There are also examples from around the country, but then we have to be careful to make sure that some things that other cities have the statutory authority for for example we don't. But certainly this is the vehicle to look at both models internally here that we already see in the city of Austin and others elsewhere. >> And I know Mueller was having some problem so I think a future agenda item if they've been able to solve those would be how they were able to solve those. >> Yeah, they have. >> Is it always new development for this where you have the affordable houses or can you go into existing like gentrification is there a way to do that. >> The community land trust, they'll create land trusts so the homeowners are just paying for the property taxes on the structure and not on the land. So the non-profit buys the land, buys the house, sells the house to the family and they only pay property taxes. So there are some instances. But most of them have been new development. >> So that's essentially a [3:32:27 PM] 20% reduction? In Round Rock it's 20% of roughly -- it depends on where you live and how big the property is and the house, but that's the tax reduction, tax savings? >> It varies here too because at' least for me the majority of my value is in the land. I'd say it's more like 60/40 is in the land and 40 is in the house. So I guess it probably just depends on where you live and the improvement you made on your property. >> Were you also worried about going into existing properties that have been converted into higher end properties? Doesn't the city have an initiative where doesn't the affordable housing community have some kind of effort to try to identify those and purchase them to preserve them? >> Yes, there's an effort underway with the Austin affordable community fund. I think a lot of these are the types of issues that we would address with under this particular outcome and strategy. And that we would then get on our agenda and tie back to this. >> Perfect. >> Outcome number five is the use of public land to increase the use of affordable housing and associated services for families. And y'all did talk at length also about how supportive services for families is very important. And so that was one of the things that there was a conversation about identifying the public land owned by diverse entities and then see how you can work with identifying which ones are suitable for affordable housing. So it was divided from the permanent affordability in diverse parts of the city because they're both like -- they're related, but they are different approaches in order to create more affordable housing. [3:34:27 PM] Any questions? Outcome number six would be to support the strategic housing plan, and I had talked about maybe getting briefed once it was coming because I know we did this before and that it has already been approved. >> No, the strategic housing plan hasn't been approved. >> Presented to council. >> No. Actually, there's a draft. The final has not been presented so this is actually still very timely. So I think it would be very timely because it could give us an opportunity to talk about synergies with -- you know, with the county and with the school districts and such. That one might be -- it's coming back to the committee. I'm not sure exactly when and to full council, but we should be adopting it, I don't know, in the fall or the spring, but hopefully the fall. So it's timely. >> I'll update the language, I'm sorry. >> That's all right. I'm flagging it. I'm just flagging it as a future agenda item. >> Is there a document that you could send to the committee that's the -- >> There's a draft right now. There's a draft. >> I think that would be useful just to see what's in the draft strategic housing plan. >> So I think that we're going have to somehow prioritize our next couple of meetings on what are the highest priority items to come before us and then have those associated backup materials. >> I'm confused because all this language is related to the city of Austin and we have other regional entities here. So how are we making sure that del valle's needs are addressed and pflugerville's needs are addressed -- round Rock's needs are address and pflugerville's because it's all couched in terms of Austin? >> I think that you guys need to help us with that. We want to add whatever you guys think is important and all we did is put what we [3:36:29 PM] knew. >> And I was saying sometimes when we said the city of Austin we don't just mean the city limits. And we should have been more careful of that to mean we're talking about Austin area as opposed to the Dallas area or the Houston area. >> And then maybe if we say Austin area rather than city of Austin that might encapsulate that. That reduces confusion and everybody knows that it's regional. >> Yeah. It depends. There's some when you're talking about evictions I think that was specific to the city of Austin, but I think there are other areas where there was a broader meaning so we can go back and look through that. >> Maybe we can clear that up. >> I think that was county wide. We went to the JP's and constables and asked for their data. >> So I think the problem lies in using city of Austin instead of Austin metro area. Unless it is an actual city document which this strategic housing plan is something that is being worked on by city staff. So that one is actually Austin. >> And the strategic housing plan would impact the entities or not? >> Yes, of course it would. I mean, it would in the sense that -- it could and would in the sense it's recognized for the need for affordable housing, which people live and work in different areas. So what the city of Austin does for housing within the city boundaries can have an impact on Round Rock and other areas. >> I think it can it's ironic when we're building some of our schools and some are in the city of Austin, some are in muds and we have different codes. Fortunately they're fairly close to it's not a huge impact. I've always assumed this was a starting point, a basis starting point. Speaking of which -- and we were talking about this earlier with Brian, on these appointments, I would like to see somebody from maybe the city of Round Rock or [3:38:35 PM] someone from Williamson county participate. Don Hisle I know him well. He's on the board for Leander and their meetings I think they have Tuesdays -- twice a month meetings, every other Monday they meet. So I've asked him about does he get these? And he said I just can't attend them. So I don't know if there's somebody else maybe that would attend. I've seen Terri Mitchell a couple of times. I think -- Terri has been here. Anyway, -- Allan just got off the board of ACC, right? >> And Cynthia long -- >> She's never been here. >> No, that's Ann. She has the wrong name tag. No, I don't think she's ever attended. I think she sent a proxy once, but the proxy sat over there. >> So we should check in and see if there's someone that we can see that represents Williamson county because you're right, they need to be represented. >> But Darla gave a good suggestion. Like, for example, outcome 4, we could encourage the creation of permanent affordability in diverse parts of the region and we could define region in the beginning. So we could define region. So we can go through and replace where it says city to region and all that. And then with the reference to the strategic housing plan presented by the city of Austin, we could also do -- review strategy housing plans, for example, the city of Austin's -- so it's not -- that's a good point. >> So like your codenext, I don't think Round Rock -- we may copy yours one day. I don't think we have everything nearly that comprehensive yet. >> You have a land development code. All city's have land development codes. I would love to hear how what this land development code -- how it would impact the surrounding cities. It's relevant for del valle, for pflugerville, for all of the cities in this area. [3:40:36 PM] I'm glad you brought that up. We should really understand that relationship and impact. >> One quick question. When you said define region, it would be good if we did not come up with our own definition. Is there representation from the msa? I don't think the entire msa is on this regional affordability committee or is it? That's really the question I have. Because that would be burnet county and some of the others. >> I think we could define region by the entities that each of us represents. >> That's what I was thinking. We'll go back to that. >> I think it's the -- when the regional affordability was created, I think that the resolution that the council adopted, it talked about the largest taxing entities within the city of Austin. >> And that's what we'll go back to, yes. >> I wanted to just apologize for being late. A couple of things, I think we also need to check in because there seems to be ongoing duplication of maybe efforts, conversations going on with the joint subcommittee. I know, for example, Ann and I got an email today that there's a housing subcommittee being formed of the joint subcommittee that's being led by assistant city manager Burt Lumbreras. I think Ann and I are going to both serve on that. I think Bridget you're on there from the county and I can't remember who from the city is. We may want to check in to see you to mathematic sure there's no duplication of efforts. I know our school district is moving forward with a competitive process, if you will, for the 10 parcels of land that we've identified. It was slightly delayed. I don't know, Ann, if that's gone out this week. I haven't seen an update on that. But there's something about to go out and we'll be happy to share with everybody what we're doing with that rfp process as well. >> So that would be related to outcome number 5 and then I guess the duplication with the joint sustainable committee we can probably talk to the liaison or something. >> I know what else I was [3:42:37 PM] going to say. I talked to state representative Celia Israel and I know she was particularly interested in pflugerville ISD involved in this process. I said I thought we extended an invitation for them to be in this process. I don't know if they're on the joint subcommittee. >> We might have just -- we might have just been the top three. So they may not have been the top three to make the cut. >> The top three taxing entities is how you selected this group? >> I think so. No, do you know what? The school boards were by the number of students that share feed in Austin. >> How many students are in del valle now? You guys are going, but -- anyway, I was just thinking that-- how many do you have now? Pflugerville has 25,000 or so. Leander is 40,000 maybe. We're at 48. Austin you guys are 80. >> 83. >> So anyway, it may be worthwhile to have pflugerville because there's -- there is a large portion of pflugerville ISD is within -- I'm talking about the school district, but maybe also the city as well. >> The only problem -- I think it's great if we include more people. Then it's a matter of getting quorum. It's harder to get quorum the bigger you get. >> I was saying it's hard to get quorum when don doesn't show up, [indiscernible]. I'm not picking on anybody by any means. But if we got somebody that was more, you know, who could attend -- available. Then you might have an easier time making quorum. >> Yeah. >> I'm a little concerned about the overlap that you've pointed out. What should we do about that? I mean does it not make sense to have one or the other group handle those things? >> I agree. [3:44:40 PM] I agree, councilmember. I know that the joint subcommittee we meet four times a year and this group seems to be meeting on a more regular basis. So maybe wick take what was started over there and kick it over to this committee. That would probably be my preference of what we're trying to do here. >> That sounds to me like it makes sense because it sounds like everybody on the joint subcommittee is also on this one, but not vice versa or pretty much the entities. >> Well, there it's the city, county and the school district. >> It's just the three. >> Right. And those three are on here. >> Right. >> I think it bears investigating who's on what committee. And see how they overlap. And maybe the staff can have a discussion about that overlap. And these subcommittees, I remember the housing affordability subcommittee being formed for the joint sub, so I don't want to duplicate and have more meetings. But if we're having meetings more often, which I think should because they're more effective, but they also have some homework subcommittees already, like the juvenile justice subcommittee. All of that I think eventually -- affordability impacts a lot of what that work is. So I think maybe we should all meet together at some point or a retreat. >> We'll have the city staff reach out to whoever the liaison is for that, whoever that is, if we can Jo join together. >>Bert is the liaison for the city. Sherri Fleming is the liaison for Travis county and for the school it's Edna butts. >> Outcome number seven will be the the impact of housing displacement caused by eviction in the city of Austin. I know y'all already already had a briefing about it. And I guess we'll change the wording this "In the city of Austin." >> To evictions in the [3:46:41 PM] region. >> I don't know what round Rock's policies are on eviction. We have students, of course I'm aware of those when they get evicted and there's a whole available resources to help them, but I don't even know what the city of round Rock's policy is. But again only a third of the district of Round Rock ISD is in the city limits. A third is roughly in two muds, fern bluff mud, brushy creek mud and a third in city of Austin. >> And some in Williamson county -- I mean in Travis county? >> Very small, yes. When I talk about the city of Austin and the county, Travis county, are maybe not even a third, maybe 20, 25 percent, up near Westwood high school if you know where that area is. >> And the reason that we looked at evictions is as far as I could tell there wasn't any central place where that data was being tracked. So I learned about it in a roundabout way. And it seemed like there was improvement in the policies for how all of it was handled. And of course, Robert dog begins, attorney for legal aid, came and spoke with us about it and said he had a number of remedies and we've been trying to follow up with him, but that reminds me that I need to go back to that task and follow up with him for his recommendations. But it's something that we can't know if we don't measure it. If we don't know the numbers we literally don't know the size of the problem. And I was kind of surprised at some of the numbers. >> I'd certainly be interested -- I just found out that Westwood high school had its national merit scholars announced last week. We had 35 from that finalist, whatever. The number one in the state, Westwood high school. That's great, great news. Right across the street from that is an apartment complex that I didn't know was predominantly section 8 apartments. It used to be a very exclusive, 20 years ago, a very nice. Now they said he yeah, it's a tough apartment complex. So talk about disparity. [3:48:42 PM] Anyway, I just think that's ironic that that -- and I don't know how section 8 housing, is that different eviction process than anybody else? Is that -- >> I think it does have a separate process because it's publicly financed. >> It's federal. >> And I don't know what the eviction process is there. So I think the data that we got was going to be evictions on private -- from privately owned property. But I don't even know that that's the case. It may have included some data on evictions on publicly owned property too. >> I'm certainly as a school board trustee interested in the turnover of our students. We have some -- I was talking to a principal recently and she said a third of her students who graduate in fifth grade, she said, only a third of her students have been with her the whole time. Maybe that's where you are as well. Kids come and go. And she said some of the kids show up in kindergarten and they're already at their 10th house. They've already moved 10 times. >> So it has a huge impact on schooling. It has a huge impact on the well-being of people in the community. And crime stats and job opportunities and all of this. So it's -- yeah, housing is really critical. So not knowing that data is a missing piece. >> And they get into the spiral that we've talked about before where if they get a bad credit rating then they can't get in anywhere else. >> Just a little typo. Familiarize -- under outcome 7, familiarize committee members, needs an S. And the city would be changed to region again. >> Anything else? >> And that I think -- that's perfectly fine because the objective is to create future policy recommendations that can be considered by the diverse taxing jurisdictions the community represents. So that would tie back to the region will define that. >> Yeah. >> So what's the best way to do that? Should I reach out to Robert Doggett and ask him for some recommendations and then send that information to you to see if we want to schedule a briefing on it? [3:50:42 PM] >> I think what I would recommend is again we go through this, we come up with a list and then there has to be a way to prioritize them and slot them into I would think our next couple of meetings. Get them on the agenda, get the appropriate people and backup material. I understand not wanting to be too much of a burden, but to go through this, the comments from today, previous ones, and come up with priority for the next few meetings. >> Sounds good. >> Outcome number eight would be to work with school districts and the city of Austin to determine what mechanism it is to transfer some functions or activities to the city of Austin as long as those functions or acvities serve the city. >> THA one I specific to aid and the city of Austin. And I'm sure our vice-chair could vouch for that one. [Laughter] >> But aisd is the only school district that's asked for help. And there are other school districts within the jurisdiction of Austin so this is where the tax swap thing came up. >> Yeah. >> This one is going to require a lot of study and work and participation from the various surrounding school districts. >> I think that maybe should go on to page 10 when we start talking about identify all costs for residents, tax bills, fees and calculate cumulative impact on affordability because I think that talks about all the of the entities. I can't remember. It sounds like it would go better there. >> Yeah, I think so too. I don't think we want to limit it to the city of Austin. >> Right. >> I think -- so yes, we could say work with school districts because it does say districts. We're not just limiting it to aid. So move that into on page 10. >> Under initiative 3? >> I don't really see. You're saying outcome one, identify all costs for residents under initiative [3:52:43 PM] 3, government efficiency? >> Yeah. It could be -- maybe it's just a brand new numerical outcome that we have for government efficiency. >> Okay. >> When we get there I want to talk about bond elections too. >> So it would -- yeah. Initiative 3 -- >> A separate one. Move that entirely. >> So move outcome 8 under -- >> Initiative 3, outcome 2. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Under initiative 3, government efficiencies. >> Okay. So those are -- let's move to initiative two, affordable and accessible transportation. On outcome one is working with different entities to identify key actions to reduce the cost of transportation. There was a conversation in analyzing the link between transportation and housing, and I know in initiative one we did talk about it a little bit more. And then this one kind of focuses only on transportation. So it may be an overlap, but -- yes. >> There's going to be a lot of them -- >> Finish your thought. >> It may be an overlap, but this one was intended to focus on the transportation portion of it. Not necessarily on the housing. But they all tied together, housing jobs and transportation. >> Yeah. For this one, for this outcome, there's some additional strategies I'd suggest doing. I think that the local city support that we talked about does a good job of outlining those strategies. And there are things like prioritizing safe, welcoming streets for people walking and biking. That's one of the recommendations under the liveable city report is the strategy. Another strategy is investing in transit. So that's another type of -- another one is -- I think [3:54:44 PM] you already probably have, and that's integrating land use, housing and transportation planning. So that's very similar to what you already have. And then there's another one which just has to do with comprehensive updated transportation plans. And that applies pretty much for the city of Austin that prioritizes the multimodal approach, the full range of tools for mobility and affordability. So I kind of threw that at you. I guess what I'm saying is I think that there are five recommendations in the liveable city report on affordability that we heard from, and I think there's four of them that we don't really capture here as strategies. So I can go over them again, but if that works for everybody we can add them as strategies. >> And I have another recommendation. That is that we probably need some kind of -- perhaps it would be good to have some kind of caveat at the beginning of this to say this is a plan, okay? So given that it's a plan, we're not going to in this hit every strategy on everything. I think once we have these presentations and the research comes out, there could be more. So we should probably maybe put up at the beginning some kind of language that as a plan, you know, it's a plan, but it is just -- it's a document that others would develop or something like that. >> I think that's good, but I also want to add -- >> I'm not saying we shouldn't add. >> You're saying in addition. >> Yeah. >> In the very beginning the strategic goal on page four it talks about to achieve this goal the following should be considered. And it lists the liveable city report. >> It does. >> And if we flip back to eight on those strategies, it says identify key recommendations done by non-profits and other groups. >> Right. >> So to me that would capture the liveable city recommendations even though [3:56:44 PM] it's not specifically, you know, identified there saying key -- which the liveable cities would be the key recommendations by a non-profit. >> Yeah, it's spelled out in here. >> I just feel like this outcome number one is not very specific with regard to transportation. And I just wanted to add a little more specificity. >> Which one are you talking about? >> The outcome number -- the strategies under outcome number one. >> It was more of a general catchall. >> Number two? >> Yeah. Not that we have to repeat word by word. I get your point about the liveable city report. So for example, investing in transit is pretty basic in terms of affordability. Sand as a strategy, even if we just list it as a develop key recommendations such as -- I'm just concerned that -- I just want people to recognize when they read this that those really big issues around transportation that we're recognizing them. >> I concur. We need to make sure we have transit in there, active transportation, which is the walking and biking. So go back and do those, but I do think that we -- beyond that we want to make sure that peopled in that this is a plan. >> Yeah. >> And it's a -- given a plan of some -- it's a living document. >> Yeah. And like -- like our chair said that it does reference the liveable cities report. So we don't need to reference the whole thing. >> If we're going to add one thing in strategies, you would want it to be invest in public transit? >> Invest in transit. That would be one of them. And then I would also add prioritize safe welcoming streets for people walking and biking. >> Yeah. That's what I meant by active transportation. >> Yeah. Or you could say active transportation. >> Well, people may not know that. So active transportation, including walking and biking are something the transit -- [3:58:47 PM] >> Is there an ordinance or anything that the city of Austin about parking in your driveway, blocking sidewalks? Is that -- because we have -- we like to say a student can walk when there's a sidewalk, but if you go through some neighborhoods, they put two or three cars because there's two or three families living together and the kids, they walk and they get in the street and get back on the sidewalk. >> I think there is, but I don't think it's enforced. I think it's a code violation. >> That brings up another issue that may go someplace else. But I did think that it might be worthwhile to highlight the safe routes to schools. Because I think that that's an area of transportation affordability that we could hone in on all over the region, in terms of -- that term "Safe routes to schools" is just a range. It's not -- doesn't have to be -- it can be biking, it can be walking, it can be some other form. >> Maybe under outcome three where it says work with school districts on policies and criteria. It says in place of bus transportation and safe routes to school for kids. >> Does that make sense to y'all? >> Are you writing all that down? >> Yes. And I'll watch the video. >> I'd like to add to that or at least maybe clarification, so in Round Rock, I'm sure del valle and Austin, all ISD schools there's a 2-mile radius, if you know the process, anything beyond 2 miles bus is reimbursed by the state level. >> Right. >> Then you have hazardous bus routes. >> Not Austin. >> You don't get any? Because you have city or -- >> Chapter 41. >> Oh. >> Because they view them as a risk. >> It's called recapture. >> 600 million, whatever it is. >> Part of the additional financial hit that aid gets from the state, yeah. >> So you don't get any public transportation, which is ironic because even in round Rock I would like and I still ask for our -- for the title 1 [4:00:47 PM] schools to make that circle tighter, 1 mile or whatever. What happens, that gets these kids to school with dry shoes, gets them to school on time, it gets them there and it reduces traffic congestion. If we had one bus going around that will save 20 cars about a lot of time we get phone calls saying I can't believe the traffic jam at such and such school, people are honking and everything. If we had buses people wouldn't have to drive it. >> Not only that you reduce the stress on those kids. When the kids come to school stressed they don't learn very well. >> So that's addressed in this first strategy. This is the criteria behind the policy of the 2--mile radius service for school buses. >> So -- >> Say that again? I'm not finding that. >> Page 9, outcome three, strategy one. >> Perfect, thank you. >> I wanted to just circle back to talk about what you guys just said. Some of the items in the report of the livable city, you wanted to reduce into outcome number 1 under the strategies. >> Yes. >> I heard invest in transit. >> Yes. >> Prioritizing active transportation and probably award it in a way that would include walking and biking and all that stuff. Then I heard something that I wanted to follow up. I heard, councilmember kitchen, about comprehensive update on transportation plans. And talking about those plans it does not only include city of Austin but it would include other entities, and would you like to add that as well? >> Yeah, I think that would be useful and that would be very important for us to focus regionally. You know, and I'm not talking about campo now. I'm talking about the cities and the counties. >> Okay. >> As we define region here. >> Yes. But, I mean, that level. City to city, city to counties. >> Going back to page 8, initiative two, in the first sentence, the lack of transportation options throughout the -- should be the region. [4:02:48 PM] >> Yeah. >> Rather than just the city. >> Yes, thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> While we're talking about these buses, so page 9, outcome three, strategy 3, establish recommendation be considered by ctrma regarding school buses on toll roads. I don't think our buses go on the toll roads. >> Not for free. >> And I don't think it -- I know. I just think, gosh -- >> We did a deal with ctrma and it's prohibit prohibited by law. >> No, it's noted. That's what they're telling you. I've already talked to them about that. >> That's what I'm saying. We were told it was prohibited by law. We actually received something in writings from their attorneys and our attorneys I think is now public information. I'll send it to the group. >> Kitchen: If that is an item that is of importance to the school districts, perhaps as a group we should meet with them and say -- and I'd be happy to help with that if it's helpful, but it's -- you know, it's not against the display it's not that expensive for them. So there ought to be a way that we can work that identity. You know, y'all had your meeting already, but if you want to -- if you think it's useful, I think we should up it, up the ask. And get -- perhaps even get in front of their board. >> I agree. >> Include the county's point members to the ctrma. >> That's right. >> I think they should make a presentation. Trustee amber, elens and Yasmin Wagner, because of s45, and mopac, go through our districts we had a meeting to talk about these issues and it was quite an enlightening discussion but I think we should definitely have a conversation here. I think our initial concern was with the proposed plans [4:04:49 PM] near Austin high school. We have on a daily basis at least 60 buses that exit and enter mopac and east Cesar Chavez and that does not include the other buses that are field trips and of what you. So we weren't concerned about the potential impacts of that and then of course the fact we make reference to the fact that our buses are not allowed to access those for free. So -- >> I'd be very ready to hear the details of that conversation later. >> So I would ask -- I will add that to the list, following what -- we go through this, I'm putting together the list. >> I also -- I know we have capital metro here. I think that all of the school districts or at least with the service area where capital metro is would benefit from having another conversation with representatives from cap metro here to talk about vouchers, what was already said is that we only provide bus transportation for children within a two-mile radius. Unfortunately there are a lot of our students that don't utilize our buses. I'll give an example, we have 83,000 kids but only 25% actually use the school bus. What I'm trying to find out does that mean that the majority of them are within the two-mile radius or not? And so that is a challenge particularly with transfers and those issues. So I'll be happy to pass on that data. But we do know there's a need because 60% of the kids we serve are low-income there's a need for them to have access for vouchers from cap metro or at least some discounted rate. >> I would add to that that, you know, you can have someone who is within 2 miles but has to cross very dangerous streets and interpretations such as, I don't know, Lamar and Koenig. >> There are district rules and everybody school district has to vote on that, every road that's a busy road, railroad. >> I know of situations in [4:06:50 PM] aid where students have to cross hazardous roads that don't have bus transportation so that's an issue. >> Or don't have sidewalks, trails. >> Within 183, we have -- at Olin and 183 you have 1100 students at burnt et and a ton of them live in my neighborhood so they come in waves. They walk home. They're within the two-mile radius. And there's a cap metro that runs up and down ol skin comes back into the creek area and numerous times teachers and other administers say can you do something, trustee Teich about this and I'm like no I can't. The teachers are out there look at the bus stops and watching the kids walk up and down about once they get to Olin and 183 which is a huge interpretation where I might add we have a lot of wrecks, people get confused by the lights there. >> They don't have it or just don't take it? >> They live within the two-mile radius. They don't qualify. >> It definitely is a hazard. >> That would be a big help but that's kind of a state-level funding for transportation bus routes is like 85, 1985 was the last time it was changed so it hasn't been -- it's been one of those things that over years it just becomes less and less subsidized. I think if we can get more kids on buses, fewer would be walking, fewer would be riding to and from school, especially in the morning, get them there dry, on time, stress-free. >> If I can keep us focused on the strategy plan instead of getting into the weeds of the merits because I think this is -- this has turned into more of a work session, which is fine and I think that's great because I know being so busy with our schedules it's hard to sit down and -- so if we can just focus on the plan and then we can get into the weeds when we -- once we finalize it. >> So can we have as a strategy under outcome three maybe a strategy number 4, [4:08:51 PM] develop opportunities to improve safe routes to schools across the region? >> Okay. >> We have that in the outcome headline there, work with school districts on policies and criteria in place for bus transportation and safe routes to schools for kids. >> I would put it as a specific strategy. You can put it in both places but safe routes to schools is a whole program. >> I agree. >> Based on what you heard from you guys, strategy number 2, analyze information from the school districts and the region, maybe? Okay. On how kids that live close to the school area get served and I think y'all were addressing different ways, and so that would include -- having a briefing from cap metro or do y'all want to relate something about public transportation as it relates to this outcome and strategy? >> Cap metro doesn't affect us at all so whatever y'all want to add to that. >> We have two issues, the cap metro issue and then we have the state allotment for transportation and the two two-mile radius. So those are two separate items and I think we've got them captured under 2 for cap metro and number 4 that we added. We're gonna talk about that. >> I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable with it, okay. We did skip outcome number 2 so I wanted to step back. Encourage the use of technology to help with transportation challenges in the region. And these were just examples and conversations that you talked about, such as the rmi and the Austin smart cities challenge and other options. So anything else you would like to add? >> Is there a way to put a link -- I don't know what rocky mountain -- I don't know what that is. >> Next to it. >> It says rocky mountain. [4:10:52 PM] >> I know. But I don't know what that means. So just whatever that is or brief summary of what rmi means. >> That's another one to flag for pregnancy. Certainly rmi could talk about their initiatives in light of the region and in light of affordability. >> And I think it would be good also to have a presentation on the lat ladders of opportunity -- ladders of opportunity. >> Yeah, it's -- anything that is referenced in here either that is to put a sudden -- footnote at the bottom or whatever, a link somewhere. >> Hot link would be fabulous. >> Yeah, hot link. >> That could be done on both of those -- both the ladders of opportunity smart cities challenge and rmi. We could have hot nine hot links and presentations. >> We're keeping a list, yeah. >> Moving to initiative number 3 is government efficiency. And I know we talked about the -- adding another outcome but it seems like this one was already talked about briefly. >> Removing it from -- >> We're moving the one that is on page 7. >> Correct. >> Outcome eight. >> We're moving to initiative three, outcome 2. Okay. R number 4, initiative number 4, facilitate access to quality affordability child care. And I know y'all talked about it briefly. I wasn't sure if you wanted to add any more to it. >> Actually, can I back up real quick? >> Sure. >> Going back to -- I know it's implied here but can we add bond elections? >> Where are you look. >> Somewhere on here, maybe it's separate, we talk about identify all Austin residents -- >> Page 10. >> Sorry, outcome one, identify all calls for residents, so in parentheses, it should be taxes, bills, fees, bonds. I don't know if we want to [4:12:53 PM] have one specifically about bond elections. I know that obviously the city is doing the bond transportation. Our board starts our conversation tonight about a potential bond election. Next year we're already hearing concerns/questions about cumulative effects of what the city is doing, what we're doing. I know that one of our very early meetings we talked about there being a coordinated effort or looking at just being aware of -- >> I think we can just add that. I think taxes we were thinking about both taxes on the operating side, o&m and debt service but we'll make that clear to just add bond elections. >> Not to get us in the weeds, again. [ Laughter ] But the city has another bond task forces that getting started so starting the conversations now about all the entities. Not only about the impact on taxes, but how we might use bond proceeds in a way that is synergistic. >> Yeah. One of the things I was enthused about when this organization or this committee was created was to look at our having conversations about collaborative opportunities. >> Right. >> About joint facility uses. For me it doesn't make sense we're all going out for bond elections to talk about facilities. Our debt is 1.5 billion and climbing and so, you know, bonding capacity, what does that mean, all of those things. >> Overlapping debt. >> Right. Most importantly is there truly an opportunity to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar and collaborate. I know councilmember troxclair is not here but I know she's real sensitive to that and, again, just looking at the impact to our citizens. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So we'll add number 4. Or do y'all feel that number 1 -- strategy number 1, identify all costs for residents and just adding bond elections there is enough? >> Let me ask for clarification on that. So identify all costs for residents, taxes, bills. That changes almost from block to block. You know? I mean, you can be -- >> If you live in a M.U.D., P.I.D., county, city. >> Yeah. You can have a dozen -- >> Emergency services. [4:14:54 PM] >> Or you could put the top three taxing entities, certainly the school districts always usually number 1 and then the city is second and then the counties close there. Whatever. Where would you get all that information? Like I said, each -- certainly in Round Rock we have three different major areas, the city, M.U.D.S, and two counties. And two cities. So that's what I'd be interested to know, P. And I agree with you, though, we just passed our bond, the school district did, the city just passed theirs and the county. It's all just pocket change. We always say it's just a couple dollars. >> But then you add it all up, yeah. >> If I could make a recommendation because the word "All" is a little difficult. Could we say identify major costs for residents and list some of them, both up there and under number 1 and maybe add a strategy number 4 to just make clear that we're looking at coordination among these entities? >> Yeah. >> I will tell you one of the concerns we have with the county is the size of the P.I.D. Fees. And in some cases they will be far larger than the county taxes. >> But I think to add to your suggestion, coordination when discussing bonds. >> Yeah. >> You want it to be more specific. >> Not just bonds. I would say coordination among entities with, you know, regard to major efforts such as bond elections. But I don't think we want to just -- there could be others. >> Sure. >> Yeah. I was just talking about our budget. We're talking about going up for bond next may and of course that will be even more. >> You guys can ask for a briefing because I know it's different among jurisdictions. I know you guys talked about how Williamson county is different than Travis and all that stuff so that's the purpose of the strategies. >> So identify -- change all to major. >> Yes. >> And then add a fourth that says coordinate and the [4:16:54 PM] develop -- what was it? >> I can read it back. >> Coordinate among the regional entities on major initiatives such as bond elections but put in a -- but put in such as because there could be others. Don't want to just limit it to that. >> Okay. Number 4, the quality of affordable child care, is there anything with regards to that? Towards that one? >> Instead of city of Austin, access to child care in the region. >> Okay. >> I'd say something, I don't know if this is appropriate but my concern is about the quality of the child care and the trainings that required of the child care workers. >> That's true. >> So I think that's critical to anybody that places their child in the child care facility so can we put it in there some V. >> Number 2 says what other groups are currently doing to increase affordability quality child care. >> We've got quality in there. >> In two it speaks of the portion of the family budget and high quality child care for working families. >> Number 5, facilitate access to wellness and quality health care. And then the outcome number 1 from that was to raise awareness of health care costs and how they affect household affordability. You had a couple of strategies, and item 5, current joint [indiscernible] Public entities, evaluate the health care costs and then I think committee member Greenberg, you add number 3 and four bordering to the relationship between health and other factors. >> If I may add under -- >> The social determinants of health is, yeah, without using that terminology but what we're getting at here. Actually we did use that under five. >> Under five. >> Social determinants of help. >> Number outcome number 4, I would add access to translation services because language access is a big issue [4:18:55 PM] too when you're talking about health care costs and that kind of thing. So, you know, if they can't understand what you're saying. >> Sure. >> Just add that language access, I guess would be the phrase. >> Okay. >> Madam chair? Under strategy number 3, familiarize committee members and efforts being done, I would add this to the list of sort of follow-up actions to prioritize. >> Okay. >> To get a presentation. We've been having lots of good conversations with central health about access to care through the clinics and I think that would be a useful briefing to give people a big overview and kind of an understanding of where things stand. >> Okay. I added it already. >> And couple those organizations, too, like St. David's medical school, children's. We could do it all in one day. >> I'd like to add -- I don't know if it's -- no. I think it's another outcome, like an outcome 2. And that just has to do with -- I'm trying to think how to word it, but basically the outcome being making sure everyone has access to health insurance, everyone that's -- as much as possible. Lowering our health insurance -- our ininsured rates, so lowering our uninsured rate. The reason I mention that, there are many more opportunities now than there used to be and different entities are working on that. So the city funds some efforts, the county funds some efforts, central health does a lot, school districts do a lot too through specialists and other ways to connect people to insurance. This is an example of probably duplication of efforts across the region and also I'm not sure we all understand what we're getting for what we're doing. And where we're at on that goal of people being insured. So I think -- I suspect, I may [4:20:55 PM] be wrong, but I suspect that there may be opportunities for more collaboration there. >> Okay. >> So if we -- if we added an outcome 2 lowering the rate of uninsured in the region. >> In a collaborative way. >> Maybe we need a strategy of, you know, with the -- what the strategies would be, collaboration -- >> Morn amongst all of our entities on how we do that. >> Mm-hmm. >> Okay. >> I have another, and I can't remember, I know we talked about this briefly before. Did we ever have a formal conversation about opportunities for there to be collaborative efforts to cover the employee contribution costs towards medical insurance? >> Yeah we did. We didn't follow that up or not that I'm aware of but we did raise that. >> So as a potential cost savings opportunities to each of the taxing entities. I don't know if there's even an opportunity legally for us to try to purchase or access to medical insurance for all of our employees if we have 12,000 application you guys have 13,000, the largest employers are at the table. >> All purchasing. >> Right. Is there a cost savings opportunity to each of the taxing entities. >> Probably worth exploring. >> Absolutely. >> To save dollars. >> We're self-insured at the county. Is the county and school district? >> Yeah. >> That's a great idea to look at the economies of scale. >> Yeah the synergies come for entities that are self-insured. >> Right. >> We could add that as another strategy under lowering the rate of uninsured. >> That's what I added as another strategy. >> Okay. >> So I would say as strategies under that one would be identify the current efforts around. >> Enrolling people in insurance. >> What is the rate of -- first of all, a briefing on the problem, the challenge. Two, what are current efforts among entities in enrolling people. [4:22:56 PM] Then, three, collaborate among all entities and, four, look at possibilities for this [indiscernible] Purchasing of health insurance. We'll have to wordsmith that. >> That's the point, that's the point. [ Laughter ] >> That's why I said we'll have to wordsmith that. >> It should be put that way. >> In a N an ideal world, yeah. >> How many people go to -- who aren't insured and go to church clinics and we have a big one up in Round Rock or just go to the emergency room. >> That data is around from various clinics. You have to go clinic by clinic. >> As a community, how many -- or the region, you guys have 60% economically disadvantaged -- >> Without getting in the weeds that's the kind of information we could get, if we have a health and wellness agenda day and get those kind of presentations. >> Those statistics are available. It's part of the estimates for when -- in the efforts to enroll in ACA, in the affordability care act. >> Last initiative would be facilitate access to quality education and workforce training, which has one outcome is support existing Austin workforce training programs. I mean, this is what was talked about that day but we can talk -- >> Change it to regional workforce training programs. >> Okay. >> I'm almost wanting to make sure that we also incorporate something about medical school opportunity, educational opportunities for our ISD students, public schools. And, Ann, you can probably speak to this one. >> I'm sorry. I had a flu shot today and I'm losing -- could you repeat that, please? >> I know the efforts that you've been leading in [4:24:56 PM] conversations with Dell medical school and maybe central health about partnership opportunities, collaborative with aisd but obviously other public school opportunities for there to be educational -- like a school specifically for the medical school and partnership. >> Correct. That would be, I mean, health care itself is a huge job market so anything we can do to add to that, yeah, absolutely. >> I could add -- sorry. >> Magnet? >> Collaborate and partnership education opportunities at the medical school. >> With the independent school districts in the region as we define the region. >> Okay. Thank you. Sir sorry. Sorry. >> Anything else. >> So would it be presumptuous of me to say that we all understand the edits that have been made and do we need to look at them again before we vote or can we vote today? >> I'm okay voting. >> I would be willing to vote and just -- I think our staff here has been taking copious notes and. >> Maybe we could make a motion to approve a preliminary final draft. >> I actually would not. I would -- >> Finalize it? >> Yeah. With the edits that we have recommended today. >> Watch the tape. >> So we can amend it if we need to. >> Yes, it's a plan. If we need to amend it we can. But let's adopt it with the recommended edits from today would be my suggestion. >> If that's a motion I'll second it. >> That's a motion. >> I second. >> Okay. >> I was gonna say if it's subject to change, where does this go? Who does this go to? For us and who else -- I'm sure it's available to everybody. >> Start would you agree on it. >> You can upload it on your website if you want to. [4:26:57 PM] >> Okay. Do he would not have a city website that's specifically for this -- we do. >> That's my personal office one. >> Y'all's website, regional affordability committee. >> I think as we start to prioritize our more specific briefings and recommended actions we can work out what that recommendation might look like for each entity. >> So it's been moved -- moved and seconded to finalize this with the edits that were discussed. Is there any discussion? >> I just want to thank Ms. [Indiscernible] For your hard work and effort. I know this has been going on for quite sometime on top of everything else you have to do. Thank you very much. >> Also Dr. Greenberg, thank you for your input too. >> I would add my thanks. I know affordability is such a complex topic where things overlap and I think we have done a pretty good job of trying to lay out what our strategies are and if we could even accomplish half of this I think we've done a lot. I'd also add that I really feel like I really enjoyed the discussions that we have that have been incorporated into the strategy plan and I'd say that a lot of that informed me as we went through our budget process. I think we were able to -- I think we can check some things off of the strategic plan we were able to achieve, such as being able to fund the parent support specialist for aid, such as understanding -- >> Thank you. >> -- That Travis county was able to invest in child care continuity and knowing that I think persuaded councilmembers to also invest because we were able to leverage what y'all invested with whatever we could invest and so I think having these discussions and knowing about that relationship was very helpful in this budget process. >> Yeah, I'd like to add that [4:29:01 PM] we -- you know, we all participate in so many committees and now we have this plan. I think we can get down to the nitty-gritty and focus on some specific kinds of initiatives that helps everybody around the table. You know? Helps all of us and so I think it's exciting possibilities. >> I'm excited that we now have something congreet that we can work towards implementing and organize our meetings and agendas and prioritize around ultimate recommendations so thank you. >> It's a very substantive document and if somebody was to say either what do you mean by affordability or what's the plan, this is a good starting point. Good policy wrangling of so many of the issues and I think it's got a lot of significant content. >> Yeah. >> So congratulations. >> I'd add that much of the idea for a plan, you know, we've discussed that generally. It kind of did come from one of our citizens, which is bill Oakey. >> Yeah. >> People often criticize government and say we don't listen and here we have a plan that was brought to us by one of our citizens. >> Ask and you shall receive. >> I have to give a shout out to livable city folks. We'll have to get them busy working on this. >> And I don't want to let anybody else off the hook too. There are lots of other entities out there who are busy at work on this, and so we want to be able to not recreate the wheel but ask them to spend a little time with us and share what they're doing. >> Sure. So it's been moved and seconded. Those in favor please raise your hand. Any opposition? Great. So that passes. And then the next item -- so it's future agenda items. There might have been more but I have presentation on P.I.D.S and P.U.D.S, the time line of upcoming [4:31:01 PM] P.I.D.S and P.U.D.S, codenext affordability prescription paper, follow-up on what happened at Miller, housing plan presentation, presentation on evictions. Does anybody -- >> I had a couple more, rmi presentation, ladders of opportunity and then our health and wellness day as I call it, those presentations. >> Okay. >> We also had the database on available land. >> Yeah. >> Where that's at. And then I had the ktrma, bus issue there -- different than that was the cap metro, the vouchers beyond the school bus radius and the -- maybe we didn't talk about this and I was just thinking on the -- lowering the rate of the uninsured, briefing on the status of the uninsured. And then the bond elections. >> So these are all presentations for the upcoming meetings. >> We'll have to prioritize each of those. Let me just -- looking at these -- >> I was gonna say that's a lot of presentations. >> I will say in terms of -- sorry. >> I was gonna say if there's just some -- like the rmi, things line that, even if there's a link why I can read about it and from there I may get enough information. Some of these I may just need a link or information on it. I could probably Google it. >> I was thinking of rmi as more of a discussion because out of that might come some interesting projects we could all work on. >> That shows you how little I know about it. Okay. >> We need to coordinate with the joint sub too. I don't know where you put that. Is that an offline discussion with staff disperse then we bring it back? >> Yeah, that would be off -- offline. >> But it's a priority so we will make it a priority to have that offline discussion. >> You guys had mentioned also that you may be willing to do like a health and wellness [4:33:02 PM] day, transportation day, I mean, I don't know if that would guide a little bit of the conversation. >> Yes. >> I know there's some items you want to follow up on such as the evictions but some other ones -- it's just a suggestion. It's up to what do you guys see to be a priority for the next meeting. >> I think organizing around those themes is really good. >> We need to organize around the goals and strategies and outcomes in the strategic plan but if there's something that is, you know, coming to fruition that we need to hear about, so, for instance, the housing plan was mentioned. So if there's something that's coming to fruition where we need to weigh in, that would rise -- >> I was gonna suggest urgency and timeliness as one of the criteria. I will just tell you, the P.I.D.S are -- I've been shocked at what a crush of applications that we've had on these and they are our greatest opportunity for affordable housing and it helps us to have other voices reinforcing how important affordable housing is. Because I couldn't get it into the county's policy on P.I.D.S. It's not a requirement. It's a nice to have. Really nice to have, but not a requirement. And transportation needs to be looked at in those P.I.D.S as well. So maybe a presentation in the next meeting on the P.I.D.S because they are all working their way through the system now and we'll be hitting -- will be hitting fairly soon, next few months. >> What's our meeting schedule? >> I don't know. >> When is our next meeting scheduled? >> We've usually been doing every other. But -- >> I don't know that's gonna work with all this. >> We may need to meet more. >> We may have to have a couple in a row monthly if -- given what I'm seeing before me. >> Would need a third Monday. >> So that would be -- >> The 17th of October? >> The next one is in November. [4:35:04 PM] >> Right. >> We're talking about adding one. >> It started out monthly, didn't it? >> It did. >> We could do one on the 17th. And so we want a P.I.D. And P.U.D. Presentation. I think it would be good to have both a county representative and a city staff representative. That will be interesting because if I'm not mistaken, the city just adopted a policy of not -- didn't we have this discussion where we can -- protest what the -- >> By state law if a P.I.D. Is -- so it's not a city policy. It's a state law. If a P.I.D. Is proposed within the city limits by another entity, which to me is not the best way to do this, the other governmental entity has a right I think within 60 days to oppose it. >> And we had a -- >> It's really important for your voice to be heard on that. >> We should talk about that. >> Perhaps what we also want to do is see if there are any other hot, you know, ideas around housing that are coming to fruition that we would want a presentation on the same agenda. For instance, the city of Austin, the plan that's being developed, would it make sense in that same day to have a presentation on that. >> It might. Although that could work in November too. >> Okay. >> But what about that database of available lands? >> Right. >> Is that happening? Is somebody putting that together? That might impact all of us. >> Yes. Not that I'm aware of. I have brought it up at a couple of our meetings that we need to have this happen. >> Do you remember the -- are you a member of the joint subcommittee? >> No. These meetings. >> That's happened at the joint subcommittee. >> Maybe we need a resolution directing our staff to do that. >> I think we need a -- >> We put it together. >> Right. We did -- >> I think every entity has one. It's just not -- >> I've heard a couple things. One there was something put together that wasn't very [4:37:05 PM] useful because it showed little -- >> Easements, right-of-ways. >> That's not what we're talking about. I think it would be -- >> S that was part of what was included in the joint subcommittee. >> As councilmember kitchen said I think it would be fruitful on our next agenda to have representatives from various entities come before us and tell us how they're going to put this together, this database of land that is not easements but real usable land, parcels that could be used. >> I think that's part of an offline conversation because I know that Burt Lumbreras in working with liaisons from the school district and county had gone through that. I know commission ergo employees and Shea had provided the list of county properties, we submitted a list of aid properties and Burt was going through all that. I think they had identified a parcel of land that was owned by the school district that could be the first project to do an affordable housing project. >> I think we should ask for a update at our next meeting of this committee. >> Cap metro has land. I don't know if central health does. But -- and I don't know if we want to extend to other parts of the region, but it's more than just the county, the city, and the school district. >> Sure. >> And so I feel like I need to see that there is a list and understand what it is. >> Well, I think if we can follow up with acm, Lumbreras, and see where they are. >> Get an update at our next meeting. >> Yeah, update on what the databases -- where we are on -- >> As part of our discussion in that joint subcommittee was a fairly clear direction to staff to begin to identify -- >> And how long ago was that? >> -- Land that could be a potential site for affordable housing in a joint effort. It was several meetings back. We then had a presentation from Edna butts from the school district who looked at a number of different models where -- different entities, governmental entities, worked together to create affordable housing and particularly where [4:39:05 PM] there were opportunities within school districts. And examples. So that was a useful presentation, but we did not then have a clear, as I'm recalling, help me out here, I'm not recalling that we had clear direction, bring back a site for us to consider. >> We made it a priority almost a year ago when we did an -- October of last year when we did a joint subcommittee retreat and listed that as a priority. >> That's right. >> Right. So it's been almost a year. >> So we'll have a presentation on P.U.D.S and P.I.D.S and an update on the database of public land. >> And then in November I think I heard that that would be an opportune time for the update on the city's strategic housing plan. >> Yeah, I think so. >> And how do these requests get communicated? Will staff for this committee communicate with the county on the P.I.D.S? Request for the P.I.D. Updates? >> Yes -- >> I just wanted to clarify how that can happen. >> I think on available land we can talk to cap metro too. >> I don't know if central health has any land or not but -- >> But you do have -- well, you have the clinics. You have clinics and you've already done some colocation and things line that. >> I don't -- there certainly can be a presentation. There's a, you know, master plan that's been developed for redevelopment of Brackenridge and an rfq has gone out. On the clinics, you know, southeast health and wellness is pretty well developed out, most of those are. >> Maybe -- I mean, maybe it's just a matter of saying that. Here's -- >> That's what I'm saying, yeah. >> The other thing that could be interesting is mapping where the land is. Not saying that that land has to be used for affordable housing but understanding where it is in the -- relation to everything else we identify, it may trigger ideas. >> Right. >> Now, I don't know if that's something that is of use for Round Rock or not. >> I mean, it would be interesting to see it. We don't really have any land [4:41:06 PM] that's sitting idle. We have land we purchased for, you know, five years out we'll build a high school on it or whatever but we just don't get into sitting on vacant land. We have little bitty parcels, anyway, so. . . >> What could we do at our next meeting that would be of interest you to specifically? I want to make sure that we proceed -- we haven't had a lot of discussion. There's a lot of things here that's of interest to everybody. >> Let me say this. So this Wednesday night we're having a central Texas school board association meeting, and Ann comes to it and I think you're invited and you've been maybe once before. But it's a group of superintendents and trustees that get together pretty much three times in the fall and three times in the spring. We talk about a variety of things, legislation and things like that. One of the things that comes around is just what I was mentioning earlier, the things we go ahead on the weeds about, transportation, housing. We get into things where we have such a disparity of affluent neighborhoods. >> Huge disparity. >> And that's a huge factor in the outcome of our schools. >> Economic segregation. >> Economic segregation. Austin was labeled as -- >> Most economically segregated city in the nation. >> We're not as affected as Austin, but we are. What's happening in Austin, guess what, a few years will happen in Round Rock. >> With the superrization of poverty you definitely are. >> That's a group that gets together but pflugerville is always invited. Leander shows up. My recommendation would be to maybe get somebody from pflugerville but transportation is a key issue, affordable housing is. I'm on the appraise board in Williamson county and guess what every year they get 10% increase in valuation. That's just the homeowners that see that. The people that rent apartments and houses don't see that as a line item. They just see that their rent goes up and that is a factor. I mean we are very concerned about that. Again, not probably as much as maybe Austin, maybe even del valle, some of these, you know, districts around here [4:43:08 PM] have 60, 70% low-income and that's a huge factor. So, anyway -- >> Maybe -- I think there's gonna be some topics that don't necessarily affect every entity the same but it's still worth -- >> It's a great idea to have these discussions. So Round Rock, we don't have chapter 41 like Austin does but we might here pretty soon in the next couple years. It's gonna be $5 million and ten, then 20. I mean, it's gonna be a long time before we're affected but that kind of stuff is affected because that's money taken out of our pockets that goes somewhere expels we're grateful, glad to help others but it's such a disparity and it's so hard to predict, you know, [indiscernible] Right down the street here they have they are own problems you think they're so affluent but what is their recapture? 50%. Anyway it would be interesting to have somebody from them here. I'd love to hear their take because they have very few children of poverty but they have their own problems. >> Right. I was thinking if we're building the agenda for next time you might want to throw some transportation -- one of these transportation issues on it. >> That would be great. Anything to do with transportation with us because it is affecting us almost as bad as Austin. >> We could do a connections 2025. >> Well, our we talked specifically about the cap metro voucher issue, we talked about -- that may not apply. We talked about the two-mile rule as one of the things. We could talk about -- well, you're right. I'm sorry. You said connections 2025. That would make sense. >> That's the cap metro strategy plan. >> Right. >> It would be good to get a briefing on it and look at it in the context of affordability because it would also apply to P.I.D.S. Really we're not look -- that I'm aware of we're not looking that much at transportation, particularly affordable component of P.I.D.S are not looking at that connection. The other thing I'd like to see on kind of our follow-ons to me was embedded in a lot of [4:45:09 PM] the strategic document but wasn't really called out as a specific issue, and maybe we would want to consider that in the future. But at the county -- and I know it's happening -- obviously it's happening at the school district and I'm sure it is at the city as well, because of state actions, local taxpayers at the county, at the school district, at the stickers are having to -- city, are having to pick up a greater and greater share of what is either constitutionally or otherwise the duty of the state. And I feel really strongly about them shirking their duty and pushing the costs on to local jurisdictions and we know in this coming legislative session that the lieutenant governor intends to attack local jurisdictions for raising taxes and try and put a strangle hold on local governments so they won't be able to pay for the cost of services that will be necessary because the state is not doing its job. >> He'll look good doing it, he'll say, hey, I cut your taxes. >> Exactly, come in as the shining knight. And we're hearing this already, local governments are the bad guys because they're raising taxes. One of the things we're trying to do at the county is begin to literally identify exactly what the cost is to the county and the county taxpayers of the state not fulfilling its duty. And I think that's an important metric for people to have and to understand. Because it contributes to a lack of affordability here. So to the extent that it's possible to quantify that cost, I mean, you all know, the school district, it's 400 million, but what's the cost of the state not paying for bussing? And the taxpayers having to pay for bus. >> $30 million. >> So $430 million because the state is not participating. So, I mean, like I said we're starting to try and quantify it at the county. I think that's a useful metric for us all to know because otherwise we can't -- we can't articulate why things are costing so much more and it's [4:47:09 PM] in some significant measure because the state is not funding what they're supposed to fund. >> So there's a group -- real quick, I know we'ring -- the central Texas school board association we get together monthly. One of the topics we'll work on is our priorities for the legislature because the school districts are always going to the legislature saying we don't want unfunded mandates we want more transportation. You're exactly right, whatever they can push on to the schools or cities and we're all tied in together, that's the whole thing. >> Yep. >> And it's hard to -- we're always talking about attracting businesses here. Anyway. >> If anything, maybe it can be something we have a unified message of our lobbying efforts at the state. >> That would be -- I think that's a great thing, is to say even though Round Rock, flowingerville, Austin, Ames, all slightly different, we have the same concerns and the city of pflugerville, round Rock, Austin, there are similar things, similar concerns we have. >> So we could add a presentation by our government relations attorney and she can explaining the priorities at Austin, or where we see the attacks coming from and then we could take to our individual jurisdictions about having that unified message. >> I remember the kind of ticker of the increasing number of the federal debt and that that was sort of a visual reminder to people about how much debt was being accumulated. I think people would be stunned to find out how much local taxpayers are having to pay to cover what are the obligations of the state. >> Yeah. >> And then to have them turn around and say we're the bad guys is unacceptable. >> Sure. >> So just quantify it in some fashion. >> We can try to get that metric from -- on the city side. >> All right. >> If there's no -- not opposition? What word am I looking for? We're adjourned. [ Laughter ] >> In a. [4:49:10 PM] >> No objection. We're adjourned at 4:48.