City Council Work Session Transcript – 04/20/2021 Title: City of Austin Channel: 6 - COAUS Recorded On: 4/20/2021 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 4/20/2021 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [11:16:15 AM] >> Mayor Adler: Is staff ready for me to start? >> Yes, we are. >> Mayor Adler: Okay, great. Good morning. It is Tuesday, April 20th, 2021. This is the special called meeting of the Austin city council, 11:16. This meeting is being held virtually. We have a quorum present. I think that councilmember Kelly was having some technical difficulties. Councilmember kitchen -- I mean councilmember pool is going to be joining us I think like at 12:30. Councilmember alter is over at the commissioners' court with the -- a the climate conservation for a proposal that they're dealing with. [11:17:17 AM] So that gets it to we that are here. Colleagues, we have in front of us pulled items and then we have two briefings. The briefing concerning recommendations on public safety will begin at 2:00 and run three hours. We have a hard stop at five. These are recommendations of the task force, not our city recommendations at this point and I don't think we have city staff recommendations on these yet. These things would all follow, but the purposes of today's meeting is to receive, certainly if there are questions of asking them and getting them answered and given the hard stop at five we're going to do that. [11:18:19 AM] We have pulled items that we're going to start and then we have a briefing between pulled items and then on the report back from our homelessness officer about the summit. Let's see on timing. We're going to begin with the pulled items. My understanding is that the first two items that were pulled were pulled by councilmember pool and I think items three and four are going to be postponed by staff this week. Is that correct? >> Let me confirm that, mayor, and get back to you. >> Mayor Adler: Items number five and six also pulled by councilmember pool. She's asked to be present [11:19:20 AM] when we discuss those. So when she's with us before 2:00 we'll raise those issues so she has a chance to be here. That gets to us councilmember alter's item number 20. She's not going to be -- maybe it's a moment or two before she joins us. Councilmember kitchen. >> Kitchen: On item three and four I have questions too, so depending on when we get to that, I would as soon wait for councilmember pool, but if we have a timing issue I can ask some of those questions. And city manager, I thought it was item 3 that was going to be postponed. I'm not as certain about item four. >> Mayor Adler: We'll go over that when the city manager is ready to talk about three and four. And councilmember pool indicated that she wanted to be here for that second. [11:20:22 AM] Didn't necessarily need to be here for the first two. Council, item number 39 was pulled by councilmember harper-madison. This was the fee-in-lieu issue. Mayor pro tem? >> Harper-madison: Yes, mayor. Were you asking what my concern is or did you want to jump into the item that I installed. >> Mayor Adler: Let's jump into the item that you pulled. >> Harper-madison: Like you already laid out, this is the fee-in-lieu item. I have a couple of goes staff. Did you confirm already that is the staff that would need to be present are here? >> Mayor Adler: Let's ask the manager. Do we have staff here to speak to item 39. >> We do. They're being moved over and look like they're here. It's [indiscernible] And Jerry rusthoven. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Mayor pro tem. >> Harper-madison: Thank you. So I'm sorry, what was that? [11:21:24 AM] Murdered by. >> Harper-madison: There's a bit of an echo. >> Mayor Adler: Go ahead. >> Harper- madison: We've heard from a number of advocates that they would like for to us strike that first be it further resolved in this item. And we are under the impression and I tend to agree with them it could jeopardize funding for homelessness. We don't want to jeopardize our ability to -- >> Excuse me. >> Mayor Adler: Ann, could you mute yourself? [11:22:24 AM] >> Harper-madison: Mayor Adler, do you mind going to councilmember tovo so she can lay the item out? I need a moment. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Councilmember tovo, do you want to talk about your item here? >> Tovo: I guess I'd rather here the questions first, but I'm certainly happy to lay it out if that makes sense. I think we had an opportunity to talk about it at our last meeting and I wrote a pretty lengthy message board post laying out the intent here. Let me start where the mayor pro tem ended by saying the whole purpose -- the passage that we would be -- we would be initiating an amendment, so I think probably all of us know, but I think it's worth mentioning for the public that when we initiate a code amendment it goes through a pretty extensive process. It goes back to our planning commission who considers it. [11:23:24 AM] There's public testimony there and then they make a recommendation, it comes to us and we have conversation and public testimony about it as well. So by passing the resolution it doesn't affect the change, it just starts the process of having that conversation. The passage that we would be amending -- that we would be initiating either a repeal or an amending of is the passage that talks about the -- it talks about projects that are requesting an exception to F.A.R. So again I'll start where the mayor pro tem ended. She made a comment from a stakeholder, repeated a comment from a stakeholder that it could can jeopardize our funding for homelessness. I would say just the opposite. If we are depending on what we decide to do after having a policy conversation, if we amend that passage it could generate more money for [11:24:27 AM] homelessness through our density bonus, our downtown density bonus fees are all designated for permanent supportive housing and also for housing vouchers I regard both of the directives in this in making sure that we're capturing as much community benefit as possible and making sure that are when we have development downtown that it's progressing with more updated fees. I do think there's a conversation to have and we may not all agree on whether or not projects should exceed the cap of F.A.R., but again that's a conversation that we are making space to have in a more deliberate passage with the passing of the first directive. And I'll just note again what I noted in the message board post, which is that the fees have not been updated since 2014 and I believe that we've had multiple recommendations to update them on an annual [11:25:27 AM] basis, and that's probably a change that I'm going to suggest we make to the resolution to make it clearer that are in passing this we're also asking staff or directing staff to update those fees on an annual basis. And so that we're really keeping up with the market and not -- and not using seven-year-old fees for our density bonus program. I don't regard that as being in the best interest of the city in terms of capturing as much benefit for affordable housing as possible, which again is designated for homelessness. And then, of course, the other change that this would affect is to change the fee which is currently set at zero to an actual fee for non-commercial development. And that's something that that has been discussed for as long as we've been talking about a downtown density bonus program. And that's been talking about like in some of the small group sessions that were taking place as part of the community process [11:26:27 AM] leading into the downtown density bonus program and the downtown plan. I remember sitting around the table and hammering that out with other community members at the time. And not all of us that that fee should be set a at zero. I think at this point we're really at a place as a city where we can change that fee as per our consultant's recommendation to something that is not zero. >> Mayor Adler: Okay, thank you. Mayor pro tem, did you want to raise any issues or concerns? >> Harper-madison: I did. And I appreciate councilmember tovo laying that out and I appreciate y'all's patience with me choking. I did highlight already what the cause for person was and I have to say I agree with the concerns that were raised more essentially a more holistic revision. Not that a revision needs to take place, but a more holistic revision of the downtown density bonus program could take place as [11:27:28 AM] well as our citywide density bonus programs. So I'd like to gauge from my colleagues the interest in our council's moving forward with recalibrating the inlieu fees for the downtown density bonus program to maximize our affordable housing dollars on Thursday, but to strike the first be it further resolved and bringing forward another resolution at a future date to initiate comprehensive revision of our citywide and our downtown density bonus programs. And also I have some additional questions for staff. >> Mayor Adler: Staff is here if you want to ask them in a moment. Councilmember Casar? >> Casar: Mayor, I want to express that updating our fees to reflect market conditions makes sense to me. And whatever process we want to go through to make sure that we are making sure that [11:28:29 AM] our fees keep up with market conditions, I think that that makes good sense. So that we are generating the best revenue we can so we don't set a fee too low and don't capture the value that we need and also don't set a fee that is so high that we don't get the development and then also receive less than the fee. And so I support having good and calibrated fees, but with the issue related to initiating the code amendment, I'll rat a time what I said. I think during the last work session, which is we've received reports from our staff and from the community time and time again that we could be doing a lot better with our density bonus programs by allowing more density and capturing more on-site affordable housing and more affordable housing fees and kicking off the year here for us to just revise the code as it relates to justice the [11:29:31 AM] density bonus part of the code when actually there are so many parts activity where we've received information that we need to update those corridors and those parts of the code to capture fees and affordable housing. I would rather actually fix those corridors in all of those density bonus programs as opposed to just picking this one. So we've got a letter from planning our communities, a letter from the Austin housing coalition, letters from others restating that fact. So my goal would be for us to not delve just into one program, but find a way for us to actually maximize that on-site affordable housing and fees and housing units because we need those as well for all of that to work in a bigger way. So I appreciate what the mayor pro tem harper-madison has raised here and I'm interested -- so I'm appreciate of what the mayor pro tem has raised here and where it is on the dais [11:30:35 AM] here. Mayor Adler councilmember kitchen and then councilmember Ellis. >> Kitchen: I agree, councilmember Casar, that it's back to bring back the land development code, particularly the aspects related to affordable housing and density bonus programs. So it's really time for us to get back on track because there are many necessary improvements that we had talked about as part of that process. I don't think that should hold us up, though. I want to say to you to councilmember tovo for bringing this forward. I'm prepared to move forward with it, but also to very quickly move forward with the other aspects that we need to do to make improvements both to calibration for density bonuses and other aspects of affordable housing that we had talked about and many of which were agreed upon by the council in previous efforts around the land development code. So I would just say that right now I don't want us to slow down a process to get [11:31:38 AM] to the best that we can for for affordability. But rather, I want to proceed here with what councilmember tovo is suggesting, and also speed up our other processes as the mayor pro tem and councilmember Casar are highlighting the need for. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember Ellis. >> Ellis: Thank you, mayor. I could also be on board with looking at density bonus programs, first of all in downtown currently, but if there's another process we're doing more of a citywide basis and other locations I could be on board with that as well. One of my main concerns still is that I think our updated metrics, we talked about that last time, the assumptions and metrics of the last calibration was done in light of the ldc rewrite and not the code we currently have. Even though I'm supportive [11:32:38 AM] of doing this, I want to make sure I'm having numbers in front of me that are accurate to our current situation today. So I would want to be confident in doing that. So the deadline of doing something at the very next meeting, may 6, is something that I don't quote know how that works. Maybe staff can enlighten me on that a little bit. But also the repealing of section b6. I think we really need to have all our ducks in a row before we toy with council's ability to make those decisions. I think it's prudent for us as a council to retain our ability to let people come to us and say I think I've got a good win for us. I want to provide more community benefits, I want council to tell me if this proposal works for them. And so I think that is a flexibility that I would like to retain no matter what we do. But I think if we can get the assumptions of the numbers that we're working off of applied to this [11:33:39 AM] particular mechanism for a land development code, I think that's an important piece for making sure that we're doing this correctly with updated information. So maybe staff can speak a little bit to the may 6 deadline of the numbers that we're working with would be reflective of this code and what their thoughts are on that. >> Sure. Erica leak, development officer for housing and planning department. So if the council desires fully recalibrated density bonus fees based on new assumptions where we need to collect new economic data, I think August is probably a reasonable time frame. If we wanted to use the economic data that was collected by eco northwest mainly in 2019, but basically try to translate those fees from the proposed [11:34:41 AM] code to the current code, then June would likely be feasible. >> Ellis: Okay. I would hope as a matter of process we could just have an update to those numbers. I don't know how intense that is given that the assumptions might be quite different. So I would want to know -- I would want to be confident that the numbers that we visual to work off of are reflective of the code that we're currently operating under. I think that's all I have for now, but maybe if other people have questions, I something pops up. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Colleagues? Councilmember Fuentes. >> Fuentes: Thank you. My question is for Erica leak. I'm just trying to get a sense, you said it would be June before you would have a proposal on the fee schedule [11:35:43 AM] based on [indiscernible]. Can you talk us through why it would take a little bit longer if the proposal is to use the fees that were recommended in the report? >> So the fees that were recommended as part of the proposed land development code are specifically related to the regulations and mapping in the proposed land development code. And because of differences between the current code and the proposed code we would have to go back and basically sort of translate and remap the proposed fees based on today's current code rather than the proposed code. So it's not a one for one just being able to replace numbers in a way that would be reflective of the work that was completed as part of the proposed land development code. Does that answer the question? >> Yes, it does. And then my other question is do we have a sense of how many zoning cases that we [11:36:46 AM] have in the pipeline from now through August that are looking or seeking to participate in the density bonus program? >> Councilmember, this is Jerry rusthoven. The only cases that go before count are those that exceed the cap. Other than that they are administratively approved. I don't know how many we have in the pipeline right now. I could get back to you with that number and have it available by Thursday if you like. It's not a great number, but -- I'd have to check. It's probably around a half dozen or so that are administrative. We don't have any pending that require council approval like the three you had at the last meeting. >> Fuentes: >> Fuentes: Okay, thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember tovo and then councilmember kitchen. >> Tovo: Ms. Leak, I know you spent some time working with the fees and talking about them yesterday. Is it accurate to say that just looking at the consumer price index -- by the way, I [11:37:46 AM] misspoke earlier. I think I said the figures came from 2014 and actually the figures that we're using for our density bonus fees are actually based on 2013 numbers so they're actually eight years old at this point. Is it accurate to say that just by -- if we use something really basic, like a calculation using the consumer price index, that we would end up at the same recommendations that the eco northwest folks recommended? >> So we discussed inflation rather than the consumer price index, so I would need to look into that. >> Tovo: Sorry. I really meant the inflation rate, thank you. I think it lands at nearly the same recommendation that eco northwest put forward as their numbers. >> When we did some quick calculations it was similar, yes. >> Tovo: So I guess I would say we've had a lot of -- I fully support looking at our other density [11:38:47 AM] bonus programs on board for that, did a resolution now years ago asking for the staff to look at all the density bonus programs and come back to us with those numbers so we could see what was working, what was not working. We had I think another resolution that maybe the mayor, you did. We have now asked for this to be re-- at some point we've got to stop just asking for more recalibrations and more analyses and actually get something in place that's more reflective of the market conditions. So I would suggest that we move forward with the fees that were recommended. We also add to that the recommendation that our staff engage eco northwest to do that update. And that we adopt a policy of recalibrating those on an annual basis, which allows us to really look at them more frequently. And adjust them as necessary. I think that that's really the right thing to do for -- [11:39:49 AM] really the right thing to do for our community is to get something -- is to get something that's more reflective of market conditions right now as we're -- we're seeing all kinds of development happening in the downtown area, which is wonderful. We are going to lose the opportunity to really capture a more reflective community benefit if we don't decide to make a change. We delayed all that earlier work for the land development code, which has taken far longer than was envisioned. I just would really suggest that we get this piece -- we get -- even if it's just an interim fee and we commit to continuing to work on the other or reengaging the work on the other density bonus fees. And I just want to emphasize again, I think that this is -- this is really the way that one of the few tools that we have in our toolbox for generating money for affordable housing. We've tried and explored [11:40:50 AM] linkage fees. I hope we can talk about that again at some point. We all know we can't use inclusionary housing. What we have are density bonus programs. But they only really work effectively if we update them. So I'm really keen on moving that forward and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Really getting the density bonus amendments underway. Councilmember Ellis, I wanted to speakers] About a phrase you said about wanting to retain the flexibility for the council to allow for projects that are requesting exceptions to F.A.R. To present their case before council to be heard and if the community benefits indicate that the council can give the go ahead. That is allowed under -- that would certainly be possible under what we are contemplating for Thursday because the resolution initiates an amendment to repeal or amend. So it could certainly amend it allowing -- continuing to [11:41:52 AM] allow those F.A.R. Exemptions to come to council, but it would at least happen after the policy conversation that was described as being necessary to determine whether or not projects exceeding the cap for F.A.R. Should be required. One, what are the criteria under which council should grant exceptions to the F.A.R. And if the council decides that they want to continue to have this flexibility, what would be -- what would be the right fee? Should it be the same as the rest of the downtown density bonus as it is currently or should it be a higher level calculation? So that flexibility that I believe I heard you requesting is certainly in the resolution. Mayor Adler mayor pro tem? -- >> Mayor Adler: Mayor pro tem? Can't hear you if you're talking about. >> Harper-madison: Sorry. [11:42:53 AM] Sometimes that mute button sticks on me. Thank you for coming back around. So councilmember Ellis asked some of the questions that I had originally intended to ask when I let you know earlier that I had some questions. So my questions -- two of my questions still remain. So ensure that we maximize the amount of fees that we can leverage downtown density bonus program would staff propose the fees from the ldc rewrite or to recalibrate the fees to current code and current market conditions? >> I'm not sure that I would want to guess on that. Obviously covid has had an impact especially on commercial space and we would want to -- we would really want to look back into the data of, you know, are the prices for commercial space going up, down, same for residential [11:43:53 AM] space? So I would not want to -- I wouldn't want to guess about that. >> Harper-madison: So I think what I hear you saying is because of the effects of the pandemic and its effects on the market, we can't determine whether or not we would propose the fees for the current ldc we write or current market conditions because the latter is fluid? >> Correct. So if council would like the fees to be reflective of current market conditions, I think we need to go back and do that work because it is certainly possible that what was proposed as part of the land development code is no longer correct for especially the commercial space. >> Harper-madison: Thank you. I appreciate that. Can you also tell me would staff be able to complete that calibration that [11:44:53 AM] reflects current code and market conditions in time for that -- for an fy '22 fee schedule adoption? >> If it's adopted in August -- and apologies, I don't know that offhand. >> It would be adopted with the budget. >> So yes, that time frame seems to be acceptable. >> Harper-madison: And one last question. During the ldc rewrite staff recommended the fees be recalibrated every three years to make sure we capture an adequate amount of data. Does staff still agree that this is the appropriate interval for recalibration? >> So what I have heard from consultants on numerous occasions is that you might only want to consider doing the updates approximately every three years for two reasons. One is to be able to capture [11:45:55 AM] some of that market data, and depending on how many new developments we get every year, you know, we might not have were data within a year, but then the second reason is actually to provide predictability for the development community. So if the fees are changed every year, it makes it harder for the development community to know what the fees would be as they are developing their pro Formas for their developments. >> Harper-madison: Thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember kitchen. >> Kitchen: I think some of my colleagues kind of alluded to this. This is just a question. It doesn't change my desire to move forward with the calibration. Move forward with the fees, as councilmember tovo has suggested. But here's my question: So [11:46:57 AM] I am hearing that as part of the -- as part of new fees for the downtown density bonus that are other kinds of related changes that were proposed as part of the ldc rewrite. I would just ask that that list of what those were be shared with us so we don't have to go back and dig for it. Is that a yes? >> Yes. >> Kitchen: All right, thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Councilmember alter and then councilmember Renteria. >> Alter: Thank you. I apologize if I missed some of the conversation. I had to go to the commissioners' court to speak to them to launch the civilian conservation corps modeled off the CCC. I just wanted to express that I support us moving forward with an increase in [11:48:01 AM] the fees utility as councilmember tovo suggested. And I'm proud to co-sponsor this item. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Councilmember Renteria. >> Renteria: Yeah. I also agree with councilmember tovo on moving forward. You know, we're going to have a lot of development coming up in the future with the south waterfront coming in. We need to get the fees correct. Eight years has been quite awhile. We were still debating selling a house for $350,000 which was outrageous back then when I first got on the council. So we've had been having a lot of discussions and trying to get as much resources as we can for our affordable housing. And this is just a study to see exactly where we're at. So I agree with that and [11:49:02 AM] will support that. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember pool and then councilmember Ellis. >> Pool: I'm on board with can councilmember tovo's direction as well. Thanks. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember Ellis? >> Ellis: Thank you, mayor. Ms. Leak, can you speak to what some of the main differences are between the 2019 assumptions for those metrics and the code we currently have some what would be some of the high level big differences that staff would want to look at to make sure the numbers are accurate? >> Two that I would think of offhand include having a proposed parking maximum in downtown which had an impact potentially a sales prices and perhaps to some extent [11:50:02 AM] rental prices for residential. So since current code doesn't have that that would potentially have an impact on the fees. And then the other -- some of the other work that we would need to do is to actually sort of remap the proposed -- the areas that currently have one set of fees as part of the downtown density bonus program, and in the proposed land development code the fees were proposed based on different geographies. So we'd need to look at kind of the differences between those to try and figure out which are the right -- which are the best fees for different geographies. So those -- that's some of the work that we'd need to do as part of the sort of [11:51:03 AM] translation process. >> Ellis: Okay. Were there any assumptions in there about F.A.R. Or height? I know some parts of town it's a height threshold and then you get into the density bonuses and it's F.A.R. Was there any difference in those for the rewrite versus the current code? >> There's -- there are some differences in sort of different parts of downtown. So there are variances there, yes. >> Ellis: Okay. I do want to make clear I support updating these fees, I want to make sure that the data is as up to date as it can be. I think in the conversations we've had over the past few weeks it seems like most of the dais has said that they support moving forward and recalibrating these fees and just want to make sure we're being thoughtful about it [11:52:03 AM] and have solid data to make sure we're backing these approvals up. >> Absolutely. >> Mayor Adler: Colleagues, anything else? I'm sorry, Jerry? >> Mayor, sorry to interrupt. If I may, I was able to get an answer to councilmember Fuentes's question earlier to our seven cases that are currently pending in the downtown density bonus review process. None of them would require the approval of council. They're all administrative. >> Fuentes: For you that. I guess my question is is there a way for us to move forward with updating the fees for downtown density bonus program and then -- and then working on updating citywide our bonus programs by that August time frame. Can we do both or staff can speak to this. Does one preclude the other? [11:53:10 AM] >> One doesn't preclude the other, but just note that taking code changes through the process does require staff time. And so if they're done together, you can sort of consolidate all of that staff time in one go round if they're taken separately than you're going through separate processes. >> Fuentes: Yeah, I think that I actually prefer it to be separate. I think it allows me as a new councilmember to really hone in on the downtown density program and then separately take up the rest of the downtown density bonus programs. So I want to reiterate my support for moving forward on this recalibration. Thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Any further discussion on this item? All right. Let's go on to the next [11:54:10 AM] pulled item then. Let's go back up to the top. Manager, is staff pulling items three and 94 or postponing rather? >> Mayor and council, we would prefer to see all four of these items go forward, but we do recognize for item number there will be a need for continued conversation with the board. So if there were any items [indiscernible]. The other ones we would still like to see go forward today. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember, do you want to address items two, three, four, five and six? >> Pool: Yes, I'm here to address those. And thanks to the city manager for that input. I do think -- I was advised that staff was going to postpone item three. I'd like director [inaudible]. >> Mayor Adler: You're muted, Leslie. [11:55:13 AM] Leslie, I can't hear you. Hello? Can you hear her? No? Leslie? We can't hair you. >> Pool: You can't hear me at all? >> Mayor Adler: Now we can. >> Pool: Oh, I'm on my phone. Technology here. And a call was coming in and that must have taken away my -- >> Mayor Adler: Go ahead and start. >> Pool: Okay. Top of the list again, item 3, the able bylaws. We need to make sure we are management agreement on that so I need to make sure we have agreement with that by director yaft. And if we don't have that concurrence, staff my understanding is did want to postpone that. I'm assuming you guys can still hear me. Item four is the able articles of incorporation. That can move forward. Item five a couple of questions are still [11:56:13 AM] outstanding with regard to minutes of the able board. I think we can probably address those and get them nailed down today. That has to do with stint loan of -- the city of Austin loan of 2.6 million. There was some discussions about votes that were taken that need to be a little bit of confusion there that needs to be laid to rest. And item six can also move forward. That's the establishment of a debt service fund for able and a transfer of the 2.6 million into that fund. So what we need here to confer with director yaft on three and let's do that and then I'll speak to five. >> >> She's going to be moved over. That's what I've heard from her as well is that's the desire to have the discussion with the board and postponing item three would be fine. But we can wait and get with [11:57:13 AM] her. >> Mayor Adler: While we wait for her to move over, you're saying four, five and six you're okay with those moving forward. There were just some issues you wanted to raise? >> Pool: Item 5 still has a little bit of confusion surrounding some votes that were taken at the able board meeting. But let me go ahead and talk about that a wee bit. I think we can move forward today, but I think we need to air out a couple of things that happened. So on item 5, considering that the hotel has several overdue debts, it may be prudent to move forward with the proposed loan. Several concerns that I have, though, have to do with what's been happening at able over the past few years with the approval of certain contracts to harney partners. A portion of these monies would be potentially used to pay. I would feel more comfortable if those questions were cleared up before we vote on specifically item five. And I'm open to hearing from staff and my colleagues about item five. [11:58:14 AM] There's some concerns about [indiscernible] On issues that would benefit them and recusals. That potentially ought to have been occurring. [Overlapping speakers]. >> I am on. Can you hear me okay. >> Mayor Adler: Yes, we can. >> And I also have two staff members from me to support any of the questions to we're happy to answer all of them. We'll start with item number 3. We are in agreance to amounted the council for the agreement that has as is, but we're good with the language and the amendment that the board of able actually approved also. My understanding there was an ask to amend it further by having any extensions to the contract coming to council, which is not in the current amendment. And if so, the only -- we're okay postponing the item because we have to go to the able board back and get them to approve that amendment and then we come back to you. So if the amendment, the [11:59:15 AM] current amendment that you're asking, councilmember, to add the extension language, then we're okay with postponing number three. >> Pool: Yeah. And specifically the language changes would not only allow council to review all the new management agreements, like it says now, but any extensions would also get to be reviewed and I understand that that's the best practices and that is what the postponement would give us that opportunity. And I think that would be good for to us have that in the -- in the bylaws. >> No problem. So we'll postpone that and go back to the board for approval and come back to you. On item number four, what -- do you have specific questions? This was just the articles of incorporation? >> Pool: Right. The item can move on Thursday if that's the will of my colleagues. And this is the articles of incorporation for able. I don't see any problems here, but I did want to pull it, make sure it's not connected to the bylaws and therefore need some changes. So if you can confirm that, director yaft, then I think [12:00:16 PM] we could -- barring any other questions from my colleagues we could probably move forward on item four. There's nothing in this item that would be affected by the bylaws changes in three. >> No, ma'am. And I have Tracy also our chief of external affairs if Tracy can come on if there's anything else that she needs that. >> Mayor Adler: If there's no connection between them, then Tracy -- is there a connection? >> There is no connection between items three and four. They're completely standalone. >> Going back to number three because we passed through that, does anybody want this item to come up, in other words, not wanting the postponement for the amendment? >> I have a question. >> It's actually on item three and four. I just want to clear up any confusion and get specific with this question. So do the bylaws or articles [12:01:20 PM] contemplate the paid president of able sitting on the board of directors? >> If I may speak then, they do not. The -- as is consistent with city code, a board member cannot be compensated so as a paid president he is not currently would not be in the future on the board of directors. >> So there's no change -- there's no change being suggested that would allow that. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Mayor Adler: And again with with respect to item number three does anybody want that item? In other words, councilmember pool has indicated a desire to postpone that item in order to make the amendment. Does anybody nee >> Casar: I support that postponement and the amendment that councilmember pool raised depending on the answers to the questions on the other items, there may be other bylaw issues that come up in our debate with the other items, so I don't want to rush sender the opportunity to postpone item 3 to say, also when we think [12:02:21 PM] about 3 coming back, we should also think about this other thing. So I just wanted to raise that so that, you know, people don't miss it. >> Mayor Adler: I just didn't want us to amend it if councilmember pool was the only one that wanted to amend it. I know she's not. But in our conversations here -- so the public then has notice and we appreciate the staff. We won't consider item no. 3 this week. Further questions on item no. 4, thoughts on that? Councilmember tovo? >> Tovo: Yeah. I'll just note that on items 3, 4, 5, 6, I am also working through some questions, councilmember pool sounds like we may be asking some of the same questions. Maybe we can connect and see what we have gotten answers to but we have also been hearing from unite here and are trying to work with them as well to -- to see how this is addressed. Let me just generally say, I'm not yet understanding why the -- sorry my alarm is [12:03:21 PM] going off. I guess that means it's time for lunch. I'm not yet understanding what the utility is of switching to the model that they are suggesting. So, you know, again by Thursday, I'm going to have some other questions and possibly some other suggestions here. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Anything you know about ahead of time, councilmember tovo, if you put those on the message board that would be helpful. Any other comments on item no. 4, 5 or 6? Councilmember alter? >> Alter: I just want to note that we will either be submitting or have submitted a few questions and I'll want those answered before I can -- >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Anything else on items 3, which will be postponed, 4, 5 or 6? Yes, councilmember Fuentes. >> Fuentes: I do have another -- >> Fuentes: Thank you, I also wanted to say hearing from the community -- from [12:04:22 PM] the community about the concerns regarding the loan is concerning and so I do think it may be worth us considering postponing item no. 5 to allow for more conversations between the airport. I know those are taking place and both parties are committed to having more dialogue and I think a little bit more time we can get to hopefully a good place, so I wanted to voice my support for postponing item no. 5. >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Does staff want to address why it is that staff was of the belief that 5 and 6 needed to move forward now? >> Yes, sir. I would like to speak to no. 5 specifically, I will have [indiscernible] Also add to it. Item 5 is a loan and a big portion or a portion of that loan will pay for fees that were deferred through 2002, 2020, [12:05:25 PM] including the franchise of the hotel, that servings the hotel, attorneys fees, I can give you a list, those have been postponed for 12 months that we would like to pay on those invoices as part of that loan. That is the urgency. I don't think postponing the loan would change other than that it would delay and create more hardship for some other folks that have not been paid for those 12 months. Tracy, if you want to add anything else? >> That's correct. And we did structure, we worked with the law department and did structure this agreement between the city of Austin department of aviation and the able corporation. To make sure that it addressed just those items related to covid and to help bridge them through the economic impact and he -- and the hotel is now operating at a break-even point. So this is really just to account for -- for the covid impacts. >> Mayor Adler: Can you reach out to councilmember Fuentes' office and see if you can address her [12:06:28 PM] concerns? >> Absolutely. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember Casar? >> Casar: I pass some of those same concerns along. I haven't gotten a chance to dig so deeply into the item. But the general concern that's been raised is that ultimately while this is a privately run hotel, able is a creature of the city. And as we [indiscernible] The public dollars at a lower interest rate, we want to make sure that we are achieving the maximum community benefit we can get. As we have seen time and time again, this council has been really dedicated towards making sure when we provide grants, or low interest loans, as we did at the Hilton hotel to keep workers on payroll, that we really want to make sure that -- that the people who need it the most get the best deal that they can get. And we've heard concerns from the union that -- that is it, you know, the big [12:07:29 PM] franchise company gets taken care of or attorneys' fees get taken care of, but has there been a meeting of the minds about whether or not working folks at the hotel are going to be better off because of our action today? I have heard there's been one meeting, but I would also, if it's not -- if it's waiting a couple of weeks while there's more conversation to be had to make sure that we get the most out of this loan for the people who need it the most, I would support if -- if the fact that is we can say some of these bills still and we're not going to default on anything. I would be fine with the postponement so that really the hotel, not even able, but the hotel operator prospera to see if issues can be worked out between them. Saying look we are going to be providing low-interest loans to deal with this issue. How does that take care of not just some of the bills for some of the folks at the top of the food chain but also for everybody. [12:08:31 PM] So just if buying those couple of weeks can facilitate a couple of meetings between prospera and those folks saying a plan has been worked out on T hangars extension of public credit can help everyone, it might be easier than having to hammer this out on the dais, given that we have so much going on, we just always look for issues to be worked out rather than us having to work them out on the dais in two days' time. While I would be happy to work on some of these issues and having the airport reach tout to councilmember Fuentes's office, that's all good. The more it can be worked out between parties to get the best and fairest deal the better. That is setting aside also the questions about the bylaws and recusals, et cetera, which are still pendin questions in my mind as well. >> Mayor Adler: That's a helpful identification of the issues, thank you, councilmember pool. >> Pool: Yeah, I'm essentially in the same place. [12:09:31 PM] We need to get a better handle on all of the -- as Greg termed, creatures of council, the different entities like able and downtown convention center hotel to make sure that we know what's happening there, what the financial status is and what the stabilization plans will be for these really valuable assets for the city. Especially coming out of the pandemic. So I feel a lot more comfortable knowing that all of the questions are cleared up myself. So it sounds like generally we should probably maybe, mayor, let's ask the dais are we delaying or moving forward with item 5? >> Mayor Adler: I'm not sure that we know enough yet to be able to do that one yet. [Multiple voices] >> Pool: What I would like to say is maybe if we can get it resolved by next meeting, this is -- let's [12:10:32 PM] see, may -- April 22nd then the may meeting, maybe one of the may meetings we can move this forward. Item 6 is the establishment of debt service for able and the transfer of the loan, 2.6 million. This item is not related to the loan and it can simply move forward. The way staff described it, though, the amounts are so close they seem to have a relationship. Could director yaft or maybe Ms. Thompson separate it out, they are indeed separate issues. >> This is Tracy, I'm pleased to do that. So under the bond indenture for the able debt, there's a grant agreement, which obligates the department of aviation to transfer funds if there's a deficiency in the bond preserve account. [12:11:32 PM] This is a mechanical -- this is an administrative establishment of a subordinate reserve fund in the department of aviation that allows us to put money into that account and therefore it could be transferred over to able, compliant with the way the treasury, the city of Austin wants it to be established. This is really an administrative establishment of a subordinate reserve fund for the department of aviation and related to the bond indenture for able. That's a completely separate transaction. Just coincidental it's coming in the same month and coincidental the amount in that fund is 2.6 million plus some change. That is completely separate from the loan agreement, which also has a loan amount of 2.6 million exactly. We apologize for any confusion, but they are separate items and not connected. They are connected to able, the hotel, but they are not connected in their purpose. [12:12:34 PM] >> Pool: I think unless there are questions we might let item 6 move forward. Then I had a couple of things to close with on this one. As we move forward, I want to make sure that we schedule a presentation from staff at audit and finance on the financial state and stabilization plan for the hotel and then establish a regular reporting framework for able like we are doing with the other entities at the audit and finance committee. Thanks. >> Mayor Adler: It looks like item no. 3 is probably going to get postponed without regard or prejudice to anyone's ability to bring any kind of amendments they want. It looks like 4 and 6 are going to be able to move forward, again without limitation on amendments and looks like there's going to be a discussion as to whether or not to postpone item no. 5 on Thursday. All right. Anything else on these before we move to the next one, Kathie? >> Tovo: Yeah, just ask if -- I just want to ask a clarifying questions from our staff. Have you sent us a memo that [12:13:34 PM] explains why you are moving to a system of having a compensated president? I guess I'm wondering why some of these entities as several of my colleagues have said, we have a lot of different approaches with these entities that are affiliated with the city. In some cases the staff are supporting these entities. And have been. I think ace is one where that's happened, able is another. I'm wondering why at a time of financial hardship we're seeing two such entities move from -- move from -- taking on more financial requirements with the hiring of a president. That just doesn't seem logical to me and it -- it doesn't seem the best way to support, you know, the most -- most of the employees who are at the lower end of that wage spectrum. So I don't know if we've [12:14:35 PM] received any information about why that's happening. Or beyond what's in the backup. >> Councilmember, I'll be pleased to provide to you detailed information. We did have a -- council action item in January of this year where the new board of directors was approved by council. And but let me answer specifically your question. That is when I arrived at the city of Austin nine months ago and took a look at the organization for able from the board of directors standpoint, most of the board of directors either resigned or were no longer working at the city or no longer able to serve as board members. So we were very thoughtful in what we thought the best composition of the board would be. That includes two chief officers from the department of aviation as well as one of our project managers for construction, we made sure that the department of aviation was well represented on the board of directors at some of the highest levels within our department. We also thought it would be [12:15:35 PM] in the city's best interest as well as the able corporation's best interest to have two qualified business citizens, private citizens from the city of Austin serve on that board. So that's how we decided about the board. The thought process in choosing to have a paid president, private sector paid president for a nominal flat fee is because there are contractual relationships between the department of aviation slash city of Austin with the able corporation and that creates an inherent conflict for instance if Tracy Thompson was [indiscernible] Signing a loan payment to the city of Austin for which I am a chief officer. The other reason is our current president, Mr. [Indiscernible] Is a very experienced restructure professional that we wanted to continue to engage as the [12:16:35 PM] president. And he can't be compensated and also be a board member. What we have tried to do is balance all of those things to really have high level executives from the aviation department serve on the board but have an independent plug and play if we needed to, president, to sign contracts on behalf of able to avoid the conflict. >> Tovo: Thank you for that explanation, can you tell me what the fee is? I apologize, I haven't come across it in the backup. >> It is a flat five thousand per month. That president duties include managing the board meetings, meaning acting as a manager of the board meetings, calling the agenda items, calling for the vote, without investigate himself. And -- voting himself. Managing the construction project, managing construction projects and signing the contract. There are limitations to what the president can approve by him or herself. It takes able board of directors votes for him to -- >> Tovo: Right, I did see [12:17:36 PM] the limitation on the authority. That's basically $60,000 a year. >> Yes, ma'am, it is. >> Tovo: I will ask for this I think in the backup, just again trying to assure that we have standard practices across these kinds of entities, this is considerably less than -- than the amount being paid to the president of the ace board which I know has created a fair number of public questions frankly. So I would be interested to know how you determined that rate and I assume you did so because it's consistent, it's -- it's a fair rate based on -- [multiple voices] -- I'll just ask a question and hopefully I'll provide it in written fashion, but if not would you treat this as a question of how you and the other staff established that salary of 60,000 or a flat rate of 5,000 per and what the expectations are for that role so we can see how that compares so other like entities, including -- >> You would like for me to [12:18:37 PM] provide that in a written answer to you. >> Tovo: In the q&a, yeah, that would be terrific, thank you so very much for the additional info. >> You're welcome. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Councilmember Fuentes? >> Fuentes: Thank you. Also with the q&a, Tracy, if we could have an answer to how a postponement of two weeks, if we postpone item no. 5 to may 6 to that city council agenda, if you could line out and detail how that would affect the hotel and also the implications of how it would affect the workers. And just so that we have a very clear understanding if we were to delay this item by two weeks, what does that mean for the hotel and for the workers? >> We will do that. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember Casar also pointed out that you had indicated an intention to make potentially additional amendments to the bylaws on number 3. You might want to -- it looks like that's MC [12:19:37 PM] postponed because we can't consider amendments they didn't consider. You might want to jump into that process and try to get your amendments considered at the board level, or bring them up in discussion so that we are not caught in the same loop on that, on the back end. >> Casar: I think that's the only way to do that, that would be the -- the intention and like I said, those would be subject to the recrewsal questions and other -- other stuff that -- >> Mayor Adler: Sounds good. Councilmember alter, let's handle the two things that you pulled and then we will break for lunch and then come back hopefully close to 1:30 if we can to do the briefing on the summit and getting us into the 2:00 briefing on policing. Councilmember alter? >> Alter: Mayor, if I can do -- I can do item 53 now. Item 20 they just came out with a whole bunch of backup that was in response to questions and the conversation that I had with -- with he -- with the budget office, et cetera. [12:20:38 PM] So I would like to read that carefully and see if they answer my questions there fully. I will definitely have some questions for them. But I think it would be more effective use of our time to wait on 20 until after lunch -- >> Mayor Adler: Let's go ahead and do that. Let's call up them 53, why don't you raise that one. >> Alter: Sure. Let me just get to my notes. Item 53 what to do with the alarms. As I understand this item, it transfers the administration of the alarm program over to dsd, so in August, though, at the public safety committee, the innovation office presented data on 911 callsor service. And in that report they said in January of 2020 alone the city responded to over 2,000 [12:21:41 PM] false burglar alarms. This process of sending police out to check the alarms is costing us significant time, money and resources. And what this item does is just transfer the element permitting process to dsd and that doesn't seem to directly address the false alarm issues which I think was the core of our concern. So -- so um I know that in that presentation from the innovation office, it mentioned using data modeling and prediction to mitigate this issue, but I really want to understand what steps we're taking as a city to reduce the number of false alarms we are spending time and resources on, because I think that was where we saw the potential efficiency gain the most. And so I would like to know that. Then I would also like to know, you know, the benefits of moving this to the sd. But I'm really more interested in the former question. >> Thanks, councilmember. We do have [indiscernible] [12:22:42 PM] For more detail. The short answer is that work is ongoing, I couldn't agree more as we learn more from the data and as we have the discussions with the community stakeholders and with our internal staff, we will further do that efficiency work, but that is an ongoing effort and we do not have enough data at this time on that. I also ask Ariano to provide more detail. >> Just to add more information. Yes, we are waiting for innovation office to really take a deep dive and look at where the patterns are, I guess in the data with regards to response to these alarms. That can help inform us to which of these alarms should APD go out to and perhaps are there other things that we might put in place for these building owners and have the alarms that we might be able to further tweak in terms of requirements and so forth. [12:23:45 PM] So again we are waiting for the work to be done, the analysis so we can go further. The alarms are as I think you have mentioned false alarms. So we want to be responsive, APD wants to be responsive if there's an actual issue to be responsive to. But we want to make sure that the building owners that have these alarm systems, you know, monitor and operate them in a way that doesn't result in false alarms. So again the data will hopefully show us where those opportunities are. >> Alter: So who is responsible for that next step? And then what are we gaining in making this step, which I can see why we would be making a gain, I would just like it articulated? >> [Laughter]. Well, I think we're right now waiting for the chief innovation or the innovation office to come through with their analysis. They are going down that line of inquiry. I don't know if -- if Karrie [12:24:46 PM] o'connor can be provided or brought into the panel, but we can sure follow up with your office after this. Senate is chief Chacon coming on to this -- >> He's available, he is standing by. >> Alter: I just didn't know if he wanted to speak to the issue or was just standing by. It's hard to tell when we are virtual. >> Mayor Adler: I see his picture on it, too. In answering these questions and speaking on it, my understanding is that we've been preeed by the state with respect to the -- pre-empted by the state with the fees we can charge no if you have so many false alarms your fee goes or you have to pay the cost associated, we may be pre-empted by the state. But I do appreciate and I'm pleased councilmember alter that you have raised this issue. [12:25:46 PM] Because there are still tools that we have, we could require verification for private companies and other things potentially ahead of time, so taking a look at those avenues is something that I think would be really important to come back to us. So-- so chief Chacon if you want to address any of the things that have been raised I want to give you a chance. >> Well, good afternoon mayor and council. I appreciate the opportunity. We have been working with the innovation office to really look at a number of alarm calls that we respond to, we know that a very small percentage of those actually turn out to be actual break-ins. Somewhere in the neighborhood of about 1.2%. Because of this, we are trying to work with them to determine the opportunities for reducing the number of alarm calls and identifying those false alarms so that [12:26:47 PM] we are not, you know, taxing the resources that we know are pretty precious right now. It in speaking with our chief data officer, with the police department, and his work with the innovation office, we have not been able to determine any patterns or trends to this point that would -- that we would be able to say, okay, these commercial alarms or these residential alarms would be all right to go ahead and stop responding to. And I think until we -- we develop some process improvements, which we are talking about, which would be really along the lines of are -- our folks in the call taking center, speaking with the alarm company when the call comes in, to gather additional information that we perhaps are not gathering right now or that would give us a better idea about whether we think this is a good alarm or not, then we will always continue to respond to those alarms just knowing that even if it's [12:27:48 PM] one percent, that's one percent that we don't want to not go to. So that is where we stand. It's my understanding right now from our perspective. >> Alter: So this is being addressed by the innovation office and working with APD, is that who is responsible for these efforts? Is that correct? >> Yes, councilmember, at this point we are still waiting for the innovation office to finish that analysis, but then it would come back up to the reimagining public safety core leadership team in the city manager's office, so we would be working with them to work through some of these. As you mentioned this is cross- departmental and reneed to be coordinating across the enterprise. >> Alter: Can someone speak to the benefit of moving the six folks over to dsd from APD? >> So I think this is part of the decoupling and [12:28:48 PM] reimagining effort that we are all in. There are some areas where, you know, the police department just does not need to be involved in this particular example alarm permitting, which is more suitable in the permitting or development services where they are -- they specialize in permitting. So again this allows police department to really focus in on the law enforcement roles that require a peace officer to be involved in. So that's the justification or the rationale for the item that you have before you on Thursday. >> Alter: Thank you. I appreciate that. My colleagues may have other questions related to this one. I did just want to flag on number 20 that over the lunch break you might want to look at the updated backup because there were substantial changes that were made to clarify what we were doing. As I understand it. So when we do bring it up, it will be easier if we've had a chance to look at the backup. [12:29:50 PM] >> Mayor Adler: Okay. Councilmember tovo and then councilmember Ellis. >> Tovo: Thank you. One, I missed councilmember alter I missed what you said, we would have updated back up on, was it number 20? >> Mayor Adler: 20. >> Tovo: Okay, there's quite a bit and some of it is revised, I'm going to have to try to figure out what is new. With regard to the alarms, I wanted to know do you have a sense of how -- well, where will the fees stay? Within the enterprise fund of development services or transferred back out to the general fund? >> That's probably one for budget to answer. It's likely that -- well, I'm going to leave that one to the budget office. [Laughter]. I think Ed is on. >> Tovo: I'll just say if they stay within development services, which is an enterprise fund, they're not -- we're not realizing any new revenue from this [12:30:54 PM] change. It's just as you said acmarrellano for folks who are doing permitting altogether, it's not going to net any different outcomes with regard to money. >> Mr. Van eenoo -- [multiple voices] >> Not going to result in any different outcomes in terms of the revenue. The revenue is going to still be there to offset the cost of the permitting staff. >> Tovo: Okay. So now instead of staying within APD to offset the cost of the APD permitting staff, it will simply stay within development services to offset the cost of the APD alarm permitting staff who are now development services department; is that correct? >> The way we're going to handle that, because we already have a number of functions in development services department that are not appropriate or allowable for us to reimburse through [12:31:56 PM] fees. So we have a transfer from the general fund to the development services department for those things and we are going to -- the budget amendment for you would be taking the same approach. The revenues will still get reflected in the police department's budget, but then the general fund will transfer money to the development services department to pay for the staff, which is how we handle a variety of other things. >> Tovo: Okay. Just to clarify, so the budget will show a transfer from general fund to development services to cover the cost of the APD staff that are being transferred to development services. >> That is correct. There's no change in revenue, there's no net impact of it. To the general fund or the dsd fund. Just moving the staff over to dsd to -- that are now responsible for the permitting. >> Tovo: Those are coming out of the general fund at the highest level rather than APD -- >> That's correct. >> Tovo: Now so these are [12:32:57 PM] basically now going to be general fund employees. >> They will be [indiscernible] General fund. >> Tovo: Okay. I think that I had one >> >> Are the staff physically moving to the -- >> I'm not sure I have that level of detail. I think for them -- I don't have available detail but can follow up with that answer >> Sure. That would be useful. >> Koum Ellis? >> Thank you. I would be curious to know through recommendations of the office of innovation if there's an outreach education effort about false alarms? [12:33:58 PM] In my experience sometimes older buildings need someone from the alarm company to come out and make sure they know what's triggering the alarm, replacing wires, potentially doing monitoring to make sure the alarm can communicate with 9-1-123 if it needs to. Sometimes doors age and sometimes there are low-cost improvements that can be made to alleviate stress of triggering alarms and having officers come to buildings. We want to make sure where the officers are sent for alarms are real alarms. I think that would be interesting for the office of innovation to provide input on. >> Are we ready to break for lunch? >> If I may [12:34:59 PM] >> Go ahead >> Yes. It is being planned that the alarm personnel will be moving into development services location >> Thank you. Colleagues, let's reconvene here at 1:30. We'll start with a presentation from Diana. At the end of that we'll ask if there are follow-up questions on item 20. And then we'll move into public safety briefing. Council member? >> I have a question about 22. If there's an opportunity. I didn't pull it but if the city manager has any information on what that is doing, that would be helpful to know after the break too >> Okay. >> We'll follow up and get your question, council member >> Okay. Council member kitchen? >> I will be postponing item 38 [12:36:04 PM] that relates to cultural districts. I'm very excited about this but I want more time to confer with the cultural districts around butler shore. So just a heads-up to my colleagues that 38 will be postponed >> Great. Thank you with that, here at 12:36 let's recess the meeting. See you back here at 1:30. [1:34:31 PM] >> I see Alison. Kathie, if you're intending to be on, I don't see you we have a quorum, though. So I'm going to reconvene Austin city council's work session on April 20, 2021. It's remote we're going to go until 2:00 o'clock with this update by our homelessness officer on the summit and at 2:00 o'clock we'll go to public safety and we have a hard stop at 5:00 o'clock so commissions and others can have access to the system manager, I'll turn it over to you >> Thank you. >> Appreciate the opportunity, specifically focusing on plenary done last week under the guise [1:35:32 PM] of a summit to address homelessness. This was unveiled to the public and wanted to make sure council had an opportunity to see I'll turn it over >> Thank you, sir. This will be a high-level overview of the outcomes and recommendations that came out of the summit to address unsheltered homelessness that drew to a close last Thursday. After several weeks of intensive work from folks from all sectors of the community -- both government, private sector providers, and advocates. So before I jump into that, I want to preview for you that we do anticipate bringing an rca to council related to the heel [1:36:35 PM] initiative, which we're anxious to get going what that will entail is an operating contract for the transition of the roadway in which is currently serving as prolodge number 5 into our bridge shelter. And those beds of course will be available to individuals coming out of encampments on their way to permanent housing. So again, just in terms of giving a high-level overview of the summit, the pieces that I wanted to cover today include the overarching goals of the summit -- or the recommended goals that came out of the summit -- generally the approach we anticipate taking, the timeline, and the sort of global budget and what we think the funding gap is at present that we need to focus on filling. [1:37:37 PM] So anticipate certainly going into more detail in one-on-one meetings with you as you desire and/or at future briefings so I think if we can transition to slide two of the presentation.... The banner goal is to house 3,000 people -- that's over and above our rate of rehousing, which is something like typically 1800 a year. Of those 3,000 individuals, we want a thousand of those folks to be placed into psh, which of course is set aside for people [1:38:37 PM] experiencing chronic homelessness, who have therefore been homeless a long time or frequently over the years who are living with a disability and are likely to need on going services and supports over time. In terms of the approach, I'd point you to number three first, which is that we contemplate taking an approach that goes directly into the encampments, targeting individual encampments, offering folks in those encampments housing, and also offering shelter to those that need it while they look for housing or case managers help them get their documents together, et cetera. This will sound very familiar to you insofar as it mirrors some of the work that council has already directed us to do. And then the third piece, which is number two on this slide, I think really acknowledges that in order to do this we're going [1:39:38 PM] to have to pay a lot of attention to our system's capacity because we're really coming to scale here, and so thinking about copy and thinking about this work through an equity lens will mean that we need to certainly help our providers staff up for this effort but that very importantly we also bring new providers into the work that we're doing and particularly focus on connecting with building capacity in service providers who are really rooted in communities of color next slide, please so in terms of the approach around rehousing folks who are in encampments, I think that there are four primary steps here. First, we are of course [1:40:46 PM] targeting those encampments campments -- doing outreach with the encampments to build trust and understand the needs and then offering rehousing. So we anticipate that rehousing efforts in a particular encampment will take somewhere around two to four weeks, with the bulk of that time being dedicated to the outreach piece and enrolling folks in programs but then, you know, perhaps a week or so in the actual rehousing efforts. We want to really beef up the teams that are going into the encampments to include the outreach work that, you know, we've already got folks doing well, making sure we continue to have the behavioral health resources attached to that [1:41:47 PM] outreach team but also that we offer storage to those who need it while they wait for housing, that we're cognizant of the transportation needs for people transitioning into housing and that we bring in peers who are critical in terms of understanding people who are moving into housing. One of the recommendations our facilitators made based -- in the beginning phase it might be better to not have law enforcement as part of the outreach teams -- not saying there is no role for law enforcement but saying as you go in and build trust it will be better to have teams largely of service providers and peers and the final step, of course, is moving people into housing. [1:42:48 PM] Other communities have been able to move folks directly from the street into housing and that is something we will be driving toward, but we also know in some cases we will need a bit of time to locate units and to get folks applications, et cetera, in order, and so again, similar to the work you've directed us to do, we contemplate having enough shelter available so that people have a safe place to be and to work with their caseworkers while they locate housing and move in. Next slide, please. So in terms of timeline we spoke to 3,000 additional people over the next three years. We know that we're going to need to ramp up our ability to rehouse people very quickly, so [1:43:49 PM] we've set some interim goals that would acknowledge we'll accelerate the pace over time. So over the next several months we're looking at roughly 50 people a month or so, with the goal that through the three years as the effort matures we would be rehousing folks at the rate of about a hundred people per month next slide. So in terms of the overall resourcing of the effort, we looked at a total cost of just north of 5 million -- that is split. We do anticipate developing we do already have dollars committed or anticipated coming out of the gate, and so the difference there, of course -- I mean committed I think is pretty [1:44:51 PM] clear. Either city council or in this case, housing authority of the city of Austin has committed funds to an effort. And in other cases when we think about anticipated funds, we're thinking about public revenue streams that have been available year-over-year historically -- excuse me -- and that we would anticipate being able to leverage. So our estimate of committed and anticipated funds is just over $220 million for an amount that we need to -- to secure of about $293 million. And I -- I do want to underscore here that part of the whole purpose of this summit was really to bring all parties to the table with a real acknowledgement of the need. We are going to have to bring the private and philanthropic partners into the fold over and [1:45:55 PM] above what they are currently doing to make this happen. So as we move forward, we can certainly get more granular about what the funding needs are and where they might come from. The other piece I want to mention is that as we are looking at the financing structure of this effort, we will be sensitive to sustainability. So, you know, we are looking at pretty dramatically ramping up. For example, our rapid rehousing capacity. We hope to be able to sustain that going into the future, but we also know that with the backlog of folks we have and essentially the pent-up demand of people today who have been waiting for housing for a long time that really having even one-time funds that we increase over a limited period of time would really help us clear that [1:46:56 PM] waiting list of people who have been on the streets for a long time awaiting housing resources. So I will close and take any questions that you have in the time that remains. I know that you folks have a 2:00 P.M. Hard stop for your next item. >> Thank you, Diana and this is a high level review and we'll have more detail and back-up and Diane has offered to do one-and-one conversations with each councilmember and we are also posted for the next work session on may 4 to go more specifically into the heal initiative as well. So with that I'll turn it back to you, mayor. >> Mayor Adler: Okay, thank you. Colleagues, we have 13 minutes so I'll give everybody a minute or two if you want to comment. Councilmember kitchen. >> Kitchen: Thank you for doing [1:47:57 PM] this. Just quickly, I want to say that I am -- I am hopeful about this opportunity. I think we -- this offers a path and an opportunity to -- to make some lasting change, systemic change, to get us towards our goal of ending homelessness. And so I think that the opportunity is there and I am willing to and interested in committing significant dollars from the city to proceed with this. I know that there's a lot of details that all of us have to understand and work out, but I think that as an approach that it is exciting and doable and something that could make some lasting change. I want to say also that I see this as aligned with the heal approach that we have already [1:48:58 PM] begun. I mean, the feel of the summit had that shared goal of safe and secure housing and to ending homelessness in our community. As we know, heal is designed for people to be safe and secure in permanent housing, so that each person is engaged and working towards -- working towards that resolution that really works best for them and meeting their needs and desires. And so we end up at the end of the day as a permanent person-centered solution with the best chance of success for individuals and for our community. So, you know, heal, like this program, connects people to housing, social services, health care. And I want to emphasize jobs also. And other services. And as you all know, we'll talk more about heal. We did last time and we will next time. We're beginning with four locations that are particularly risky and dangerous. And then after people with heal -- after people are connected to housing and services, after, I want to [1:49:59 PM] emphasize, then these unsafe locations are no longer available for camping. So just finally in sum, I think that this is a community problem. We need to all come together. As a community we care about people who are living unsheltered on streets and we want to have a solution that is lasting and provides change. And so I think -- as I said, I'm hopeful and excited that this offers that opportunity. I want to thank you, mayor, for your work on this, as well as all of my colleagues, including councilmember tovo for all of the work they've done on heal and on all of our other efforts related to homelessness. And I'll just end there and say that I am prepared to do whatever I can to help make this a reality. >> Mayor Adler: Great, thank you. Council more Fuentes. >> Fuentes: Thank you. And just to build off of couple member kitchen's comments I am [1:51:01 PM] right there with you. This is what is the plan, where do we go from here? And here we have it. We have a plan, a strategy, a viable strategy, a way to move our community forward and to set out to provide and unlock those 3,000 homes for our unhoused neighbors. So I am excited about this opportunity. I am proud to be part of a council that outlined homelessness as a strategic priority for us, through the resilient resolution that we passed just a few weeks ago. And I just want to voice our support for us to make a sizeable investment in this strategy, in this plan, and call upon our community, our business community, our faith leaders, our non-profits, to join us in this effort to double down in your commitment. And I also hope to call upon our Travis county colleagues to join us in this effort, because the city of Austin could not do it [1:52:03 PM] alone. It's going to take all of us. And what a wonderful time that we're in to be able to tackle this together. Thk you. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Councilmember Renteria. >> Renteria: Yes, this is great. This is an opportunity to get us to where we can manage the homeless population. You know, as we know that there's always going to be a homeless group in this -- as long as we can manage that it would be a great thing for Austin. And I do believe that as many of my colleagues have been saying, if we house these people, they will go out there and look for a job. They will become independent. And we can then move on and help others with resources that we have. This is -- to me it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity [1:53:06 PM] that we're getting resources from the federal government. So this is really great. And I want to thank you, mayor, and the rest of the colleagues that have been working on it. >> Mayor Adler: I think this one of those things that we've all been working on for a long period of time, and I appreciate everybody's efforts. You know, in looking at this with what seems to be different is that over the last several years I have never seen the chamber of commerce and the downtown Austin alliance aligned with echo and Austin justice coalition and homelessness the way that people seem to be aligned now. And I think that clears a lot of the path. The other one is resources. People want us to not have people tenting and camping in the city and I think that we're all united in that. We don't want people tenting. We don't want encampments. The question is always, what do you do. Ultimately the answer is to provide people better, safer [1:54:07 PM] place to live, a home. And I really do think that with the money from the federal government, to us, the county, there's a chance for us to do something that actually puts the resources to do this and a goal of 3,000 people in three years, beginning immediately to address encampments I think is where we've all been pointed to. I appreciate the work councilmember kitchen has done on heal and her co-sponsors. And I do agree that this all fits together. But it's all of the pieces in the city. It's community first, and it's foundation communities and Salvation Army and doing this and pulling it together and resourcing it. But even with that resources that were mentioned, this won't happen unless the whole community puts their shoulder to this. We need the philanthropic community. We need the foundations in the community. We need the businesses in the [1:55:09 PM] community. We do really -- if this is the -- one of the biggest challenges, the one that most people are talking about, and we want to actually do something about it. I appreciate this path. I thank those organizations and I want to thank Lynn Meredith for being one of the people stepping in front of this. Colleagues, councilmember tovo. >> Tovo: I'll be brief. I know that we're at our time. I too want to appreciate the effort that's gone into it from our city staff, including Diana gray who jumped right into this week and I thank you for bringing tremendous value and expertise to this process. As well as our private partners that have already been named. I think this is an exciting time in the community. It really builds -- I want to just say, you know, we have the action plan to end homelessness that many housing providers in our community worked on at the request of this council. [1:56:09 PM] And it's a plan that we approved. And the work coming ou of the summit really builds on and extends that plan so that we have an implementation timeline and also some real -- some real solid estimates of what it would cost to get to -- to end -- effectively end homelessness in this community which is a goal that certainly this council has had now for several years. So I think that it is not different work from what we've been doing, but it is now being done with some higher level of detail and some real understanding of what the financial requirements are going to be. And, you know, several of us have been saying this for some time, but we really -- this is the moment to continue to emphasize to the community. Now we know what it would cost. We know that there's a lot of will in this community to end homelessness. And we need the private sector to come forward and to participate. This is going to be -- we're only going to be able to end homelessness if we have the county, the city and our private [1:57:11 PM] partners working alongside to get that done. So, thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember Casar. >> Casar: I just want to reiterate without taking more time. And to work alongside the dais and the city staff and those of the county and the pill an philanthropic community to get this done. We know what works and we know that it will take all of those different solutions and that we have to scale pulling folks off the streets and pulling them into housing. And I really appreciate the way that this has been laid out, housing many hundreds of people this year and 3,000 people over three years. Our goals in the past have been set too low and in the housing committee coming up we'll discuss amending our housing plan which set our permanent supportive housing goals too low in the past. But we were having trouble reaching even those. You know, after many years of not producing enough different kinds of housing for folks [1:58:13 PM] experiencing homelessness, we now have to -- we have to catch up. But -- but what is so powerful about this plan is that it shows that we can actually really get there, that if we all work together in the coming months, we can put together a plan over the next three years that not only undoes the lack of sufficient resources in the past, but really drives down the amount of homelessness in our community by a drastic amount. So I want to appreciate all of you for your work and time in this and just make very clear my unconditional support for getting this done. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember Kelly and then councilmember pool. >> Kelly: Thank you. I wanted to say that coming into council and being a new councilmember and not knowing that there was a plan for this was really challenging on a lot of levels. And now we have a plan to really help our unsheltered neighbors, and it's very encouraging. One of the things that I know that I will focus on is trying [1:59:14 PM] to educate people in the community on how great of a plan this is and how it can be replicated in other places. I am hopeful that Austin because of the work that Diana gray has done and the city manager's office and the city staff has done, I'm hopeful that we can replicate this other places as well and that it's bigger than just solving the problem of homelessness in Austin. It's wonderful that we actually have a concrete plan in place and benchmarks to help these unsheltered neighbors. So thank you very much for your hard work and everything done behind the scenes that we didn't see come into this plan. It was really wonderful to hear about. Thank you. >> Pool: Thank you, councilmember, and many, many people were involved and I appreciate it. >> Mayor Adler: Councilmember pool. >> Pool: So I wanted to reiterate the importance of the partnerships. This just can't be the city of Austin funding homelessness. And many of us, in fact, almost [2:00:18 PM] pretty much everybody on this dais here has said as much repeatedly in the past. So I wanted to ask our homelessness officer to kind of keep that in mind when you're talking about the funding and so forth, because every time that we reiterate that the city is funding homelessness and we don't also say that it is part of the coordinated community effort that includes businesses and non-profits and the neighborhoods and the county, and, heck, the school districts -- everybody across the board has to be pulling in the same direction. Every time we don't reiterate that it simply reinforces the consult that it's only the city of Austin doing this work. And we know for a fact even if we were to invest every last tax dollar, every year, into this issue that we wouldn't -- or we can't do that because we have a lot of other programs and [2:01:19 PM] operations and needs in our community. A lot of other services are needed. And so we can't do it financially alone. And I would urge all of us to keep that in mind when we talked about how we're addressing the issue. It has to be part of just our muscle memory and the rhetoric has to be that we are a partnership with everyone. I think that it was one of the things that gave me some optimism about the summit that was convened in March and that was that these large -- these other larger sectors in our community were coming to the table and engaging in the conversation in a coordinated and collaborative way and coming up with a plan for moving forward. So that may be the part that's different, but, Diana, when you were talking about the plan and what was coming out of the summit, I thought that for a minute -- I was sort of was [2:02:19 PM] distracted and came back and for a minute I thought that you were talking about heal and the first and the second phase and the third phases of heal. And it may be that that is very similar to what the summit plan is. But are there differences between the summit plan -- other than the financing model potentially -- than the work that my colleague, councilmember kitchen led on early in February, where we -- we go to the particular campsites, talk to those people who are sleeping there and encourage them and engage them and urge them into housing, to find housing for them and resources. Is that pretty much the profile? I'm looking for -- for what may be different in the -- the strategic approach out of the summit, and what work we've already been -- >> Yes, thank you, councilmember. Sure. So, absolutely working through this approach of going straight into the encampments and being [2:03:21 PM] really thoughtful about engaging people there is very consistent with heal. The piece around committing to offering housing to those individuals is consistent with heal. And providing as much shelter as needed is consistent. So I think that there are a couple of pieces that just serve to strengthen that approach. One is that there is explicitly resources set aside for permanent supportive housing through this. We have known that this is probably the biggest gap in our community over time. The lens around equity makes that approach more robust. Certainly, we would have done that around heal, but this makes that capacity building of the system -- I think just that much more explicit. In addition to direct housing dollars, this does really look at some of the ancillary services that have been mentioned, such as supportive [2:04:23 PM] housing, such as aggressive landlord outreach and incentives. So, you know, entirely consistent, but also probably more comprehensive. Since heal in phase one was intended just as that, our phase one and an opportunity for us to learn as we moved forward. >> Pool: Okay. I think the point that I wanted to make was that we have -- we are and we have been -- working really hard in these arenas for a long time. And I think that the part that has been missing is the coordinated and the -- the coordinated collaboration across the various sectors into the neighborhood and the business community. If, indeed, that is -- for me that's -- that's the stark contrast. But I know that N.G.O.S and other non-profit groups have also been working to address [2:05:24 PM] homelessness. So I'm still looking for what's different, and I think what it is is that it's a new commitment, or a reenergized commitment and a recognition that the problem is larger than what it has been in the past. And then that means that we all have to shoulder the heavier burden. So if we can talk about it in terms of a coordinated effort and not only talk about the city of Austin, then I think that we will be further down that road because, in fact, we can't do it alone. We have to have our neighborhoods helping us, the residents of Austin, no matter where they are in the spectrum as far as their jobs and so forth, need to -- we need to join with them. Maybe that's really the shift in the rhetoric is that we are joining with our community to help people who don't have homes and who have issues that -- that regaining community and a family can help them with. Because a lot of times homelessness is the breakdown of [2:06:25 PM] a family structure and you just don't have anywhere to go. So you end up on the streets. Does that make sense? >> It does, and I absolutely agree, you know, we have a community of service providers who have been doing incredible work for many years. What this does is come together and agree that we're really going to have to come to scale for us to have the impact on this problem that we want to, and that we all look at each other across the table and say this is what it's going to take and everyone -- not just the city of Austin -- but other jurisdictions and the private sector are committed to making that happen. >> Pool: Thanks. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you, colleagues. We're six minutes past 2:00 and I will give the people who haven't had a chance to speak yet the opportunity if they want to. Councilmember alter. >> Alter: Thank you. I absolutely agree with the hope and the desire to scale our [2:07:26 PM] efforts and to be more coordinated in how we -- how we do things. And I hope that we as a community can come together and have all of these different parts of our community be part of the solution. But I do have a lot of questions about the details and I would like a meeting, but for now let me start by asking you, of the committed and anticipated funds, how much are city funds? And how much are non- city funds? And how much are non-profit and how much are philanthropic? >> Well, so the presumption is that the funds will flow into the non-profits, right? Rather than from them. As I look at capital, for example, you know, which is I believe $125 million, I see about -- >> Mayor Adler: The money that has already been committed? [2:08:28 PM] >> Yes, my that's understanding, is that right, councilmember? >> Alter: So, I mean, none of this works if other partners don't show up at the table and support this. We have been putting dollar after dollar in and it's not enough for the city to do it on its own. For this process to be pushing us forward at the speed and to accelerate us, we need others at the table. And I think that it's really important if are us at the outset, you know, right now, it's great that there's $220 million committed and anticipated, but we spend $70 million a year, you know, as a council on homelessness. And I could add that up and we've got that covered just from the city. So my hope is that there were commitments made and that we have things in the pipeline but I don't see that from this. And I want more details on that, because we had a plan with echo. You know, we -- we -- we repealed the campaign back. [2:09:31 PM] Now we have a proposal that combines what we did with echo and that the encampment ban was changed and follows heal. So I want this to work and I want this to be new, but I need evidence that there's others at the table who are serious about it, and that requires the money. So I'd like to know if you have an answer to that. >> So I don't have at top of mind the percentage, councilmember, but let me tell you about several sources that we anticipate leveraging. Housing authority of the city of Austin has made now a substantial commitment to several of our capital projects and those operating dollars are incredibly valuable. And they make up a very substantial part of what it costs to do a project like this. So they have already committed funds, and they have signaled a willingness to work with us going forward. Additional funds that we would [2:10:31 PM] leverage would include the low-income housing tax credit program through the state of Texas, which provides equity into deals. We also anticipate increasing the amount of national housing trust fund dollars coming through the state. That funding is expected to double starting I believe next year. So I'm happy and I look forward to getting you the numbers around the percentage that is committed from other sources, but also driving toward what percentage of the total will be committed from other sources, because I think that is perhaps even more important. The city is in early, and substantially committed, and so we are then calling to our partners to bring substantial resources to the table. >> Alter: Thank you. And that is the direction that I, you know, I support. All of the examples that you gave were public dollars and there's certainly a really big [2:11:32 PM] role for the public entities, but we do need the private sector to step up and help us, you know, solve this problem. You know, our colleagues have said it that we can't do it alone, but we can't come up -- we need to be honest from the beginning if these commitments are, you know, are city commitments, etc., and, you know, I just want to be clear that the money from the American recovery plan is not all going to homelessness. We have a lot of other needs in our community that we need to address. And, you know, it's not clear that, you know, we need to understand how the county can fit in here. And I hope that they will be part of the solution. But we need a lot of clarity on that money. If we're going to go to the public and say we have a plan, we need to be clear this is the part that the city can fund, and this is the part that we need people to step up because the plan doesn't work if it's just the city. And I know that the spirit of the summit and everyone who came was to be part of that solution, [2:12:34 PM] but before we celebrate it too much, we need to make sure that those other pieces are together, because we have a crisis. And we need to address it. And the quicker that we can get those resources in place, the quicker we can address it. Thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Anyone else want to speak to this? All right, Diana, thank you, and please get us the details. I think that people want to see the backup to the numbers in there so we can see the details. >> Yes, sir, thank you. >> Mayor Adler: And real fast -- >> Kitchen: 10 seconds. I wanted to emphasize as we have been working with Diana gray that this is also a path for neighborhood participation. I know that the neighbors in district 5 are very interested in how they can help and they have been for a long time on what they can do to help their unhoused neighbors connected to health and human services. So if you could speak to that for two seconds, Diana, that [2:13:38 PM] would be great. >> Absolutely. I think that one of the goals of the plan is really to identify ways that all of our partners can plug in. And so, you know, I -- you know, some of the work that happened during the winter storm uri just underscored for me how fast austinites care about their neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. So while we will absolutely be talking to our philanthropic community, foundations, and potentially substantial individual donors, there is a place here both for contribution on the part of average citizens, but looking toward how there's personal engagement with entities doing this work and/or at the granular level of, you know, assembling move in kits and the like because we do want to Harnes that community spirit. >> Mayor Adler: All right. Thank you very much, Diana, for [2:14:40 PM] the work. And get us more detail and I hope that the businesses and the philanthropists and all of the other partners -- because as councilmember alter is saying and all of us have said, it will take all of us together and this is gut time check to decide how important this is as a community. Manager, let's go then to public safety briefing, the reimagination -- the report. >> Yes, thank you, mayor and council. And we are dedicating the remainder of our work session to hear directly from the reimagine task force members and the working group recommendations that have come after many hours of work. I wanted to start by just extending my appreciation for all of the time and the effort that these task force members and their partners have put into these recommendations that you're going to hear today. I am going to turn it over to our deputy city manager to frame [2:15:41 PM] up the conversation and she'll tee it over to the co-chairs. But I'm looking forward to the dialogue today with council. Thank you. >> Thank you, manager, and hello mayor and council. Just really excited today and I won't take a lot of time because we've got a lot on the agenda today. As you know, we convened -- the city manager convened this task force in August 2020, and we did something a little different with this advisory body. We decided to go in and to say, you know what, we're going to help co-create what this task force work is going to do and we're going to try to center it on those who have historically been most impacted by police violence. And so what you'll see from this task force is that they really took that charge of looking at reimagining public safety in its broadest sense of the word. It is not just about policing, but really thinking about public safety holistically that includes recommendations on public health. [2:16:42 PM] It includes recommendations that inform economic stability and a whole host of others. So I'll say that we as a task forced about got to see the entire final product at a presentation last Thursday. I will say that the chairs and staff really worked hard over the weekend to get the final report that you received yesterday and we have also sent that report out to staff who perhaps had not been completely following along with all of the task force meetings. And there are staff from public health, to code, to police who will be impacted by the recommendations, and we wanted to make sure they started to have an opportunity to start analyzing that as well. So with that I will stop and I will say that our task force named two co-chairs for this work and I will pass that on to Brian Oakes. >> Thank you, nuria. Brian Oakes, co-chair for the [2:17:43 PM] city community reimagine public safety task force. We have really been incredibly fortunate to have communities that are most impacted and represented in this task force as nuria said. They have worked so hard over the last six months and put in hundreds of hours, I feel that it's thousands of hours, of working not only with the tack force members but engaging in with community members through work groups. The task force members spent a lot of time listening and getting the input from individuals and communities who are most directly experiencing the brunt of the failures of our approach to public safety. They have also brought in an expertise and the promise and practices from around the country that make these recommendations not only innovative, but also evidence based. I believe that my fellow task force members have set an example for those of us in this area of civil service and public administration of how we can collaborate and partner with the [2:18:44 PM] communities to solve our most challenging crisis that face our cities. And so I'm so honored to have been a part of the task force, to serve as a co-chair, but also I want to thank all of our task force members and our work group who have been put in time and effort to really make these recommendations possible. And I will turn it over to my co-chair. >> I am a rep for C.C.U., communities of color united for racial justice and the co-chair. This has really been a powerful learning experience for me, for many reasons. I have learned so much from the creative brilliance of the other task force and working group members. I also learned deep lessons from the listening sessions with community members. [2:19:44 PM] This task force created space for us to actually take and imagine and practically think through how to make Austin a an additional lesson for me is that how we do the work is as important as what we are doing and why we are doing it. National Austin is framed as the deepest cut to policing and yet our city is yet to make actionable what so many in our community are needing and demanding. While the eyes of the country are watching us, will you, our city government, display the vision necessary and make -- match the courage of the many community members who step forward to share stories in order to make deep transformation in this -- I would say this historic moment. Hundreds of community members participated. [2:20:45 PM] Like Brion said, in the working groups and the community sessions. We have many intimate and then one big public city-wide listening session where we heard the brave and the vulnerable testimonies of persons who have been harmed by law enforcement violence here in Austin. We put in thousands and thousands of hours of volunteer work as the city manager mentioned. And along the way I was voted as co-chair to this task force. I now have to say that I feel personally accountable for the time, effort, hope, and pain that so many community members have poured into this process. As a mother, I know that the safety and well-being of children and families from communities of color is what is at stake here. And as someone who has been actively working on the harms of policing since I was a youth, which is going on 30 years now, [2:21:45 PM] I know that this is a historic opportunity, one that only comes once in a lifetime. As a student of history and social movements, I really bring a longer view of what's happening. And I know that right now is a time where it's actually possible for you to truly reimagine public safety. Just like the abolitionists during the time of formalized slavery who went against the laws and practices of their time, you too have an opportunity to make historic transformation in practice. I hope that you take this amazing opportunity. And now I want to invite you to hear the powerful recommendations from our working groups, your constituents. >> We actually have a facilitator who is going to help us since we have eight work groups today. [2:22:47 PM] And Rosana C returnz will facilitate that process for us. She does an amazing job of keeping us on task and with time. So we'll introduce our leader of our work groups to do presentations today. >> Thank you so much, Brion and Paula and thank you, council, for having me and I want to thank the city as Austin as your neighbor and your admirer. I am deeply honored to watch this process and know that the country, including my city, new Orleans, is observing the possibility and the beauty of this reimagining. I am going to support the working groups in their sharing with you today. There are eight working groups that are going to present. I'm going to help them to keep time. I'm also going to then lead us [2:23:47 PM] into the question-and-answer segment where you will be able to ask questions. I will ask you to please hold all of your questions. We do have -- I believe that we have set up simultaneous interpretation for the many communities that are accessing and watching this meeting today. Is that correct? And so we're asking everyone to speak slowly for the interpreters. And, therefore, you will have time to jot down notes as the progression of working group presentations goes through. And then we will have a segment where you can ask questions. I'm asking if you could, please, identify which working group that your question is for when I call on you, and then we will go into talking about next steps. Our co-chairs will lead that process of what happens next. And we know that there was [2:24:49 PM] supposed to be a hard stop at 5:00 P.M. Central time and I ask your grace -- especially because we started almost 20 minutes late, these working groups have put an immense amount of work into these presentations and to trim them down to the bone, and so if it is possible for us to regain that 15 to 20 minutes, I know that all of the working group members would be extremely thankful. So with that, I will invite Amanda Lewis to present for the violence survivors services and prevention working group. >> Mayor Adler: Manager, as this is starting, if you could check with our staff and see if there's flexibility to go until 15 after or so and report back to us. >> Will do. >> Mayor Adler: I'm sorry, please, go ahead. [2:25:49 PM] >> Okay, thank you. I want to make sure that one of our speakers -- I have seen Asia, but I'm also looking for Jen, who might be still be in a waiting area. I still don't see her here but we can get started. >> I will gently pop in when you have five minutes left, okay, is that helpful? >> Okay, thank you, thank you, I appreciate that. Well, before we get started, I wanted to, of course -- I want to introduce myself, I am Amanda Lewis and I'm chairing the working group for services for survivors of violence and violence prevention and, Asia, if you could introduce yourself. >> Hi there, my name is Asia [2:26:51 PM] gare and a resident of district 3, thank you for your time. >> And before we share our recommendations, we feel called and moved to make a statement, so we will make that statement and then lead into our recommendations. >> Thank you. Do we have Jen now? Um, so as we begin our presentation today, we would like to hold space in remembrance of the three people who were murdered this past weekend. Amanda Broderick, Alyssa Broderick, William sense the third and as well as their families and the community who are also victims of violence. And their community -- the communities are in mourning right now and it is as important as ever that Austin reimagine public safety. We know that the system failed them. These brave women did everything that the system asked them to do [2:27:52 PM] to find safety, and still we are here mourning the loss of these three lives. As a work group, concerned with survivor safety, abuse and assault, gun violence, police violence and preventing these and other forms of harm, we know our community must do better. >> With them in mind, we offer these recommendations as a roadmap towards more creative visions of building safety and addressing the root causes of violence. So we do have a powerpoint presentation I think that was shared with -- with city council. I'm not sure if there was access to that. Thank you. So we'll go to the next slide, please. So our working group, I won't list all of the amazing brain [2:28:53 PM] power that is in this group but it comes from a range of organizations and individuals, from service providers to abolitionists working to reimagine, and just a few of us are presenting today. Next slide. And so our working group developed a set of core values and group values in addition to the working group -- to the overall task force. And we wanted to make sure that our recommendations were survivor centered, that we're thinking about the individuals and different communities, but especially those most impacted by violence. We wanted to understand that when we are talking about victims we're talking about people who are at different levels of proximity to violence, and whether they are family [2:29:53 PM] members and if they are people who have been harmed and people harmed by state level violence, but we wanted to make sure to broaden that. We also believe in healing justice, that no matter where you are, people need -- have different healing needs and deserve access to those various healing needs. So we want to decentralize those healing resources for different communities, and they need to be able to be outside of the criminal justice system. We know so many people do not report to police, but still need healing resources in the community. And we also believe in systems and accountability. So the criminal justice system needs transformation as do the organizations that serve our communities. I think that white supremacy needs to be eradicated in various ways and there needs to be a process of evaluation and accountability to make sure that [2:30:54 PM] happens with the organizations that the city funds. We want healing to be culturally affirming. We know that anti-racism work is anti-violence work when we think about the root causes of violence, we're thinking about oppression, racism, sexism. And so doing that work to affirm identity is also anti-violence work. And, of course, trauma informed. We know that any people interacting with the system might be someone who has experienced violence in a different way. So we need to holistically to think about how we treat people that are experiencing trauma and violence. Everyone deserves healing access. Next slide, please. And we also wanted to take a second to mention that I think that one of the core -- one of the goals of this working group was to also to provide a recommendation on victims' [2:31:55 PM] services and we will do that at the end of the presentation, but we wanted to just affirm and state how important it is that we think holistically about all of the needs of survivors. As I mentioned, very few report to law enforcement. And so we need to diversify and to decentralize those services and prevention resources for survivors of violence and not focus on one organization, but that it takes a lot of different groups to do the work of helping to address the needs of victims and survivors. Next slide. So I will go ahead and pass it to Jen for the next set of recommendations. >> Thank you. I'm Jen. And our next recommendation specifically getting into some of the programming and the initiatives that we recommend. [2:32:56 PM] We wanted to say first of all that we are well aware that communities who don't turn to policing are already finding ways to create safety and prevent violence. We are recommending a community-rooted safety grant program. This would be a permanent city grant fund of at least $350,000 a year that would really work to elevate and support the existing grassroot communities for preventing harm, preventing violence. And it would support the community members in developing their practices and building capacity for some new initiatives that would deepen the community safety strategies. Eligible organizations and groups we're envision are groups whose primary purpose is to work in culturally rooted way with people and communities who are most impacted by racism and poverty and the violence and the surveillance of the traditional policing system. We are recommending a low-barrier program. So applicants don't need to be [2:33:57 PM] 501c3 organizations and we recommend that Austin public health or whatever city entity administers this grant program would follow the protocol that the equity office developed to keep this funding accessible to initiatives led for and by communities most impacted by violence and also by violent systems of policing. We should note that the particular activities mentioned here are only examples of possible activities. Under these main program areas that we want to see supported of safety and immediately well-being and prevention and healing. A second recommendation regards the trauma recovery center. We strongly recommend that through the office of violence prevention, Austin provide a million dollars in funding for the creation of a trauma recovery center which would provide free trauma and therapy -- I'm sorry, thank you -- next slide, please. [2:34:57 PM] >> Please slow down. Thank you so much. >> I just realized that. So this trauma recovery center model, successful trauma recovery centers make free and immediate mental health resources available after incidents of violence. They're located in high crime areas to serve the victims that often don't access other services. They address the needs of survivors who are traditionally underserved. So that might be people experiencing street violence, people experiencing gun violence, and people who are homeless and lgbtq plus victims and communities of color more broadly. Like the successful centers in Los Angeles, we would further recommend that the trauma recovery center sites or sites in Austin to be located in areas that are most affected by violence and that they be [2:35:57 PM] staffed and led by community members who are most affected. Next slide, please. Thank you. So recognizing that sex workers are frequently victims of violence, and are unprotected by existing systems, specific strategies are needed to help increase safety. We will address some policy changes that will help increase sex worker safety later in this presentation. This slide details some new initiatives that were recommended to affirmatively to improve the conditions that currently leave sex workers vulnerable to violence in our community. So specifically we recommend providing around $460,000 in the first year, and then $260,000 annually to fund sex worker outreach services. And we have a list that we have [2:37:02 PM] provided here that includes serving people within the community to strengthen the data we have, peer support programming, including a bad date list and paid peer mentorship and mutual aid, street outreach and harm reduction, city-funded health campaign against the stigma that often comes along with sex working. Unhoused and drug using populations, which makes people less safe. Cultural competency trainings for the providers whether that's legal or medical or social service providers who are -- who are the resources that folks might turn to, making sure that those resources are competent culturally to serve sex workers. Next slide, please. And I'll turn it over to Aja. >> Thank you. So in our recommendations we have included a variety of ways to provide emergency financial assistance and/or one time cash [2:38:04 PM] assistance to serve victims of violence. An example of the type of program that could be expanded or funded is a current city-funded program called "Bridge to safety." This enables folks to get one-time financial assistance to get to safety. We suggest broadening that in a variety of ways, detailed in our recommendations. Including adding healing services to the list of things that folks could utilize these funds for. We recommend directing the city funds to at least five additional community-based partners who would be able to distribute them flexibly without requiring involvement in the criminal legal system. And our recommendation is that a minimum of $75,000 per site, per year, is provided as well as the additional funds needed to administer such a program. [2:39:06 PM] And then we also would like to see our city tap into existing relationships to help with transportation for survivors. So throughout our recommendations, where we have funded partners, we also recommend that they could get free or deeply reduced passes for distribution to those they're working with. Next slide, please. >> You're at five minutes, thank you so much for speaking slowly for our interpreters. >> Okay. I'm going to go quickly because I know that we need to get to some of the other recommendations. We recommend $500,000 per year for subsidized programs to incentivize landlords, particularly to rent at reduced and stabilized rates for low-income or trans people of color to have a housing trust to [2:40:07 PM] $600,000 per year. And to diversify and to increase the survivor housing support to $15 million per year. Next slide, please. We also would recommend investing in prevention programs that are pce based and community-led, including in schools and other areas. Next slide, please. >> So these next recommendations are really within the city. So one recommendation is to expand the current program that is ran through victims' services so that more types of victims have access to culturally resonate healing modalities. Right now victims services has an M.D.R. Training program that trains therapists to be able to provide crisis therapeutic services. [2:41:09 PM] So we recommend expanding that to $360,000 so that survivors can have free access to those different healing modalities. Next slide. And we mentioned expanding safety to sex workers to real policy changes within E.P.D. And also advocacy through Travis county. They center around, of course, decriminalizing sex work, but leading to that, stop arresting individuals for prostitution and solicitation and reducing and releasing those currently held on those charges. Advocating to end being in courts and instead really recommending then to community-based services that meet their needs. And then, of course, stopping [2:42:10 PM] prosecution of minor crimes. Next slide, please. We also acknowledge the importance that the victims be able to report to the office of police oversight when there are issues within policing. And it's important that the office of police oversight is independent, is not administered by E.P.D. Or has a different structure of authority. So we support an independent police oversight to meet the needs of victims of violence. Next slide, please. And mandated reporting and we understand that A.P.D. Policies are mandated reporting, directed to young people and people in these communities and to D.P.S. [2:43:10 PM] So I think that it is important that victims' services and the equity office, we review and have these policies with mandatory reporting because these practices disproportionately impact survivors of domestic and sexual violence and families and communities of color. So that's, again, another internal policy change that we recommend. Next slide. >> We also have a series of recommendations about what a fully funded and staffed office of violence prevention could do to sustain the work of the task force. And it was recommended by the gun violence task force and similar offices and the cities across the country have shown results in both the immediate reduction of gun violence as well as leadership in building out out a public health framework to sustain those efforts over the long haul. We have some specifics here that I won't read through for time. Next slide, please. [2:44:11 PM] And so this model of a public health approach to violence, backed by the C.D.C. And embraced by cities across the country provides a clear framework on how to operationalize the core values of the reimagine and public safety task with racial justice at the core of how the whole model is implemented. And our work group strongly recommends that Austin, in doing any violence prevention work, take a coordinated public health approach. We know that conversations can't be siloed and we do want to say that any city effort of violence prevention has to occur in coordination with public health professionals using a public health approach and we strongly feel that it undermines the potential for real violence reduction when we invest in enforcement as prevention or when we task or allow law enforcement to come up with what they call prevention strategies without being mindful of evidence-based public health [2:45:13 PM] approaches that are developed and implemented by public health professionals and affected community members. >> That's your time. If you could finish in the next minute. >> These are just further funding recommendations, again some specifics you can look over. Next slide, please. >> Thank you. I will say I know these are very important to the city so I will let you look at the recommendations we've shared but we would like to add that as we laid out for the presentation, there are many victims and survivors who are not going to access support through law enforcement and as it stands within APD, victim services provides vital services to survivors. We don't recommend physically decoupling victim services from APD. Our full recommendations include conditions that need to be met [2:46:13 PM] in order for there to be an administrative decoupling from APD so that survivors have access to the support they need when they do engage with law enforcement. Until APD is culturally transformed, we recommend that the steps we have outlined in this powerpoint are made to enhance victim services ability to do their work. They're outlined here. The victim service manager should report to the assistant manager or to the police chief. We recommend that their budget reflect the value they add to the department, that they're able to coordinate for outside T.A. That APD should move to a model where each sexual assault survivor has the option to speak to a patrol officer, a victim service counselor or both with the counselor being the first point of contact and that victim services be able to collaborate with the equity office to see [2:47:17 PM] through the recommendations put forth during their equity assessment series. >> Thank you. That concludes the recommendations by our working group and we look forward to any further questions or engagement on these recommendations. >> Thank you so much, Amanda, Aja, and Jen. Now the equity reinvestment working group will present. Bella Rojas will lead. >> Thank you. I just want to make sure my co-presenters are in the room. Monica Guzman. They might still be in the greenroom. >> While we wait for them, Bella, I'll remind you I'm going to give you a five-minute heads up after as much as possible slow down for our interpreters. [2:48:18 PM] Thank you so much. >> I see Monica and we still need Raul Alvarez in the presenter room. Sorry to take time. I'm going to pass it to him after about a minute. I think they're moving people over right now. Okay. I see Raul. Yes. This is the equity reinvestment in community working group proposal and the goal of our working group was to identify and create upstream mechanisms that prevent the need for policing and invest in impacted communities to address longstanding inequities. I just want to say the working group members we had, myself and Monica Guzman are on the task force and then we had a number [2:49:19 PM] of amazing community members, Raul Alvarez, nica Arnold, Andrea, Ricardo, Amy, Jasmine, Marissa, and Rosia. Are you asking me to pause? >> Just for a moment. There's a slide up for patrol and surveillance. That's not your working group, is that correct? >> It is not. >> Y'all will just be presenting without a -- >> We don't have a powerpoint. We just have a short little presentation. >> So if we could have that removed, that would be great. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. As I was saying, those are our working group members. A little background. Criminality stems from systemic failures to support community well-being in a universal and nondiscriminatory way. And we recognize that violence [2:50:20 PM] occurs not only interpersonally but also from structural oppression, as we heard in the past presentation, from neglect, as we have all observed during the global pandemic, the recent winter storm. And I would say in some of the city's lack of adequate responses when needed, such as low-cost housing. We are calling for the city to halt investment in the violent and oppressive practices of policing and to really pivot dedicated resources to reimagine services designed to meet the needs of our communities. If we ground ourselves in the history of policing in the United States and in Austin, as we did when we launched our task force, we can better understand the historic role of law enforcement as a mechanism to protect property and wealth through the use of violence. The U.S. Became the wealthiest country in the world via [2:51:21 PM] intentional policies and practices of exploitation and genocide. The current racial wealth divide that we have in our country and in our city is not by accident. The system of racial capitalism has centered and cemented a racial hierarchy in all markers of life with white residents at the top and black communities at the bottom and other communities of color in between. Today in Austin black and brown communities have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, housing insecurity, and other markers. Related historical practices such as red lining and housing discrimination have resulted in geographic concentrations of poverty and these are disproportionately communities of color in Austin. Therefore, we focus on these communities. Raul, I will pass you the mic. [2:52:23 PM] >> All right. Can you hear me okay? Thank you, Paula and thank you, mayor, council, and city manager and our fellow work group members and the task force for their dedicated commitment. It's a lot of work but it's very important. And just to kind of build on what Paula was sharing, you know, I think our approach, you know, can be sort of simply defined as a neighborhood hub model. There's a lot of information in our proposal but it's a very simple concept that we have this neighborhood hub model. It's a place-based approach. Let's have a presence on the ground in these areas that have issues with crime and policing but also may be under-resourced and have high needs of other types. And before the pandemic, we already knew where the under-resourced communities were located. We had data documenting the impact of the pandemic and the winter storm just confirmed what we already know. [2:53:24 PM] What are the areas of high need. So we do ask you to do what the data is telling you. The data is speaking loudly right now. It's very clear. We don't want to overthink it because of this looming housing eviction crisis. We need to get into these neighborhoods as quickly as possible to provide support. Neighborhoods like dove springs, montopolis, del valle and colony park will be adversely affected by the evictions crisis if we don't change our approach, so let's put our resources on the ground where we know they are most needed. Our approach -- >> Could you please slow down a little bit for our interpreters? >> Yeah. I'm so used to -- >> Alter: And I'm going to encourage you to clip your words a little bit so it's very clear, because the audio is a little garbled. >> Sorry about that. I'm used to having the two minutes and not three or four [2:54:24 PM] minutes. So, again, in our proposal the approach is just as critical, right, as the funding ask. You know, last June, you know, the data was clear by the zip codes where the covid hot spots were. If you look at the map back in June, it looks an awful lot like the map of covid cases in hot spots today. So we would establish covid resource centers in those areas, how much easier would ppe distribution have been? How much easier would testing have been? How much easier would vaccine distribution have been? How much easier would the winter storm response have been if there was already a trusted place where community members could have gone for help? The stakes are high right now and they're too high to stay the course so we do -- so we must [2:55:25 PM] change our approach if we want a different outcome in these particular neighborhoods. And now to our proposal. There are two main parts. The immediate investment from current year budget and annual recurring allocations. In terms of the immediate investments, our work group asks for an investment of $11 million from the current fiscal year budget to be used to address the needs in neighborhoods that may be experiencing, again, high needs for supports. We suggest a variety of data sources that may be used to select neighborhoods, looking at factors such as concentrated poverty, high unemployment, limited access to health insurance, covid cases or high concentration of covid cases, and calls to 211. That's a good source of where the need is. [2:56:27 PM] And of the $11 million that we ask for for the current year budget, a million is for the establishment of neighborhood and community partnerships in these selected neighborhoods and the remaining $10 million would be divided wean the ten neighborhoods selected to provide rent assistance, preventing evictions, as well as providing direct assistance to residents for their basic needs. So that's the current year ask. We don't want to wait until October 1 to get moving. The second ask is for a recurring annual investment to support establishment and operation of five neighborhood hubs, so that would total about $45 million for those hubs, about $9 million per year per hub. And there's three kind of big bullets or arenas or investments. The first is overseeing the implementation and distribution of a guaranteed income pilot for residents in the hub [2:57:28 PM] jurisdiction in the form of direct recurring cash payments. That's about $12 million. And there's the details for our proposal are in the actual document. The other big bucket of supports for each neighborhood hub is to invest $6.5 million roughly per hub and to work with residents to identify the long-term needs to those communities and determine how the funds are going to be used. We feel it's very important that the community voice play a meaningful role in the identification of priorities at each hub. And then, finally, you know, once established these neighborhood hubs we assess what existing resources and programs may be effectively delivered via the neighborhood hubs. And, again, that's another role for these community resources once established. [2:58:29 PM] And I think -- I don't know if I'm out of time but I was supposed to leave time for Monica. >> Three more minutes. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Can y'all hear me? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yay! Finally. Okay. Monica Guzman, vamos Austin, she, her, hers. Basically the -- sorry. I need to get myself situated on my page here. The hubs that we are proposing proposing -- sorry. Will be operated by a community-based organization partners and the priorities for each hub will be determined through engagement of community members in targeted neighborhoods. [2:59:30 PM] That's really all I have in my part. >> Thank you, Monica and thank you, Raul. I think we're going to hopefully give back some time. The last little piece I would add is that the guaranteed income pilot that we're suggesting as one of the core programs in the neighborhood hubs is something that we know is being experimented with all around the country and there's great successes. We know the city of Austin has been a part of a national learning community around it and we know from experience that right now families are needing support for rent, for food, for utilities, for many different areas and having people jump through five different programs hoops with lots of applications that they can't get through is not working so we need a streamlined simple way to get direct assistance, economic assistance to families in need right now and we think that the guaranteed income pilot is a way that we can try that in Austin [3:00:31 PM] successfully and then hopefully grow it. Thank you. From our working group. Thank you, Raul and Monica, in particular. >> I was also thanking Raul and Monica and the reimagining working group. Rodney Saenz and Ms. Sue Gabriel. Do we have our presenters? >> This is av tech. Give me one minute. [3:02:14 PM] >> We can come back to this working group if there are any technical challenges and move to the patrol and surveillance group. >> I just saw Rodney answer. >> Hello. Hello, everyone. My name is Rodney Saenz. I'm not sure if I'm audible yet. >> I'm going to give you your five-minute warning when you have five minutes left and remind you to please speak slowly for our interpreters. >> Okay. Thank you for the reminder. I have -- I was supposed to wait for Ms. Sue but I'll begin as I don't want to take up too much of our time. We are the reimaging 9-1-1 work group consisting of myself, Ms. Sue, and David and Kate from our other groups as well, which will be presenting today. We don't have a presentation for [3:03:14 PM] this particular part but I will begin now. We understand that the decoupling of 9-1-1 from the Austin police department is currently underway. Although the work group has not been included in the city's efforts toward this goal, we strongly support this decoupling. These recommendations are rooted in the values of the rps task force grounded in the historically context of policing in the U.S. And in Austin. The reimagining 9-1-1 and non-police crisis response group, the 9-1-1 work group, acknowledges that holistic community safety is distinct from policing and should be defined by directly-impacted communities. As such, our recommendations include divesting from systems that cause harm, developing or supporting existing crisis response networks that are truly accessible to all community members, and that arise from and [3:04:16 PM] center the most directly harmed by existing system. Our recommendations also support sustainability and long-term thinking in suggesting full and permanent funding for equitable crisis response networks and planning for long-term accountability to the community. The reimaging 9-1-1 and nonpolice crisis response work group made up of representatives from affected communities and concerned community members presents recommendations centering on the following: Number one, establish a fully-funded mental health first response and remove any structural barriers that prevent community access to mental health first response, independent from police. For instance, when people call 9-1-1 they should be and are now given the following options: Ems, fire, mental health, or police. [3:05:19 PM] However, nonpolice mental health first response is currently only available in limited situations. A determination of the appropriateness of police intervention should be made by the community member requesting assistance in conjunction with the mental health first responder, not by the dispatcher. Mental health first response teams must be able to respond to mental health crises without police and use police back up as a last resort. Response teams would consist of a medic and a crisis worker and a peer community health worker. The team must be equipped to respond during crisis moments including covid-19 and severe weather. The team should be provided with all necessary appropriate equipment. 9-1-1 operators and first responders should receive appropriate training with an emphasis on prioritizing the [3:06:23 PM] response, the response to and need for mental health services over responding to nonviolent criminal behavior. So in order to ensure that when someone asks -- >> Hello? >> Hi, Ms. Sue. I'll stop after this recommendation. You can continue with no. 3. 9-1-1 operators and first responders should receive appropriate training with an emphasis on prioritizing the response to and need for mental health services over responding to nonviolent criminal behavior. In order to ensure that when someone asks for mental health options, they get a mental health clinician, training for 9-1-1 call operators must go beyond mental health first aid. So all call takers must undergo training on anti-racism that includes examples of racism in a 9-1-1 call center and regular anti-racism supervision. This is to combat systemic [3:07:24 PM] racism and ensure to the best of our ability the call takers do not make fatal decisions based on racist ideas of danger. Ms. Sue, please feel free to continue no. 3 on, if you're ready. >> You can go on. I'll get to the next working group. >> Okay. Thanks, Ms. Sue. No. 3, nonpolice crisis line and community response team should receive $2 million. The city should fund the community nonpolice first response outside of the 9-1-1 system. This service should also include a community-led resource line and respond to situations that do not appear to require a mental health response. For instance, loud music, blocked driveways, et cetera. Police should not be the entity to respond to noncriminal quality of life complaints or to other situations that have been decriminalized already in this community. Currently, this service exists [3:08:24 PM] in Austin through 10,000 fearless first responders, a local group, and we recommend that the city should fully resource this group and others like it -- excuse me, such as mh first in Oakland, California and allow them to be self-sufficient, autonomous and should be sustained moving forward. Funds for the creation of this will come from the reimagine public safety fund. In addition, we also recommend culturally and linguistically appropriate conversation and for residents with limited English proficiency in all emergency response call centers, so we should establish a standardized language access procedure used by all emergency response for callers with limited English proficiency. [3:09:25 PM] Provide culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach and education to ensure the community understands the process and how to use the services. Call takers must undergo community-based cultural competency training and regular refresher training for working with communities with limited English proficiency. Text messaging should also be added as an option for accessing emergency response. The city should undertake a multilingual public education campaign to raise awareness regarding appropriate emergency service use. Finally, ongoing community accountability -- apologies for not naming the recommendations as I have gone. This is no. 6. The city of Austin should conduct a regular and ongoing independent audit annual, biannual, et cetera of emergency response calls and a linguistically and culturally accessible survey requesting [3:10:25 PM] residents' opinions regarding the effectiveness on emergency police response calls. No. 7, in order to engender community trust in the public safety process, the city should, a, not return any of the reimaging or any decoupling funds to APD, B, follow the task force's recommendation and not fund an APD cadet class and, C, invest the full amount of reimaging city funds toward holistic safety recommendations of the task force working groups in this year's budget. Only with these displace of commitment by the city do we recommend a second phase of reimaging public safety that allows for transparent and thoughtful community input in creating a reimaging public safety plan that leads to effective results for systemic change. Finally, additional recommendation no. 8, the city must invest in and expand [3:11:28 PM] community leadership development to guide public safety initiatives in order to ensure that the communities most impacted by the systems and ideologies of oppression are able to offer their expertise, the city must commit to investing in community leaders and, finally, no. 9, recommendation 9. The city should budget a rule for the equity office for nonpolice crisis responses. Our conclusion, the work group's conclusion was that for far too many austinites calling for help requires weighing whether making the call will do more harm than good. True public safety means investing in responses that don't put residents at risk. The reimagining public safety process is an opportunity to create systems of care during emergency and crisis situations that provide help without requiring community members to risk their lives or their [3:12:28 PM] freedom. Thank you very much. I think hopefully we met the timeline. >> Yes. Thank you so much, Rodney. And thanks to Ms. Sue Gabriel and the entire working group. We are supposed to move on to the patrol and surveillance working group. However, I don't see David Johnson's name in the participant list -- okay. I see it now. Welcome, David. Is it possible for us to have David on camera? >> This is av tech, if David is presenting, then yes I can have him on the screen. >> Thank you. David is presenting, I believe. And there is a powerpoint presentation for patrol and surveillance. [3:13:30 PM] >> I'm sue Gabriel. Can you hear me? >> Yes, Ms. Sue. Are you presenting for patrol and surveillance? >> The first part of it, yes. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Just a gentle reminder to please speak slowly for our interpreters. When you have five minutes left, I will come on camera and off mute to remind you. >> Thank you. I'm sue Gabriel, Bethany Carson, Rodney Saenz, and David and I are part of this group. Second slide, please. Police do not equate to public safety. Police do not and cannot prevent crime from happening. Police spend less than 1% of their time responding to calls about violent crime. Often, there's little that they can do when they do arrive. [3:14:31 PM] Slide 2 -- >> Excuse me, Ms. Sue -- excuse me, everyone. It's still on the cover slide and also Bethany Carson and Rodney Saenz are both also participating in the presentation so they need to be allowed in. >> I'm good. I think I'm ready to go. >> Is Bethany on the call as well? >> This is av. I understand Bethany was calling in. I cannot move her on the screen but she is unmuted now and available for communication. >> Okay. Thank you. And thank you, everyone. I just want to ask is tech ready to advance slides? >> Start over? >> Ms. Sue, you can go read from the second slide. Police do not equal safety. >> Okay. Patrol policing emerged out of a [3:15:34 PM] need -- oh. The second slide. Police do not equate to public safety. Police do not and cannot prevent crime from happening. Police spend less than 1% of their time responding to calls about violent crime. Often, there is little they can do when they do arrive. Third slide. Patrol policing emerged out of a need to surveil and exercise control over black and brown and poor communities through threat of violence. Next slide. The function of police has not changed. From 2015 to 2021, police have killed at least 35 people. Four more have died in police [3:16:34 PM] custody but APD claimed they were suicide or accidental. Next slide. The Joyce James report states residents of Austin neighborhoods with higher percentages of African American and hispanic residents, those in poverty and neighborhoods with high crime rates had disproportionate force and severity of force used upon them. Data also shows that black and hispanic men were arrested disproportionately. These next three slides provide maps of Austin that illustrate the disproportionate use of police patrol and surveillance against people in Austin. [3:17:35 PM] The first map plots all arrests in the yellow points. We can easily see that arrests in neighborhoods of color, predominantly along the Austin [indiscernible] Are more dispersed than in white neighborhoods. This tells us that APD is actually policing with more intensity than just major roads and intersections. Next slide. In the second map we see the occurrences of probable cause searches plotted in Orange. A probable cause search is an extremely subjective and often abused practice by officers that can lead to criminal patrolling. Here you see a greater concentration within the eastern crescent than before. [3:18:38 PM] 77.1% of all probable cause searches have been black and hispanic people. Next slide. Finally, in the last map we see drug arrests. Here again we see an even greater concentration of harm in predominantly black and brown eastern crescent of Austin. The next slide -- this is be done by Bethany Carson. >> Hi, thank you, Ms. Sue. This is Bethany. Can y'all hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Thank you. So our focus for our community engagement and recommendation where areas of policing where APD comes most directly and frequently in contact with people or information about them without being called. In addition to the at-large task [3:19:40 PM] force community engagement session, our working group met with 40 peopleirectly impacted by incarceration, deportation, or immigration enforcement to hear about what safety means to them and their experiences with policing. We collected 39 surveys, which were disseminated by word of mouth to people directly impacted and their immediate community. Next slide, please. Here are the survey findings. Next slide. We asked people what is one thing that council could fund or defund that would make them feel safer. No one said to fund more police. In fact, the majority said to defund police or specific aspects of policing and many mentioned funding for mental and behavioral health, affordable housing, and homelessness. [3:20:41 PM] Far from feeling protected by police our respondents felt fear at seeing the police. This was particularly acute while driving. Next slide, please. The vast majority of those who took our survey had been stopped by the police, most while driving. These encounters were overwhelmingly negative and many reported that the stops led to financial struggles and negative mental health impact. Some encounters led to more acute impacts such as incarceration or detention, job loss, family separation, and deportation. Next slide, please. When we look at the impacts of police stops at a community level, those acute life- changing impacts are amplified. Nearly everyone who took our survey had family members, friends, and loved ones who had been stopped by the police. More than a third were arrested and almost a third of the stops [3:21:42 PM] led to incarceration or detention. A quarter lost their jobs. About a fifth of the stops led to deportation or family separation. At the same time -- >> If you could just slow down a bit for our interpreters, please. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> At the same time as our respondents experienced these harmful impacts from unwanted interactions with police, they could not rely on police in a crisis. More than half said that either they hadn't or wouldn't call 9-1-1 in an emergency because of their fear that police interaction would be more harmful to themselves or others or they had called in an emergency and no one ever responded. Many respondents shared personal experience or commentary about [3:22:43 PM] how police response had worsened or escalated a situation. Next slide, please. We asked our respondents how they felt about police sharing data with other local and federal law enforcement agencies such as through the rick center. The most common reactions were fear, anger, and disgust. Fear was particularly acute among spanish-speaking respondents. Nearly all of our respondents have interacted with the police. Many, both of people seeking help and of objects of suspicion and it hasn't made them feel safer. Police haven't been able to provide the responses that make them feel safe. Further, police stops cause harm. They exacerbate many of the issues that most threaten [3:23:44 PM] community safety, including mental health struggles, financial stability, incarceration, deportation, and family separation. Next slide, please. And here I'll pass it on to Rodney. >> Thank you. Our takeaways from our communication with the community were that nearly all of our respondents have interacted with the police, both as people seeking help and as objects of suspicion and it hasn't made them feel safer. Police aren't actually able to provide the responses that people need to feel safe. Police stops exacerbate many of the issues that most threaten community safety, including mental health struggles, financial stability, incarceration -- >> I'm sorry to interrupt you. Just for your information, Bethany covered those slides and we're on the long-term vision and recommendation. >> I am so sorry. Thank you so much. >> It's totally okay. I understand. Thank you. [3:24:44 PM] >> Our long-term vision and recommendations. Mainly, we want to divest from the entire racist, classist model of patrol policing. So phase out the entire 210,604,299 neighborhood-based policing line item and no more cadet classes. We actually need fewer officers. We also need to phase out all use of deadly weapons and traffic enforcement should be decoupled. State-level changes now are needed to decriminalize traffic offenses and allow unarmed civil servants to direct traffic and make stops for civil traffic violations. We should instead reallocate that money to reinvest in economic, health, and housing resources that create real safety for the overpoliced communities. And now I believe David will [3:25:44 PM] take the remaining part. >> Thank you, Rodney. So our immediate recommendations start with safety. Safety is an end to discriminatory and dangerous patrol. We ask the recommendation that the city defund crowd management, gang suppression, nuisance abatement, Riverside togetherness projects, U.S. Marshals lone star fugitive task force, weapons and supplies and training and recruitment of new cadets for a total of $12.5 million. And we ask instead that money be used to reallocate towards services that will help mitigate the impact of the communities most harmed. Immigrant defense, fund direct cash assistance -- >> David, sorry to interrupt you. [3:26:44 PM] You have five minutes and they're still on the long-term slides so if you want them to advance the slides. And if you could please slow down for our interpreters. You've got time. We're going to make it happen. >> Okay. And just for the record, if need be, I think the working group is willing to cede five minutes of its time for the completion of this presentation. >> Thank you so much. That's really appreciated. >> Thank you. Could we advance the slide, please? Thanks. Immediate recommendations. Thank you. So safety is an end to discriminatory and dangerous patrol. We ask to defund all of those things on the left and to fund the things on the right. To defund crowd management, gang suppression, nuisance abatement, [3:27:48 PM] U.S. Marshal lone star fugitive task force, weapons and military supply, and training and recruitment of new cadets, for a total of $12.5 million. And fund immigrant defense through the public defenders office. Fund direct cash assistance for overpoliced communities, and fund supportive health services. Disarm traffic patrol that cannot be immediately decoupled. So if it can't be immediately safety is being able to live peacefully in your neighborhood. Social and recreational without harassment. Defund overtime, mounted patrol, specialized patrol, approximately 10% of, quote, neighborhood policing patrol. That will bring a total to [3:28:49 PM] approximately $35.3 million just there. We ask that you decouple traffic enforcement units that do not involve directing traffic, conducting traffic, stops, or violent criminal charges. So that's traffic administration, av wrecker, highway enforcement, and also special event, late patrol and host. That would be a total of $10 million if you decouple that. But we want you to end investigative discretionary stops on officer initiated calls. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, they deprioritized all violations other than speeding, dwi, running stop signs or lights or other unsafe movement, right? They had a 50% decline in the number of black drivers searched. Their numbers were something like that should be implemented. [3:29:51 PM] Next slide, please. Safety is freedom of speech and movement without surveillance. Defund (indiscernible), defund realtime crime centers, defund the star chase dispute management solution. That would total $4.5 million, approximately. We ask that you provide transparency about the youth, capabilities and function of all (indiscernible) Drones including those donated. Immediately cease to use these drones or any of the video surveillance. Ban facial recognition software by any ap officer or city employee. Next slide, please. >> Mayor Adler: Please slow [3:30:51 PM] down, David. Thanks. >> Okay. Safety is (indiscernible). And treating drug use as a public health issue. I think I've got it now. Defund the canine unit, defund canine interdiction, defund narcotics, conspiracy (indiscernible) For a total of $10.4 million approximately. And defund behavioral health and low-income and supportive housing. Next slide, please. Safety (indiscernible) Manipulative and policing [3:31:52 PM] actions. When police are paid, to hand out food and toys, and have dialogue in underresourced communities while continuing to harass, jury and kill members of those same communities, that is manipulation, not relationship. It is a key responsibility to stop the harm, not the community's responsibility to trust or forgive while harm continues to occur. >> Mayor Adler: Excuse me, David. Time is up. >> (Indiscernible) That would give us about 3.2 million. Instead fund community based initiatives that prevent and address violence. Next slide, please. >> Mayor Adler: So, David, can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Mayor Adler: Your audio is a little low, so please stay [3:32:52 PM] closer to your microphone. And you're at time. So can you wrap in the next minute? >> Um, yes, I can. Absolutely. I'm on my next-to-last slide. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. >> Safety is equity and accountability. (Indiscernible) Contracting out of A.P. Control. All contracts over $5,000 are reviewed by the equity office, through the process you'll hear later through the working group. Before A.P. Is able to enter into a bidding process, solicit a product or service or submit a grant proposal for lethal weapons, any proposed funding, including donations, were previously allocated items, should require equity office [3:33:53 PM] approval and come before the council for a vote before pulling money from outside of the department. Last slide, please. Or next slide, please. So when all is said and done, we have approximately 66 million that we can defund, and reallocate, and approximately 10 million that we can loosen through decouple. Thank you very much. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you so much, David. We're going to hear next from the meaningful community engagement working group. We're inviting Monique Guzman back, and Alisia torres. >> I'm here. >> Thank you, moniquea. I will again remind you to please speak slowly for our [3:34:55 PM] interpreters. When you have five minutes left in your time, I will come on with a gentle reminder. >> Is aleasia on? >> I can unmute her, but I cannot access her to the screen. >> Moniquea, are you able to turn on your -- >> Can you all hear me? >> Yes, aleecia, we can hear you. >> Okay. I can go ahead and start. I don't know if we want to wait for tech to figure out the video part. >> Please go ahead and start. I'm not sure who is unmuted, where that is still coming up, that -- >> Yes, this is the av tech. If you're not speaking, please keep yourself on mute so you can eliminate all those noises. Thank you. [3:35:55 PM] >> Thank you. Are you able to get moniquea and aleecia's video up? >> I can't do anything about their videos. >> Someone is unmuted. I'm trying to see who that would be. Go ahead, aleecia. >> Okay. I'm unmuted. If the video comes up, I would love to -- for folks to be able to see my face. But that's okay. I will go ahead and start. Hello, council and the rest of the community, my name is aleecia torres. I'm a member of the meaningful community engagement work group. We formed this group, this work group under the reimagine public [3:36:57 PM] safety task force, because we can't and must not reimagine alone. There are hundreds of thousands of people that are not able to partake in this conversation. Much less city-wide decision-making, because it is inaccessible and doesn't allow for the community to be heard. Our group focuses specifically on city council meetings because unfortunately, it is one of the very few opportunities that regular people, like me, and many others, have to engage with you and decision-making. Because it is one of the very few things that we have, that is actually meant for community engagement. We know that this meetings are inaccessible to members who are most impacted by decisions the city makes around public safety, undocumented people, people experiencing homelessness, folks who are disabled, lgbtqia low [3:38:01 PM] income. People who are not represented in the city council are purposely disregarded. The meaningful community engagement work group gathered testimony for the most directly impacted community members on their experiences and trying to engage with the city council and influence decision-making. Resident feedback was gathered through public listening sessions as well as a set of online surveys. From this information we have determined the main areas of focus for the city council to actually start creating a space where regular people can participate and be heard are, one, targeted community outreach, actual community engagement, accessibility in the sense of language, time/location technology, and investment. Monica will -- in a minute, Monica will talk more in-depth [3:39:03 PM] about our community centered recommendations that are essential for city council to implement. Monica, before we start, I definitely want to honor the name of -- I want to honor the award that the other folks that were part of the community, of the meaningful community group were by naming them. So members of our working group included I, myself, (indiscernible) Sanchez, Monica Guzman, Tammy (indiscernible), Doris Adams, and Lucy Nguyen, and to a certain extent Carrie Roberts. >> Thank you, Alisia. Monica Guzman, she/her/hers. Our first recommendation, [3:40:03 PM] prioritize community access to council meetings that is both transparent and socially responsible with a diversity of cultures, accessibility and languages of constituents. Utilize paid media from community newspapers, to television and radio. Bus wrappers, bus stops, to social media, and everything in between. When you report back on community actions, I have noticed not every council meeting has [lapse in audio]. The actions taken by city council is -- on the April 8th meeting, but not either March meeting. What we're asking is make that a regular occurrence but also include both, how each councilmember voted, the public response commentary. How many people registered and [3:41:04 PM] spoke in favor of or opposition to items. Both reports shall be written in accessible language describing what the vote means so it's easier to read and understand, revise the city of Austin website that could ensure it is professionally translated, and much easier to navigate and more user friendly. Google translate is not the best option. >> Sorry for interrupting, moniquea. If I could ask our host to mute, it's creating a little bit of an audio problem and we're having a hard time hearing you, moniquea. And if you could be a little bit closer to your mic, if possible. Your audio is a little low. And we also need the host to mute. And I'll urge you to slow down for our interpreters. >> All right. >> Av, can you hear me? [3:42:07 PM] >> We're getting a lot of audio from you. >> Yes. It's actually aleecia torres, and her audio is causing the feedback. >> Thank you so much. >> Go ahead, moniquea. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm on my phone, fairly close to my face. But I will try to slow down. Do I need to repeat anything or just continue? >> Please continue. >> Thanks. Second recommendation. Make city council meeting processes more accessible to community members to participate in, while centering the voices and experiences of those most directly impacted. Implement a tier system that allows people who are the most impacted by upcoming council decisions to share testimony first. Work with the community-based organizations and the equity office to identify relevant tiers for the particular [3:43:07 PM] discussions being considered. Significantly improve the current translation and interpretation service system by offering a larger variety of languages by our community members in realtime and make the audio recordings available for community members to visit at any time. Make speaker registration and speaker waiting processes more efficient, and accessible for virtual or in-person council meetings. Including allowing registered speakers to testify, in whichever format they choose, including submitting video, audio, voicemails and written testimony to be played during the meeting and simultaneously interpreted on the spot, reducing dial-in waiting times, by allowing registered speakers to leave voicemails for virtual meetings, creating a system that [3:44:07 PM] allows community members to dial in to community council meetings at any time, eliminate the rule of people having to preregister to speak. Council meetings should be open for everyone to participate in at all times. Eliminate the rule of people that will need translation having to request interpretation and registration two days before everyone else. Recommendation 3. Require city councilmembers to develop a robust community engagement strategy, to actively engage and center community members in their district most impacted by council decisions. Have at least one community listening session and feedback session, and one q&a available in multiple languages and accessible formats on items they are sponsoring or cosponsoring for each meeting. [3:45:08 PM] Provide actual connections made with community organizations or groups to solicit input and expertise from the community. Invest in community based organizations who have relationships with people most impacted by decisions, and create a rich two-way communication to ensure you make constituents informed decisions. Invest in and engage with existing community centers and neighborhood hubs proposed by other task force work groups. Recommendation 4. Immediately, immediately invest $5 million for the communications and public information office budget to cover translation and interpretation service, as well as every, every city department must include a base budget line item for community engagement. Flexible funds to pay partners, community organizations for the [3:46:10 PM] following. This list is not a limited list. Translation and interpretation services, childcare, venue support, remote access support, requesting community organizations to provide facilitation, persons who can provide any previously named services, stipends for residents to support the previously listed. Again, that is not a finite list. There is more to add. Engage community partners, organizations who are already engaged with centered residents. And finally, at $250,000, annually, to the base budget of the equity office for two new staff members that covers salary and benefits for two full-time employees. >> Thanks, moniquea. [3:47:12 PM] Just under five minutes. >> (Indiscernible). >> Great, thank you. >> In closing, the recommendations that Monica shared with us are tied to the reimagine public safety task force guiding values which we, not only as task force representatives, but also as constituents and community members firmly maintain must be at the center of all city of Austin operations. These recommendations were created intentionally and in direct collaboration with the community. Folks took time for this because they want, they really want to engage and know and understand what is happening in their own home. The only way to honor these folks and their time is for council to publicly commit to implementing these recommendations, ensuring that way everyone actually has a voice. [3:48:13 PM] Thank you. >> Thank you, moniquea, and aleecia. We're going to hear next from the patrol and criminal investigations group, working group, which will be led by Kathy Mitchell. I want to also just recognize that many across the country, including in Austin, are awaiting the verdict on the chauvin trial. And it just encourages me to really acknowledge the stakes at which we're considering here, and wanting to honor the -- every time a trial like this comes up, every time there's an event like this, the families who are impacted by these losses are the ones who are feeling this brunt. I just want to make space to hold them in our thoughts, in this moment, and Brian, obviously if there's anything [3:49:14 PM] you or Paul want to share, between now and when the announcement is made, I will certainly recognize y'all. Kathy, are you available? Are you queued up? >> The slides, we just had our recommendation. >> Sorry, I missed the first part. [Audio feedback]. >> There's a little bit of an echo, but I will give you (indiscernible). Just a reminder to speak slowly. >> Someone has more than one media device open. If you can mute one of them. We'll see if that helps. Thank you. [3:50:16 PM] >> Kathy, I think you might have both of them muted. Is there a way for you to unmute one of them? >> All right. Can you hear me now? Oops. >> Kathy Mitchell, are you called in as well? >> Can you hear me now? >> Something worked. Whatever you did, it worked. Thank you. >> I am so sorry. >> Are we waiting on a presentation? I didn't hear that part. >> I am here representing the patrol and criminal investigations work group. Our members are Carrie Roberts, myself, sue Gabriel, Jessica Johnson, Nick Hudson, Chaz Moore and Amanda Lewis. I am not going to be taking our full time. We have relatively few recommendations. I do want to start with -- and [3:51:19 PM] they're very common-sense. We were focused on kind of structures within APD to serve different kinds of services to people. So our first recommendation is that the lake patrol should be handled as an ems function. We believe, and we've learned that there are overlapping police jurisdictions on the lake, in addition to APD. APD has been the primary, but the duties that APD mostly addresses have to do with things like picking up fatigued swimmers, helping stranded boat ers, supporting APD's dive team in search and rescue, which is occasional work, and certainly they can be brought in to do that as needed. But the most common kind of complaints involve getting ems to the scene. [3:52:20 PM] And right now, ems is too far away. So we believe that in an area where it's largely about water safety and health, it's important to be able to get our emergency health providers to the scene quickly when needed. And so we would support reallocating the resources that are currently used for APD lake patrol to ems, to the tune of about $1.4 million. That would allow us to add five ems ftes along with the purchase of boats capable of advanced life support care. We believe as a second recommendation that we need to discontinue our current police dog unit, because the dogs have [3:53:21 PM] all been trained to bite people. We did look at a considerable amount of data on dog bite incidents involving APD, and determined that dogs not only have a negative history, that's always front and center when a dog bite is occurring, the history of the use of police dogs with respect to black and brown people is always in the foreground of our thinking. But also, these dog bite incidents were often the kind of things that could be avoided. The dogs are all trained to bite people. We believe there are police uses for dogs, but we would need a different kind of dog unit, and a different kind of expectation [3:54:21 PM] for those animals. Our third recommendation, the police horse unit, the mounted unit should be discontinued. Many other cities have discontinued their mounted units, largely because mounted units in an urban area are very expensive. I want to do a quick reminder for council, although I'm sure most of you know this basic history, that voters approved the first bonds that were supposed to pay for a new stable back in 2006. That bond rolled into another bond that was issued in 2012. By 2020, we still didn't have a stable, and APD rejected a $14.4 million bid because there wasn't enough money to pay that much for a stable. [3:55:21 PM] I believe we have 16 horses, and that is an exorbitant amount to spend. It's been more than a decade. We haven't been able to put together the right package of support for the horses. They're only getting more expensive over time. So on balance, we recommended that the cost and the outcome and the work doesn't balance out. And we should discontinue the mounted unit as so many other cities have. Like previous work groups, we have been looking at self-initiated calls. And based on amazing data research that was supported by city staff throughout this process, we believe that self-initiated calls are another area where we are spending far too many resources with far too little to show for it. [3:56:21 PM] I'll just leave it at that. And finally -- oh, I guess it's not finally. Number 5, we recommend a community- based full curriculum review of the cadet academy. This has been discussed. This won't be the first time that you're hearing this. But there have been a number of indications in the most recent round of reports from Kroll and others that APD has over the past few years, as we've tried to dig into the problems at the academy, really simply disagreed that there's anything wrong. I don't need to go through all the reports and all the outcomes, but I think that the community assessments have consistently been, there's a great deal wrong with what we have been doing at the police academy. And as long as there's any [3:57:24 PM] concern that APD leadership is not in agreement with that assessment, we need to have full participation from members of the community as the new curriculum is developed, so that we get to both trust and verify that changes are being made. Finally, in the spirit of reimagining public safety, any pre-arrest diversion strategies that the city launches should not be in lieu of decriminalization that you heard so much about in this -- in the other work group participation -- or excuse me, presentations. Pre- arrest diversion strategy should not create programs that rely on police discretion to either arrest and potentially, you know, put people on a path [3:58:26 PM] to criminalization, or not. Police encounters can still escalate and cause serious harm, and we would like to see alternative strategies that do not involve police. So that's the end of our recommendations. >> Thank you so much, Kathy. We are going to hear now from the public health working group. And I want to make sure that -- >> Now I cannot hear you. >> Can everyone else hear me? I see nods. Okay. Av, if you can help Kathy. We are also trying to have our presenter for public health, who I see in the participant list. >> Hi, I'm here. >> Thank you. [3:59:26 PM] As I've mentioned to all our presenters, I want to remind you to please speak slowly for our interpreters. You will have an allocated time which was pre-requested, when you're at the five-minute mark I'll gently remind you. We're running a little behind, some of the groups have run over, so as much as you're able to stick to your timeline or shorten it, I would be forever in your debt. Thank you. >> Okay. I hope that you all are really able to appreciate how much heart has gone into this work. Good afternoon. I have some slides that I'm waiting on. (Indiscernible). Thank you so much for the opportunity to share the work and wisdom of the public health reinvestment work group. This group has had a wide range [4:00:27 PM] of perspectives. So to begin, when we talk about reimagining public safety, we have to elevate what the community members have told us again and again. We heard it in our interviews, that for community engagement videos we did, we heard it in listening sessions, in the work we've been doing in the community over the years, that when we ask them what makes them feel safe, we hear about free and affordable healthcare, free or affordable healthcare, we hear about community support, and we hear about freedom from free of racist policing. Next slide. Oh, before we move to the next slide, I just want to draw your attention to the enormous and amazingly brilliant group of members of this task force. I won't say all their names, but there they are. And they're in the report as well. Very robust community. Next slide. [4:01:27 PM] So, this is what a public health approach can offer. In fact, a public health framework offers a kind of counterpoint to law enforcement and criminal justice. The key elements that we think about when we apply a public health approach are that the efforts are evidence-based, that they are people-centered, equity focused and that it's a trauma informed approach. The recommendations we're putting forth today make these criteria, and are also holding our city accountable, holding you all and all of our systems accountable to look at and assess the social determinants of health, identify the disparities and structures that are harming our communities, and to implement strategies that will ensure equitable access to high-quality and culturally informed healthcare. We have everything we need in [4:02:27 PM] the city to care for and meet the needs of its residents. We just need to invest what we have in ways that makes sense. In programs that actually do that. That actually meet the needs of our communities. Rather than squandering our wealth on institutions that are just designed to harm and punish. Our public health system has been undertaking a Hur Ku LE an task during the pandemic. Especially with cities of comparable size. There's no excuse for this. Redesigning programs to address dated community needs will reduce the need for police in most arenas of life, and research shows this will improve health and safety outcomes of the most vulnerable people in the city. The scope of most of our recommendations is quite large, addressing everything from healthcare access to housing to [4:03:30 PM] food security to harm reduction. This is because making our communities safer takes a broad and deliberate embrace of the people living in them. It means meeting people where they are, with what they need, when they need it. Next slide, please. To this end, one of our key recommendations is to strengthen the health workforce in Austin by hiring community health workers to serve communities that are suffering under excessive policing. These workers come from the communities they serve. They provide home visits. They help people get connected to services that are available through the city, as well as in the wider community. With adequate training, they'll be able to offer the mental health and other crisis interventions. Including de-escalation, that [4:04:30 PM] the police force has been hopelessly inadequate in providing. These are dignified jobs with a stable income and benefits, and ultimately will offer a career path for people who care about their communities, rather than entering into law enforcement. Community health workers can replace police on the streets. To make this work, the city must also invest in a networking and training hub for these kinds of workers to receive training, supervision and support, to be able to serve in a sustainable way, so that they are not burdened -- overburdened by the vicarious trauma of caring for so many people. We propose a pilot program of 50 community health workers in the eastern crescent of Austin, with a plan for evaluation of the pilot, and a commitment for scaling up to 1,000 community health workers throughout the city by 2025. Next slide. These community health workers can live and should live within [4:05:32 PM] a community health center. We recommend that the city open five new community health centers in the same region, the eastern crescent. The centers are staffed by community health workers, could be built within existing recreation centers or by repurposing schools closed in east Austin or along with the hubs by the reinvestment groups. There are many, many creative ways we can create these resources in our community. It's just a matter of making it happen. This proposal has many, many components. I'll just outline a few. Firstly, a clinic, on-site and telehealth, preventive care, including rapid testing and referral by primary care docs that rotate through, or nurses, including medical residents, nursing students and other healthcare providers. The community health worker can support by organizing health [4:06:35 PM] promotion activities including classes for exercise, cooking, mindfulness, meditation, on-site and telehealth mental health services, including more informal wellness dialogues, workshops, and events that are friendly to people of color, communities of color and queer and trans communities as well. The community health worker can provide linkage to community support, domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy, sex workers outreach, and importantly these community health centers can provide food pantries and nutrition supports, with food that is -- that has inventory, that is based on what the preference of the community is, that are culturally congruent. We propose a community farm and food forest where people can grow the food that they want to eat. Not only a little garden, but an [4:07:36 PM] actual farm where they can grow enough for the community. And we provide stipends, so the city can provide stipends to the city members that work to maintain these. As well as a commercial kitchen, for small businesses, in emergency situations like we experienced in the freeze, to provide hot meals to the community. And extremely importantly, medical supply closets, small mutual pharmacies, including first aid supplies, menstruation supplies, pregnancy tests, all forms of contraception and food emergency contraceptions, diapers, baby formula. The kinds of over-the-counter things that are essential for people who need cold and flu remedies, et cetera. We expect that all of the above community health center recommendations to cost roughly $15 million per center. Next slide, please. [4:08:38 PM] I have mentioned this briefly, but it really warrants lab ration. We must invest in and expand harm reduction services that provide non-punitive support for people using drugs. We recommend the establishment of two drop-in centers co-located with an opioid treatment program, and including a peer-run mental health crisis respite center and on-demand access to person-centered medication assisted treatment, also known as methadone. Harm reduction drop-in centers are community based programs that provide [lapse in audio] Sterile syringes. These programs serve an essential role in HIV and hepatitis prevention as well as providing wound care, and a range of other services. They are essential elements to a robust health response to substance abuse and misuse with [4:09:41 PM] ample successful models from around the country. These kind of drop-in centers are exactly what we need to replace all the police engagement with people struggling with substance use and mental health issues. Next slide, please. >> You have five minutes. >> Thank you. We also recommend investing in developing a trauma-informed assessment process for all programs and ongoing training on trauma- informed care for staff of public health. Whether it's interpersonal violence, historical, intergenerational trauma, racism, discrimination, or threatening interactions with the police, trauma is long-lasting and has significant implications of community health and safety. We recommend an internal assessment, tool and process be defld with the consultation of an advisory group of subject matter experts and directly impacted community members. [4:10:42 PM] We can look to the city of San Francisco for a model of this kind of effort, and we need to make this meaningful by providing ongoing training. Next slide. Last slide. Finally, we have an array of recommendations that speak to the holistic nature of our approach to public health reinvestment. The intersecting conditions of poverty, racism, homelessness and mental health issues cannot be solved with an overinflated police budget. We need to invest in truly affordable low-income housing, including rent control. Our recommendations outline this in much greater detail. The lack of affordable housing is a public health crisis. When people are without housing, their environments are unstable, and unreliable. Food insecurity, little to no medical care, and few mental health support services, all compounded by an ongoing pandemic, are but a drop in the life of people living without [4:11:42 PM] permanent housing. We must prioritize getting people into housing first. Young people of color are all too often dragged into systems that dim their light and potential, because of racial profiling and excessive policing in their area. We need to development youth programs that recognize young people's strengths and provide opportunities to foster their leadership. Investing in young people is always a win for our community. And the lack of transportation is cited as a major obstacle for people accessing healthcare. We need to create better public transport, but what we do have to make accessible to low- income residents, at a minimum making capmetro free and provide transportation to healthcare. We must collaborate with the county to expand coverage of the math program, to improve access [4:12:44 PM] to healthcare. Public health has been politicized in our state for a long time, but our city can do more to ensure meaningful access to healthcare for low-income communities. As you consider what reimagining public safety is, we implore you to recognize the importance of a holistic approach that puts the most marginalized at the center of your analysis, because making the city livable and safe for them will make it safe for all of us. Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions. >> Thank you. The final group is uprooting punitive and harm culture in intersecting system. I have David Johnson as our presenter. >> Thank you. And thank you, city council, for [4:13:46 PM] being present for this. I hope everyone's been paying attention, because I guarantee you'll be tested on this moving forward. The uprooting punitive and harmful culture in intersections work group, sue Gabriel, Maya pilgrim, Brian oaks, Bethany Carson and myself, David Johnson, from grass roots leadership. Next slide, please. What is a punitive or harmful culture. A punitive and harmful culture is one based upon assigning blame and punishment while rewarding and commoditizing violence and oppression. It creates a culture of fear. Next slide, please. I captured this from the city of Austin website, because I wanted [4:14:47 PM] everyone to see that I did not make these things up, as far as what the city of Austin reports as its mission and its vision. Next slide, please. The vision, according to city of Austin, is that we want to be the most livable city in the country. But the question is, livable for whom? We criminalize our homeless, or our houses. We gentrify people out of their own neighborhoods. So livable for whom? Next slide, please. The mission. The city of Austin's mission is to be the best managed city in the country. Our city council, you have already proven to be easily sway Ed from your commitments and [4:15:49 PM] oural have as and you've already betrayed the trust of this traffic force by recently agreeing to a new cadet class, against our unified recommendation. Next slide, please. How is this you, the city council? This is your marketing, the city council approves re-imagine APD cadet. How is this re-imagined if you ignore the people that you have tasked with the very process of re-imagining your failed system? We don't want to be used as a prop for marketing purposes so that the word re-imagine gets tossed around with some value. Next slide, please. Austin is the beacon of [4:16:51 PM] sustainability, social equity, and economic opportunity, where diversity and creativity are celebrated. Where community needs and values are recognized, where leadership comes from its citizens, and where the necessities of life are affordable and accessible to all. That's from the visions of the future for Austin, on the same website. Also, Austin's greatest asset, it was people. How? Because I look to that blurb, and I want to ask, sustainable for whom? We ask, socially equitable for whom? We ask, economic opportunities for whom? Where is diversity and creativity celebrated and how? What community needs and values are recognized? And by whom? What kind of leadership comes from its residents? Let's not lean into the citizenry, because those who cannot vote still matter in this [4:17:53 PM] community. How will Austin ensure that the "Necessities of life" are affordable and accessible for all," since it has failed miserably thus far? Next slide, please. So our proposed recommendations, our proposal is to operationalize the guiding values of the re-imagining public safety task force in order to create a process for the city of Austin to evaluate city initiatives for equity, potential harm, and holistic safety. We seek to apply this process to any system mechanism in the space of public safety with the potential to cause harm and/or save lives. Our goal is to disrupt and deconstruct the pattern of punitive culture within public safety, in order to build a politic safety system that is liberating, supporting, and holistic in achieving community [4:18:53 PM] safety. Next slide, please. So our proposed recommendations are as follows. One, this process should be piloted with the recommendations of the re-imagined public safety council, based on the initial framework developed by our working group. Two, the city should increase funding to the equity office by $1 million immediately using divested funds, to develop the validating tool, expand the equity office staff sufficiently, to implement this process on an ongoing basis, and the next budget cycle we recommend an increase of $5 million to the budget for the equity office for further expansion of its staff and capacity, including initiating the process of securing a physical location, a standalone location, preferably in Austin's eastern crescent, since that is the area historically most harmed by the city of Austin, [4:19:54 PM] for an equity center to house the equity office. We must make our investments reflect our commitment. Next slide, please. Any item that comes up on the city council agenda is subject to review by the equity office through the process -- through this process, and can choose which items to review. The intent is that the equity office would prioritize, re-imagine politic safety proposals, policing, including the budget and contract, public health, housing, and economic development. The equity office must be given 30 days prior notice to when the item is placed on the agenda to review any item it notifies council that it wishes to review. The equity office review would then be attached to the agenda when both are posted on the website publicly. An equity office representative must be given space to present [4:20:54 PM] the results of the equity review as testimony to the city council during the scheduled meeting, immediately prior to public testimony on the item. The equity office review should be the last thing heard publicly before members of the community are able to give their testimony. To provide them full information. >> David -- >> Yes. >> Five more minutes, and if you could please slow down for our interpreter, that would be great. >> Okay. Thank you. Next slide, please. So the validating tool will be built upon the following framework. Step one is to be rooted in history and shared understanding. That requires completing historical analysis in the context of systemic racism, very much like we were provided at the very beginning of this [4:21:54 PM] process. Next slide, please. Step two. Center those most directly harmed by these systems. Gather data disaggregated by demographics to tell you who is most harmed or negatively impacted. And apply that data throughout the process and with regard to any review or decisions being made. Next slide, please. Initiate an accessible and co-creative process for community involvement. Very much like what we've done through this task force, where we center those most directly harmed by systems, by committing to a process to collaborate, problem solve, and design with the community, in active relationship with the community. Next slide, please. [4:22:59 PM] Four is be holistic and tackle the root cause. We have to ask, what are we trying to problem solve for? And stop wasting resources by throwing them effectively at symptoms much greater harm. Next slide, please. Step five is divesting from systems that cause harm. This is where -- there's an analysis of the project or program for all of the unintended negative impact and outcomes for those most directly harmed. Next slide, please. Step six. Establish community accountability. How do you ensure -- how will you ensure accountability. Communicate and evaluate results. Does this project represent sustainability and long-term thinking, or is it framed to [4:24:01 PM] just mitigate and dilute harm, or will it promote equity and make those historically most harmed better off? Next slide, please. So, questions that must be answered by this process through the equity office are, what are the top challenges, barriers we encounter to deliver the services or deploy specific resources. I'm not reading them all, just a few of them. What does the data tell us about who's most vulnerable and at risk for the service and need? Where people with lived experience and those most directly impacted part of your program design? Next slide, please. Who already has access, is overserved, or benefits? What are some unintended consequences for this -- from this proposal, for this proposal? Are there existing negative outcomes or dispariies that exist for the populations that [4:25:02 PM] will be impacted by the proposed goals or process in the proposal? Next slide, please. I know many of you have quoted this before, because it's one of those things a lot of people like to quote, and also since the city seems to put a lot of value in what older white men say, I'm offering this to you. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And I know many have been paying attention to the verdict in the Derek chauvin trial, and I've got to say right now that I despise the fact that cities like Minneapolis and cities like Austin, rather than leaning in to what their people are telling them to do differently, they would rather try to control us and corral us into depending on a harmful system for the only semblance of justice that we're ever afforded. [4:26:07 PM] Please, let our investment as a city reflect our commitments as a city. Because, again, each and every one of you sitting on the dais will be tested on this later. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, David. And now we will -- I want to invite our co-chairs to the front and also for us to prepare for questions from the council. So, what I'd ask is that you direct questions, general questions the chairs would be able to answer, questions specific to the working group, if you could refer which working group your question is for. And we're going to try and make sure that we're able to do this [4:27:07 PM] in the next -- we have about 15 to 20 minutes for this segment. And we have confirmed that we are going until 5:15. First question. >> Mayor Adler: Go ahead, councilman Casar. >> Casar: I just wanted to give a brief acknowledgement to the task force, given the -- how little time we have. And also to acknowledge the verdict in Minneapolis because many of us have been afraid for days that chauvin would be found not guilty, despite what the video so clearly showed in plain daylight. As Mr. Johnson noted, while the guilty verdict today provides accountability, it doesn't [4:28:08 PM] provide real justice. Real justice would be George Floyd being able to return to his daughter Gianna. Real justice would be never allowing this to happen again. And we have to remember that George Floyd was stopped over a $20 bill and we cannot rest until black people aren't being killed over $20 like George Floyd, or for selling loose cigarettes like Eric Garner, for having mental health issues in a crisis like David Joseph. And that's the work before us today. That's why 20 million people marched across our country saying black lives matter. That's why -- were nearly killed marching here. This isn't about the politics of the day. This is about something much bigger. And for that reason, I really want to thank the task force for all their hours of work and for their recommendations. I'll be looking closely at these and working with you and with the council to find out how we can continue to re-imagine public safety, reduce needless [4:29:09 PM] police violence, and make everyone safer and reduce violence in our community by getting to the root issues at hand. So I just want to thank everyone for their participation because there is so much more work we have to do if we want real justice and safety in the community. >> Thank you. >> Mayor Adler: Colleagues? Mayor pro tem? >> Harper-madison: Thank you. I just want to echo council member Casar's appreciation of the task force, their hard work, their willingness to serve in a difficult capacity. I think I heard somebody from the task force include and thank Carrie Roberts. So I'm going to tell myself that [4:30:13 PM] we are all invested in moving forward in a way that makes sense for our city when this particular group and that particular individual are working together so much so that we acknowledge that while we ideologically don't always get along, we're moving towards the same goal, and I really appreciate that. I think the symbolism there is important, especially on a day like today, where it is entirely valid and valuable that we should be giving members of our community some space right now. I was holding my breath until about ten minutes ago and didn't realize I was doing it until I saw guilty three counts, and I exhaled. And so I'd also like very much to extend this opportunity to remind folks in our community that this work will never stop. We have a country that was not designed to equitable. We have a country that fell for the bait, the lie of whiteness and blackness and supremacy behavior. And so we have a lot of work to do. [4:31:13 PM] It won't stop any time soon. So I hope everybody stays in the fight in a way that you're still taking care of yourself and those around you so that we can stay in and be healthy while we do that. So, again, thanks for all the hard work and effort and service for the task force and all my colleagues, frankly, and then everybody who's finally exhaling a little bit right now while we wait to move forward towards sentencing. I wish you some peaceful deep breaths. >> Thank you so much. I want to encourage to wait the queue, meaning to prioritize in the queue, questions for the task force. I know there's a lot of information that was shared. So really want to make sure that we're able to have those rise to the top of this segment of the conversation. [4:32:16 PM] Thanks so much. >> Mayor Adler: Council member kitchen. >> Kitchen: I have a question. We're taking this time for questions to the task force members, right? Let me first say, as others have already, I so appreciate the level of investment and time and energy, it's just really evident how much people care and have poured of themselves into this work. So, I have a lot of processing to do and I will have a lot more questions, but I do have one question for today. And this is for the first group that we heard from with regard to -- I forget what it's called, but with regard to survivors of violence, and I really appreciated the list of recommendations that they made, [4:33:16 PM] and we'll be looking through those and seeing how I can be helpful in furthering them. But my question relates to -- and I think they spoke to this. But I just wanted to ask them if they have any particular insights or perspectives with regard to homeless individuals experiencing violence while living on the streets, particularly women who may have experienced sexual violence. I would think that many of these strategies would be helpful for those individuals, too, but I wanted to see if they had anything they wanted to add about the experiences of that segment of our population. >> And I'll invite our host to bring Amanda Lewis, if she's still available. >> Hi, yes, I'm still here. I can't get my video to work. Thank you so much, council member kitchen, for the [4:34:16 PM] question. We did have recommendations, just around housing and the importance of not only the prevention of making sure people are housed, but the risk factors of people experiencing homelessness on the street are much more severe. It's kind of I think wrapped in our sex worker recommendations. We have some around homelessness. But I think just generally, the need for diversity of housing options and entry into a system of housing, more permanent supportive housing, I think the city has talked a lot about -- I think y'all actually were just talking about supportive housing. But just the need for, you know, not just shelter, because honestly, sometimes shelter is not as safe if you're dealing with complex trauma, and then everyone in complex trauma being [4:35:17 PM] close together. So, the importance of diversity of housing options and our recommendations that we mention. Jen or Asia, do you have anything to add to that? >> Yeah, sure. Thanks, Amanda. In addition to those points, I want to draw your attention, council members, to the recommendation regarding sex worker safety programming where we do recommend the decriminalization of what are currently minor crimes, because those sort of issues have an impact on the environment for folks who are homeless as well for unhoused people that might be ticketed for those things, and that creates more of an environment of risk for unhoused people who may experience assault. And then we also have a recommendation that I think Asia can speak to about the availability of brief flexible funding. We referred to the bridge to safety pilot model. Asia, I don't know if you want to add anything about that. [4:36:21 PM] >> Yes. So, we do recommend expanding something similar to bridge to safety at additional sites. So that we're not completely reliant on shelters, but those in need of a safe place to go have brief financial assistance for housing application fees, security deposits, relocating if necessary, so that's addressed. And then one of the largest fiscal notes recommended in here is related to diversification of housing support, including a housing trust. And including brief hotel safety net stays, like survive to thrive currently offers. And so we have a swath of recommendations detailed in the longer recommendations that you may have received from us. And if you would like to talk more about that, we're happy to give you more info. It's very lengthy. [4:37:22 PM] >> Kitchen: Yes, I would love to find time to visit with you all more. I am appreciative of all of the recommendations that were made across all of the groups and we'll be delving into all of them. I know that this is one that is particularly staggering for us to deal with. It's hard enough for people living on the streets, but for women at risk of assault on the streets, it's horrifying. And so I look forward to talking with you all more about all of your recommendations. Plus, be part of the work in helping you move those forward. >> Mayor Adler: Council member alter. >> Alter: Thank you. First, I want to just thank all of you for your hundreds of thousands or hours that you put into helping us, the next steps on our journey to re-imagine [4:38:22 PM] public safety for all here in Austin. I had a couple of comments and questions for the first group as well. A lot of my work related to public safety has focused on victims, whether it's sexual assault response, gun violence, the launch of the office of violence prevention. So I really appreciate some really interesting and new ideas in here and look forward to working with you to see what we can implement. So I wanted to make one comment and then ask a question. You may or may not be aware, but they're in the process of interviewing for the director of the office of violence prevention right now. And at our next council meeting, we'll be taking up I believe two contracts that have to do with the data analysis that needs to happen, so that when that new director comes on, we have the data and analysis we need to [4:39:22 PM] fashion a strategic plan for that office, and I hope that that's a really good place for these thoughts and ideas to be integrated into other city processes so that we can combine these, because there's a lot of overlap in the -- and understand apply, because I think some of you probably served on the gun violence task force that launched the office of violence prevention, but that there's overlap in the sex workers and some of the other pieces. So I wanted to kind of just flag that, and then believe that a lot of the stuff you're talking about for victim services dovetails nicely with some of the directions that we've been going, and I think it's a really interesting way to approach the fact that even just for sexual assault, we have 10% fewer who are reporting. And so maybe providing some of these other avenues gives us a better way of providing healing, but also to bring some folks to justice as well. But my question is, I didn't [4:40:24 PM] fully understand the recommendations for the victim services department and whether it should be in APD or not. So, can you clarify that and help me understand, you know, if you're for it or against it, or are you providing provisos, or it should be stay in APD and we should add to it in those various ways and maybe those things are not in APD. So I'd like some further clarification. >> Absolutely. I apologize for that. We didn't -- so, what we did was separate administrative decoupling from physical decoupling. So the conversation of -- you know, can victims services remain co-located with APD, have access to the same systems, still be able to respond to [4:41:26 PM] victims and in communities along with APD, because we felt like that was really key to those system advocates being able to advocate the survivors that end up reporting to law enforcement, even though it's a small percentage. We see the value of the work that victim services does. And so our recommendation is that that continues, and the other piece of that was if there would be an administrative decoupling, which looks like victim services being led by someone outside of APD, maybe the public safety manager or somewhere else or public health, then they need to still be able to have those touch points within APD being co-located in those departments, that those victims service counselors support. So we kind of saw those at two different things. [4:42:26 PM] Can you have the physical decoupling, or can you have an administrative decoupling without a physical one? And so, if we're to have an administrative decoupling, these are the things needed to do that work, and we listed those items within the recommendations. Ours hasn't made a specific call on if we think that the administrative decoupling is beneficial. I think that would require more community engagement. And we wanted to say that the bigger question is so few people are using that system. And yet, that department is underfunded. So there needs to be a separate conversation about how APD is prioritizing the needs of victims that are reporting to law enforcement. So I don't necessarily see that [4:43:26 PM] as a re-imagining conversation. I see that as a little different. But the re-imagining to us is the need for comprehensive community-based and led healing resources that are culturally resonant and led by those communities. >> Thank you, Amanda. Just a reminder to our council members also to speak slowly for our interpreters. >> Mayor Adler: Colleagues, we've been asked if we have further questions at this point for the task force. Mayor pro tem -- oh, I'm sorry. Yes. >> Sorry about that. Thank you. I just wanted to jump in really quickly just to draw council member alter's attention. Thank you, I see. Slowly, I will say, to draw the council member's attention in the longer document that you [4:44:30 PM] received to our recommendations in victims services, their number, and we have recommendation 2, which does cover what Amanda was just discussing about the victims services manager reporting at a higher level as currently, so that was a change that we made, and then we address in the first recommendation the physical decoupling and what the process would need to look like for that. It's page 16 in our document, but I don't know what page it might be on yours. >> Mayor Adler: Mayor pro tem, did you raise your hand? >> Harper-madison: It wasn't a question so much as a statement. I was just wanting to point out how excited I am to see the development, the further development of the community health worker component. Workforce solutions is working on so much you know, given that [4:45:31 PM] we're going to have access to some pretty unprecedented support financially for really diving into root causes of things, including all the things that are included in addressing cyclical poverty. So I'm really excited about that part, and I wonder if during the course of the process y'all had an opportunity already to touch base with those workforce solutions people to just start thinking about what building that into their systems for training, retraining, bringing people in to new fields and all that. Oh, I'm sorry. That was a question. Whether or not that conversation already happened, it's one that you guys are looking forward to. I'm just sort of curious where we are in that process. >> I don't have video access, but I would say we learned about that workforce development breakfast as we were going [4:46:33 PM] through this conversation and are very excited about engaging in this because we have strong ideas both from national networks or community health workers, and community health workers -- this is a global public health approach. This is not something we made up. This is evidence-based, research- based, you know, human technology. It's people connecting with people. And so as you mentioned, we learned about this workforce development and think that it's an incredible opportunity, and coupled with the community health centers or the neighborhood hubs, having a home base for community health workers really enables that -- you know, on the street connection with what's going on in a community, so that when there is an emergency, when there is a crisis that needs intervention or support, it doesn't have to be the police that we call on for those things, that it can be community-based public health workers. [4:47:34 PM] So, yeah, that's a very exciting direction that the city is already going in, and I think these recommendations can only strengthen the effort. And I hope that the scale-up can be part of this sort of more broadly funded effort. So, not exclusively from reinvesting divested resources. >> Harper-madison: Absolutely, and that's the other part of it I really appreciate. The community level hub. Taking that realtime community level needs assessment, and then just recognizing throughout the course of the pandemic, moving forward into the vaccine distribution strategy, the winter storm, watching how frequently those community hubs activate anyway. They don't even need us to empower them to do so. They're going to do it anyway. So I think what needs to happen on our part is having a comprehensive back and forth relationship and fully supporting those efforts for communities to go beyond, you know, being resilient. There's some folks that are working on an initiative that's beyond resilience. [4:48:35 PM] They're talking about anti-fragility. And so just thinking about how, you know, communities really having the opportunity to advocate for themselves is very exciting with our support. So, thank you all again, I appreciate it. >> Fuentes: Thank you so much for allowing me to co-facilitate with you. >> We are going to take one last question before we move into the final segment, talking about process and next steps. And we have our co-chair Rojas, who is queued up, if there are no questions. >> Mayor Adler: Council member Fuentes, did you want to ask a question? >> Fuentes: Sure. I just want to make a brief comment to share my support for the investment in public health, and in the community health workers program. I think that's an incredible way and a much-needed strategy for [4:49:36 PM] our community, especially as we seek to empower our community and build up resilience. And I also wanted to share my support for guaranteed income pilot. I think that's another innovative way for us to reinvest in economic justice. And as we're thinking -- and I also want to share my gratitude to the -- for really bringing forward holistic strategies, and I appreciate all the work that you're doing. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. >> If there are no further questions, then we'll pass it to baola. >> Okay. Thank you, everyone, for staying with us, both city council members and community members watching at home. This has been a long process so far and we're not done yet. We want to get to the point of some sense of next steps in resolution. As I mentioned in the opening, a [4:50:36 PM] representative of ccu communities of color united for racial justice. And since I was voted as co-chair for this task force, I now feel very personally accountable for the time, effort, hope, pain, that meant community members have poured into this process. And so I wanted to talk to you a little bit about after, as you said -- I don't know exactly if we're counting, but thousands of volunteer hours that have been put into this process, major reservations surfaced from our community task force members. When you, city council, moved forward and voted for restarting the APD police academy, despite our formal task force vote against it, and many testimonies the day of your vote. At that point, many task force members wanted to walk away from the process altogether, and [4:51:36 PM] after deep heartfelt reflection, we all decided to see this process through, to honor the process and to honor the directly impacted community members that we're representing. But, I wanted to open up the floor for other task force members to speak directly with city council, because I think we want to think together about this process and where we are, and then we'll circle back and I want to make sure we explicitly talk through next steps before we end at 5:15. >> Thank you, Paula. Task force members? >> Hi. This is Amanda Lewis speaking. As you know, I chair the survivor task force, the working group for the task force. [4:52:37 PM] I just wanted to share with you all that we had a working group meeting the same day as that vote for the cadet class, and members of our working group were wondering if their work was even valuable, if it even mattered. We were doing a process of hearing from survivors about their needs, and there was concern that we were asking people to uncover their trauma, and wondering if that would even -- if it was ethical to do that, knowing that the city was moving forward without hearing those races. I wanted to share that. I think that we have a responsibility to make it count, when people share their pain. So I thought that was something that I definitely wanted to add to the conversation how important it is that when we ask [4:53:38 PM] communities to give their truth and their pain, that we take action and we share that the community cares and is listening. >> Thank you, Amanda. And I'd like to open it, if there are any council members that want to respond. >> Mayor Adler: Mayor pro tem. >> Harper-madison: I suppose the long and short of it is I don't want anybody to feel like their contribution to these processes, which are very difficult, and which do, in fact, put people in a position of being vulnerable. I don't want them to think that any of us make any decisions that we make on this side of the dais lightly. On or off of the dais. [4:54:38 PM] We're all your neighbors and friends, and one Facebook click away will show you that we all know the same 137 people. So I hope that you all will accept that we often have to make very difficult decisions that don't necessarily 100% align with how we'd like to see things go, but we do have to make decisions, and there are a lot of factors that play into it. But it's certainly not lost on us the amount of work and time and personal effort and contribution to the process that gets made, and I certainly think that I speak for some of the colleagues that I know we had this conversation that we don't ever want, you know, members of our community who pour themselves into a process to feel like we don't appreciate the effort. Because that's not the case, ever. I think the other thing I'd say about that is while I can appreciate that we are opening up the floor for questions and comments, and frankly, criticism right now, I don't want y'all to [4:55:39 PM] think that we've got to squeeze it in between now and 5:15. My hope is that we continue these conversations, you know, independent of one another, independent of this larger gathering that folks are reaching out to our offices moving forward through this process and beyond. >> Mayor Adler: Council member Casar. >> Casar: I think we should all have a conversation about how to move forward from here. But I think that there's opportunities, for example, eviction prevention was raised as one of the issues, which I know we're going to be bringing up in the housing committee and there may be opportunities to start moving some of that forward. I know that in public safety committee, we have thought about some of the issues that have been raised here, and we could actually potentially bring some of that important work there. There's components of this that you're raising questions for the budget, and the city manager is [4:56:41 PM] going to be developing his budget, starting to work on that right now. And so I think that there are really timely next steps for us to pick up, but of course, you wanted to receive the recommendations from you here today so we can have it all laid out to us and told to us in your own words, and then we would hopefully co-create alongside you what some of the next steps might be, where we could have strong majority support on the dais to move forward with some really important items. >> Mayor Adler: I also think it's important to honor this work by just not letting the report come in. I would be very much interested in knowing what yours and the staff's reaction is to these proposals, and to be able to respond to them all. So that we make sure that they [4:57:42 PM] come back to us that way, and that none of them just appear in a report and then people don't know what to do with them next. >> Thank you. That's exactly our next step, because we are just receiving these now, and certainly wanting to pass those off to the appropriate staff of partners and have them do some analysis, and then working with some of our committee chairs, too. I can see some of these recommendations with the staff analysis coming back to a public safety committee, health and human services committee, so we'll be working with your colleagues and making sure that this is not the last time that we are hearing and talking about these recommendations, that we are taking them all very seriously and looking at how they might be implemented and what the different implications of the implementation might be. So, that is certainly what we would be seeing, and I'll see if deputy city manager wants to add anything else as well. >> Thank you, manager, and I'll just say that we have, in fact, done exactly that. [4:58:43 PM] We have sent that to staff. We take them very seriously. There are some great recommendations here that again go beyond the traditional notions of what we started with in public safety and excited to sort of evaluate those and staff had actually been excited to see some of those presentations. So, both finance and our departments are looking at them now and we hope to come back and share those with you. I have to say it's a little bittersweet for me as I will be looking from afar to see how those recommendations come in as I have sat with this task force since August, and know the passion, even amidst disagreement. But the passion that everyone who worked on this task force and those on the work group have brought to this really thoughtful approaches and thoughts, and so just know that your staff has taken a look at them and making sure that we can marry with whether there are fiscal impact policy impacts, [4:59:43 PM] legal or statutory impacts, we want to make sure that you as council are fully informed >> Mayor Adler: I didn't want to suggest that was the only way for things to move forward. Councilmember, you mentioned evictions, and our office is working on that right now. Nothing has to wait for that. But I just want to make sure that we don't miss anything, or drop anything that's been raised by the task force. Paula? >> Yes. Thank you. I have some task force members who are trying to speak, and their voices are not coming through. They're texting me. Monica Guzman from gave. This technology, I think if we could get them back on the mic quick. Thank you. [5:00:45 PM] >> I just want to acknowledge the incredible work of our ctm staff and negotiating a lot of the logistics today. So thank you, team, for helping to facilitate this. I really appreciate it. It looks like Monica and David are now on. >> Thank you. Yes. The multiple languages, we're so appreciative. >> Okay. Thank you. Again, Monica Guzman, gave, she/her/hers. Again, thank you for the opportunity to present all the work of the task force and work group members have done. But one thing I want to say is that it's imperative that we see the city manager's office, staff, council, you know, city as a whole, that they make a public commitment to prioritize these recommendations, and [5:01:47 PM] elevate them, that there's public communication. Sorry, do I need to slow down? That there is public communication going forward, as well as working with all the different groups represented, not only on the task force, but in the work groups as well. And that we want to hear a statement from the city manager and council in a hopefully sooner than later council meeting, but ahead of the budget being publicly announced by city manager cronk, prior to the budget hearings. We need to hear back a timeline. We need to hear back what are your next steps, now that you have heard from us. Thank you. >> David? Thank you, moniquea. David? [5:02:50 PM] Are you able to unmute? >> Aleecia is also in the queue to speak. >> Thank you, Paula. Aleecia, are you able to unmute? >> Can you hear me? >> Mayor Adler: Yes. >> We can. Just a reminder to speak slowly for our interpreters. >> We'll do. David, if you are able to come in in a moment, feel free to interrupt. So aleeci. I just want to say that many other task force members have already mentioned, right, immediately after the vote on the police academy, we really -- a lot of folks felt (indiscernible). [5:03:50 PM] I was directly impacted, right? And really saw an opportunity, right? In this, in allowing my imagination. To be lifted in a possibility of this is the city responding, right? A city that Austin centers itself as a big hope in Texas. That it was going to rise to the occasion. And after that vote, what I roll I really found myself questioning for what and for whom, right? For whom had the countless hours of work been for. Definitely we are not into addressing. I will personally state that I chose to continue engaging in this work group because I had been the person to open her [5:04:52 PM] mouth, and as undocumented people, to offer their thoughts, to offer up a Saturday, right? Of their time, to come in and provide us some of this recommendations. Now, throughout this whole process, the vote on the task force -- I'm sorry, on the police academy was not the only time that as a task force we felt undermined by this very city council, right? Now saying thank you for all your time, this district recommendations all sound so great, but really want to uplift what Monica has said, and demand it of y'all, where is your timeline, an actual timeline that gives us tangible action steps, right? Not for next year's budget, not for two-year future budget, but actually tangible steps, to [5:05:54 PM] reimagine safety within this budget cycle. We're looking at, you know, in -- if we had not brought it up in our last meeting, I do not believe any changes would have been made to the possible mid-budget vote that would have happened this coming Thursday. And I just want to note that city council, we are watching, but more than watching, we are ready to hold you accountable for what you all have said here today. That y'all are looking to implement this, right? We continued on this work, because we're accountable to our community. I'm accountable to myself, for my safety, for my beliefs. And we're going to hold you accountable to what y'all have stated again and again, as holding this, as a way that the city of Austin wants to move. And in that, I really hope that, as Monica has said, y'all are [5:06:55 PM] able to provide more than praises for the recommendations, but natural public commitment, willing to invest X amount of dollars into our neighbors. As somebody said here we are. In our friends. In the 137 people we all commonly know on Facebook. Thank you. >> Thank you, aleecia. David? I seem to have lost David's name on the participant list. But if you can pipe up, if you can hear me, and if you can come off mute. I see you now. After David we'll go back to Paula. >> Hello, everyone. You know, I feel like this whole -- I feel like this culture of right to comfort has these nice roles. [5:07:56 PM] And say things like, don't throw out the good, you know, don't throw out the good. That's just a way of saying, you know, a little bad stuff isn't going to hurt you too much. You know, I've heard all of you on the dais in some way either dance around really difficult topics to talk about, like topics that don't involve victims, like survivor -- violence survivors. I see very little leaning in from the council that it's so quick to do things against recommendations. I'm not seeing any of that zeal or speed right now from any of you to lean into the really difficult conversations, like the ones around inequity, the ones around the racist policing, just the racist policies of the city, period. Let alone the genderist and [5:09:02 PM] sexualityatist and auto pressive policies of this city. None of you are leaning into your tattered relationships of trust with this community. And failure to truly uphold your values, our values and the mission and vision that you plaster on everything. And then I hear language, unfortunately, you know, mayor pro tem, with all due respect, that is some of the most diluted and watered-down on both sides I've heard in a very long time. I say that because I feel like everyone is afraid to be honest. I've said many times before how mayor Adler is milquetoast for pretty much most stuff, and what to expect to come from the white woman brigade. I'm in district 5, so yes councilwoman kitchen represents my constituency. But I need to say this. We don't need to necessarily [5:10:07 PM] hear, how we may not be able to get everything we want, but that we're beyond a point of listening to us that you're listening. We're at a place where we need you to act, because your words are empty. And if you, mayor pro tem, have forgotten all the things that this city has done to harm our community, so much so that you are unable to simply say, yeah, this is messed up, and we're going to figure out how we can put these recommendations in place. That's the kind of commitment we are looking for from each and every one of you, the commitment through which you say, we doubled down when you said defund APD. We as a city council doubled down and said, well, if you say defund APD, then we need you, the people who have been most harmed, to do the heavy lifting, again, and give us the way that we, your leadership, can determine how to do the things [5:11:07 PM] that you're asking us, or rather demanding us to do. And we stepped up and, aha, we did it. We gave you, and have given you hard numbers, supporting data. I have been on calls with many of you from -- I've been on calls with many of you and heard things like, we're just waiting to hear what the task force recommends. That's what we're just waiting for. But when we give you what we recommend, first off, you bulldoze and steam roll it. And then today it is, well, I have to get back and I have to look at some things. Black and brown people in Austin are dying. Slowly and quickly. Because of your actions and inaction. So please, could you just possibly consider maybe just once to say, hey, we have not handled this with the priority that it deserves. And since we challenged you to give us solutions and you gave us solutions, and what we need [5:12:09 PM] to do with the city of Austin leadership to make those solutions a reality. And if they can't be made reality, then you, the city of Austin leadership, because I can't say we, I can't role play like that, my integrity is far too strong and clear. >> David, I'm so sorry -- >> What I challenge you to do is step up to the challenge that we answered and figure out a way to make these things happen, or at the bare minimum, have open transparent conversations with all of us in this city. But especially those of us who whether sitting on the task force or participating in the community engagement process or working group have committed our time and our trauma to this process, you can at least sit down and have conversations with us about why those, I hope very few things are not possible to implement. Thank you. >> Thank you, David. We're going to move to Paula, who is going to close us out as we have a hard stop in three minutes. [5:13:10 PM] Paula? >> Okay. That was a lot of emotion. I guess I just want you to feel the emotion. Virtually it's difficult, but city council, mayor, I do really appreciate all of your acknowledgement of our collective hard work. Yet we are sure, and you heard us, that we are not wanting our work to end up like other task force reports. Because this is not a report. They end up on a shelf. That is not what will happen here. We are sure, we will make sure from our end and we hope you will do the same. You formally launched the reimagining public safety process. You did, as a city. And we actually did it. Our recommendations are immediately actionable. We are in communication with organizations and media all around the country, everyone is watching Austin, asking us, as [5:14:10 PM] this is the city that is leading the defunding of police. I would say especially with a verdict this afternoon, we need to understand that our recommendations speak to a practical vision for truly reimagining how we could all be safer, in a city, no matter how Progressive and blue it might be, that is leading in officer- involved shootings per capita. These are really historic times, where we all need to live differently. That's what I just want -- this is like never before in our lifetime, and what I feel is living with our hearts in our hands, which means to take true risks. Obviously there's another side that doesn't want these recommendations to go through. But if you bring the longer historical view, and know right now is the time where it's possible, it's actually possible [5:15:13 PM] to transform. So remember, just like the abolitionists during the time of formalized slavery who went against the law and practices of the time, because, yes, rent control is not legal according to the state, but they went against the laws and practices of the time. You, too, have that opportunity, to make historic transformation in practice. We want to hear when will you make the decision about these recommendations. Will there be any in the mid year budget cycle amendment. And will there be any in the full next fiscal year cycle amendment, budget cycle amendment. I think we deserve -- we've earned to know that information from you all. Thank you. >> Thank you, Paula. The task force, it's been such an honor to support. I want to say if anybody's ever used the word impossible, this [5:16:14 PM] group has done absolutely incredible work with so many obstacles, including just not enough time, over and over again, every single meeting that I've been involved in, there's been some type of police violence or event in the midst of the meeting that we've been facilitating. And it's been steadfast in its work. I just want to reiterate what an incredible honor to support y'all's leadership. So we are waiting for your reply. I know it might not happen at 5:16, but I'd love to hear from mayor, city manager, can we expect a reply of when and how these recommendations can be integrated into this or next year's fiscal budget, please? >> Certainly this has been an incredibly powerful couple of hours, and really appreciate the chance to hear these [5:17:14 PM] recommendations laid out. And as our deputy city manager said, we are now in the process of working with our staff to do that fiscal analysis, legal analysis. We know on Thursday there are some of the decoupling elements that are under consideration. Some of those have been in line with the work that the working groups have done. But we also know that there are going to be fiscal impacts for next year's budget. So I have already been talking to our city manager and financial staff and reimagining task force leadership team on how to ensure that the extent that we can bring feedback for recommendations, that would be incorporated into the next year's budget, that they would be part of that proposal. And at least we would be encouraging that dialogue going forward, whether it's through the council committee process, or ensuring that there's further communication with our community members that have been so engaged in these efforts. [5:18:14 PM] So motion forward to that, I know that part of decoupling even the 911 communications department is a good next step for Thursday's consideration. But there's so much more work that we need to do. >> You're muted, mayor. >> Mayor Adler: I think the answer as to what the next step is, is, what we ask the manager to come back with the staff's recommendation. I watched some of the task force meeting. And then followed some of the discussions. The ones I saw were not always conversations where everybody on the task force has agreed with one another as to direction, or scope, or scale, or action. And I think the council needs to go through the same kind of process, with respect to suggestions, and ideas, and [5:19:18 PM] concepts that are brought forward. And that will happen. It will be very public and very transparent. And it will be lots of different voices that have the opportunity to weigh in and be part of that. But yes, we did ask for this. And we asked for this because there was a desire among the council that I still believe is very strong to reimagine public safety, and to make our city safer than it has been, especially for people of color in our city. And that resolve remains. And I think you'll see the process as it moves out. Some of these suggestions, like we talked about a moment ago, probably move out on their own. Some of these suggestions will have their response back from the manager, who has the opportunity to just incorporate things directly into the budget that he presents to the council. Because he can choose to present [5:20:18 PM] a budget. Part of it can be the work that is the work of the various council -- the various committees. And then ultimately there's a budget at the end of this process. But I suspect that, because of the importance and the significance and in some respects the far-reaching nature of the recommendations that were made, they need the same kinds of conversations in front of our council that you had in the task forces. Councilmember Casar? >> Casar: And mayor, I want to respond. The chair mentioned whether we would be having a midyear budget amendment process, or the budget that's presented by the manager. Manager, I don't know if you want to clarify here, but my sense is that this year, just like last year during covid, that we aren't going to be going through sort of the -- if there [5:21:20 PM] is surplus dollars, my sense is that really you're not going through that -- I'm not hearing if that process is anticipated for this year, but we're looking at how to best spend the rescue plan dollars and emergency dollars. But like a midyear budget amendment process between here and the presentation of your budget, at least you don't foresee that? Or do you? >> Thank you, councilmember. Certainly even the proposal we're bringing forward for Thursday's consideration is part of that ongoing effort. So even though there may not be the larger midyear budget amendment process, it hasn't been in my time actually in the last three years, but we are looking at in realtime as we see these proposals, as we see opportunities for either decoupling or using funds in different ways, that we bring them to council to make sure [5:22:21 PM] that those things are taken care of as they become apparent. >> Casar: Okay. And let me know if I misinterpret something I want to provide clarity. But I think that one of the bigger moments for us might be the budget itself that comes, and also there are going to be moments where we are thinking of making some adjustments, especially with federal dollars and emergency dollars, and some of the things here we might be discussing really in short time, in short order, because there's some of the emergency response programs people have been talking about, as councilmember Fuentes mentioned, occurring monthly, check for people who really need it. Kind of have a line item for that for future spending, but we [5:23:21 PM] haven't laid out exactly how that might work. And maybe have it being more monthly, but something for us to look at quickly before we launch that, or eviction prevention funds is something we're talking about probably before the budget cycle comes up. So some of this -- I think genuinely, I mean, I do want to speak -- I recognize David's emotion, and point that he's made, and your hard ask to us about when is some of this going to come up. But authentically, I think each of us actually do our jobs well, we have to look through each of the recommendations to find out which ones can we do in short order, and must we. Which ones really are for the budget. Which ones have to go back to a broad set of people in the district to have a conversation about it. And so I hear the urgency and respect the work. But I do want to, you know, mention that this is -- we're a [5:24:24 PM] critical task force, but we have to go back to our communities and look at the policy and see what it is that we can get done. I want to commit to you here that there are parts of this that I think might be able to worked on before the next budget cycle. But there's plenty of it that might take until then, or take longer, because there are big ideas. It isn't because folks don't care, that folks may not speak up right now with the plan, it might be also because we respect the work enough to read through the recommendations, ask task force members their thoughts, ask community members in our districts their thoughts and come back to you with how we might best execute the goals. >> Okay. >> Mayor Adler: Thank you. Paula? Go ahead. >> I'm just at the point speaking on behalf of other task force members, because I have the mic, but I really appreciate what the clarifications that just came out. Thank you, councilmemb Casar, and city manager, for opening that up for us. [5:25:25 PM] These are very basic things that have not been clear. And just so you'll know what it feels like to be on this side, we thought, what we were told from the beginning, and this was the convening with the office that we're grateful for, is we were all working towards having our recommendations ready for the midyear budget amendment. So we worked and worked and worked actually knowing that it would take longer -- you can ask my kids why we have dirty dishes and up so late, I'm one of hundreds, because we were trying to make the midyear budget cycle amendment. That's what we were told. Now you're telling us that's not a thing. Now it could be here, it could be there. I just want you to understand what that feels like on this side, where it's very slippery. Of course you need time to read through it. Of course you need time to figure out where and how to integrate it. But you're not being transparent with us, and that is what's [5:26:25 PM] leading to so much of the emotion, you know? So I'd like to walk away today knowing a little more clearly, because we were told there was going to be a midyear budget amendment about the reimagining money that we were weighing in on, which is what we did. So when is that happening? Or is that no longer on the table? Sorry if I'm being emotional, but you've got to get how I feel right now, right? >> I appreciate, councilmembers, if you permit me for a moment, and I appreciate that, Paula. I want to be very clear, too, I mean, I believe I said this time and time again to the task force what we were coming for in council to March, and then pushed to April, that we as staff had direction to come back to council and talk about the decoupling. And we offered that if work groups weren't ready for March or for April, they could always come back later. So we have said several times [5:27:27 PM] now that the ability to come forward with recommendations to council is open-ended. There is not one magic period in March where that needed to happen, that we could always come back. So I just want to own that, and I want to say that we have said that, because I don't want to put that on councilmembers as we have moved forward with those conversations. >> I hear what you're saying. Thank you for that. But all of those conversations were in the context of, if we didn't make it, if we didn't get it together in time for the midyear budget cycle, there was more time. And that was clear to all of us. I don't think I'm -- you know, I think those were many of the conversations that we had. You won't put aside money for reimagining of this year's budget, what will happen with that money. It's in this year's budget. It's not next year. [5:28:28 PM] We were weighing in on that decision. Who is making that decision? What will happen with those funds? >> I'll say, too, and Ed, you can correct me if I'm wrong here, that the same buckets that we had for decoupling and reimagining will move forward as we continue the work. Because we want to honor that. We know that there are some things that will take longer rather than shorter, and we will keep those funds in place through the next year's budget. Am I incorrect in that, Ed? >> No, that's exactly what we'll do. If any of the reimagining work can be implemented this year, we'll continue the reimagine fund into the next fiscal year. >> Mayor Adler: My sense, Paula, is that how it was set up is there were moneys to be moved immediately. As part of the budget process. [5:29:30 PM] There was the reimagine -- or decoupling funds. Then we said these are things that the council's identified that we want to be able to move. And those are the things that are moving now. And then there was the reimagining funds that we never went through the merits of any of them, but said these were the ones that we want to be able to discuss with respect to the future. And that conversation still has to happen. But the amendment process, as those things are resolved, also just doesn't happen two times. I mean, it's not just a midyear or even a next year. As I would hope and expect that as the manager and staff are able to take a look at those recommendations, that they'll bring back to us the ones that are important for us to address. And we were having conversations that obviously we're going to need to continue even if they don't happen this week with respect to park policing, that [5:30:31 PM] was nearly Teed up as a potential issue. But at some point we have to -- and we'll need to and want to address all of those things. They all don't have to come back together at once. Committees can bring things forward. And they can bring things forward now. So there's a lot here. I mean, the work that you did as task forces is pretty wide ranging, and pretty extensive. There are other ideas that other people have also asked for us to make sure that we work into these conversations that are happening right now. And we need to honor those as well. So I hear what you're saying. The fact that we're not stopping now and doing a midyear budget process does not minimize the work that was done in any way. Nor does it put time constraints on it, nor does it say that it can't come up before a certain time. [5:31:31 PM] You've given us a lot here. And for that, you have met the charge and you have done what we asked you to do. And now it comes back to us. All right. I'm cog any salt of the fact that we're now past what it was that we promised we would get past to. So I do want to close just with the touching fact, just for a second, on the verdict that we just saw. And just a comment that as for me, if you're going to actually try to find justice for those events in Minneapolis, there's the immediacy of a verdict, and that measure of accountability. But I'm not sure there's a better way to provide or find justice in that action than at the very same time that verdict [5:32:33 PM] was coming down, for us to be receiving the information from the task force. There are a lot of other communities that talked about doing this. I'm not familiar with very many of them who are actually moving forward, in some ways already have. I'm going to end the meeting. I do want to thank Brian oaks and Sarah, and we thank you. Your moving on is a loss to us. Manager, you need now to take these recommendations, and review them and bring them back to us. Without limitation for intervening council action. If anyone doesn't have anything else, at 5:33, I'm going to go ahead and adjourn this meeting. All right. 5:33, this meeting is adjourned. [5:33:35 PM] Thank you. And thanks to the task force participants.