City Council Work Session Transcript – 12/9/2025 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 12/9/2025 6:00:00AM Original Air Date: 12/9/2025 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. [9:00:33 AM] Council members good morning everybody. I'll. We have a quorum of the city council present three people who are joining us virtually. But I will call to order the. It's 9:00 and I will call to order the December 9th, 2025 council work session. We are meeting in city council chambers, which are located in the city hall at 301 west second street in Austin, Texas. We have a couple of briefings and one executive session item. But before we get to that, and let me tell you what I'll do when we when we we have also we have people that have signed up to speak. And what I'm going to suggest that we do is that we hear the presentation, and then we call up the speaker so that the speakers will have heard what it is that's being said, and not just be kind of talking into the wind. So that's how we'll handle that for those that are here to to speak. With that being said, we're also going to do something we do, I guess, once every six months. And that is we draw for seats on the dais, because what we do [9:01:34 AM] is we change seats for the council members other than the mayor and the mayor pro tem, and we do that once every six months. We had some discussion about waiting to do that in at the next meeting, but we have a very full schedule, and I didn't want to waste time doing that. And then we don't want to wait all the way till January. So with that, what we're going to do is we'll have the clerk's office draw for why don't we go ahead and start there? And even if they're not here, we'll just draw and we'll call them out. >> But I. I. >> Eight. >> Five. >> Four. >> Alter two. Four and seven for. Okay, good. >> So here's what the what [9:02:35 AM] we've got. Councilmember harper-madison will be in seat six. Councilmember Laine in three. Councilmember Siegel in nine. Councilmember vela will become the mayor pro tem in January. So he'll be in the mayor pro tem seat. Councilmember qadri will be in eight. The mayor pro the current mayor pro tem will be in five. Councilmember Velazquez will be in one, councilmember alter in two, councilmember duchen in four, and councilmember Ellis in seven. Great. Thank you. So, y'all. Alright everybody got it. With that we will go to item b1, which is a briefing regarding the development assessment for a proposed planned unit development development. And I'll turn it over to miss Hardin. >> Thank you. >> Can you hear me okay. All right. Thank you. Good morning, mayor and council. I'm joy Hardin with Austin planning. [9:03:36 AM] I'm here to present this development assessment item, case number CD 2025 0003. This is a briefing on the proposed planned unit development, or pud, located at 1100 west Cesar Chavez street. Two oh, 6.5 and two 20.5 north Lamar boulevard, and the site is also known as town lake ymca. I have presented two development assessments recently, so I know you're somewhat familiar with this process, but just as a quick reminder, the city's land development code requires that prior to an applicant submitting a hud application, the applicant is required to do what we call this development assessment, which is essentially a dry run of what they are proposing to submit and acknowledgment of the baseline moving forward. Staff offers comments, and the comments come from numerous city departments. We give them back to the applicant, and then we give a briefing to the council on some of the overall [9:04:38 AM] big picture items, in reference to what the applicant is going to submit in their future pud. This is the time where you provide feedback to this proposal. As I stated, this site is located at 1100 west Cesar Chavez street. 206 and a half in two 20.5 north Lamar boulevard. The site is 4.8 acres in size and is currently developed with the town lake ymca and is zoned LI co nnp. It is designated as civic on the land use map in the old west Austin neighborhood plan that was adopted on June 29th, 2000. The property is located within the lady Burke lake watershed, which is classified as an urban watershed and is part of the la Lamar waterfront district. Again, the applicant is proposing pud and zoning. The pud will consist of a mixed use development of up to 750 condominium homes, a minimum of 90 affordable housing units, [9:05:40 AM] 110,000ft S of civic and office uses, and approximately 35,000ft S of pedestrian oriented uses. On the ground floor of the project, approximately 10,000ft S of ground floor pedestrian audience space will be for the restaurant use. The parking for this development will be achieved through parking structures. Again, the site is zoned ae inpi, which allows for 60ft in height. The Lee district would be the baseline zoning district for the pud, so any development over the height of 60ft or the 1 to 1 F.A.R would have to comply with the development bonus section of the pud ordinance, which outlines the affordability requirement. Also to note the project's proximity to capital metro. Metro rapid 803 line, the Lance Armstrong bikeway, the Ann and Roy butler hike and bike trail and lake at lady bird lake and the shoal creek trail provide opportunities to enhance bicycle and multi-modal [9:06:42 AM] transportation features within and adjacent to the project. The applicant is requesting 16 code modifications, which are outlined in your backup in exhibit E and a note. The applicant is requesting a maximum building height of 425ft and a floor to area ratio requests of seven to 5 to 1, which of which. Of course, the existing zoning does not allow in exchange for receiving the increased entitlements of height, F.A.R and the other modifications. The applicant is seeking some of the applicant's proposed superior order superiority. Items which are still in review are as follows a minimum of 90 units of on site affordable rental housing, which, with a range of 30% to 80% mfi with an average of less than 55%. Mfi functional green [9:07:43 AM] concepts to augment water quality treatment on the property. A three star Austin energy green building rating, an enhanced pedestrian experience through town. Lake metropolitan park to the lake, a water quality pond to treat current untreated stormwater runoff from north Lamar boulevard. A minimum of 10,000ft S of green roof will be provided on the project. 10% of the overall parking spaces as dedicated spaces for electric vehicle charging up to 2500ft S of photo voltaic solar panels on the roof terrace of the ymca. A minimum of two art pieces by artists who principally reside in Austin. The new town lake ymca will also include a minimum of 13,000ft S of a ymca, tomorrow academy preschool, a minimum of 2000ft S of commercial space for local business or nonprofit use. Again, these are some of the pros of some of the [9:08:44 AM] proposed superiority items as offered by the applicant, and staff is still weighing their merits. So so, council, just to note that once this briefing is complete, the applicant may submit their actual hud application. It will go through the usual process review by multiple city departments. Review review by at a minimum, environmental commission, planning commission and finally back to council. For your consideration, this concludes me laying out the presentation. Please feel free to relay any comments at this time, or you may want to wait until after you hear from the speakers, and I'll be glad to take your feedback at that time. >> Thank you councilmember. Thank you, miss haydn. Council members, anything before we start calling speakers? Okay, then I'll turn to the city clerk and ask that you call the speakers. >> Thank you. Mayor. On item B one, we have Kathy Harris, Dave Anderson, Steve Drenner, Walter morrow. Please just state your name and begin speaking. [9:09:49 AM] >> Okay. Thank you. >> Press the button when you're ready. I don't know. Nope. That's not ours. Yep. There we go. Thank you. Oh. >> All right, thank you. I'm Cathy Curtis. I'm the president and CEO with the greater Austin ymca. Also here with me today are Reagan Nash, our board chair, and Kate Henderson, incoming board chair for the greater Austin ymca board of directors. Next slide please. Oh, I can do it. Sorry. Thank you. Got it. One back. There we go. This project represents a once in a generation opportunity to transform the health and well-being of the entire community by reimagining [9:10:51 AM] the town lake ymca. It will include high quality early education and child care with financial assistance in downtown Austin, on site affordable housing and support services focusing on family housing, expanded health and well-being programing, particularly mental health counseling, youth programs and supports for seniors. We'll create a destination for family fun. Major improvements in environmental sustainability, which is a strategic imperative for our ymca and a hub for expanding community partnerships. To put this project in proper context. We are addressing a number of issues that may Watson and city leaders have been grappling with for years, like affordability, in particular, a lack of affordable housing in downtown Austin, especially for families. In recent past, mayor pro tem Fuentes acknowledged the lack of affordable, high quality child care. We see this especially in downtown Austin and especially for workers in the hospitality industry. [9:11:52 AM] Austin public health has highlighted challenges in maintaining services for seniors amid shrinking resources. City council passed a resolution ten years ago on Lamar beach, now known as the volma Overton senior vision plan, which identified issues like parking, environmental protection and public benefits. The Austin strategic mobility plan targeted this area for upgrades and pedestrian and bike infrastructure, and the city's watershed protection department has long known of the impacts from urban runoff, which we currently experience through our property. >> Her time is up, unless you've got some other unless there was a donation of time. >> No, sir. >> Okay. >> Let me continue on down the road here. Here's some project concepts. Our two minutes. That's why we're short. Mayor and council. I'm going to speed through these. I just want to give you some perspective on what we're talking about. You see the ymca on the left, an [9:12:52 AM] affordable housing standalone building immediately to its west, and then the condominium homes immediately to the west there. Here is a rendering of of the project as we see it. You'll see the ymca on the right underneath capitol view corridor, affordable housing in the middle, and what we call the economic engine to allow the civic uses to happen at the level they're happening there to the west. Here's a a plan view, you'll note roadway D is something that we're in conversations with the parks department with the transportation department. And so I don't want to put forward that that is a been solved. But this these are ideas at this point. What I would say, however, is we are looking to improve the traffic conditions in and around B our Reynolds by adding a roundabout. We are looking to improve water quality by evaluating the potential for a water quality pond on the west and on the [9:13:53 AM] east. Kathy talked about ymca features, so we don't need to really touch on that. We also talked about affordable housing. Walter morrow with foundation communities will talk about that. We're really moving the needle positively from a building design perspective, including what we call black water treatment, which is taking and treating toilet water in the basements of these, the three condominium towers and using them to flush toilets, make up cooling tower and irrigate landscapes. From a water quality perspective, we're able our current vision, we're able to treat up to about 15 acres more than we currently treat today. So I will pass it over to Steve turner to talk about these last two things. Go ahead Steve. >> Yeah. >> Mayor, council members, I I've been doing this a while. [9:14:53 AM] And in doing that, we've worked on lots of pods. I believe this pod delivers more in the way of meaningful community benefits than any that I've ever worked on. We're really excited to to be able to be here and to be able to begin having these conversations about what this project delivers. My piece of this puzzle was to talk about the economics, and I'm not going to read from the screen, but I want to highlight a couple of things. One is, as the project as the property exists today, it is has no taxable value that will convert into an enormous taxable value that will produce taxes that at the with the decision of the council, could be spent lots of different areas, including on the adjacent park, but that is part of the spinoff from this [9:15:55 AM] project the direct. Balance, if you will, is between what the. Condominiums produce in terms of revenue and how that then pays for a new Y, and all the things that that Y will bring, as well as the affordable housing that Walter will be talking about in a few minutes. Additionally, you see the other things that are on the the board that reflect that economic the impact of that economic engine. The one thing that I want to talk about, and if you switch the slide, this Y will support wise around the city, in every single district in this city. So it's not just an economic engine that affects downtown, it affects every one of your districts. >> Thank you. Thank you. And for the record, would you state your name? >> Excuse me, Steve Dresner with the group. [9:16:56 AM] >> Mr. Monroe. >> Walter Monroe, the executive director of foundation communities. We are super excited to be invited into this partnership with the ymca and partners. We've been involved in the very early stages, and so we're planning to build a seven story, 90 unit, family focused affordable housing community right adjacent to the ymca and the childcare that's going to be there. We're excited to develop services together with the Y. We're focusing on more two and three bedroom units, so it's not as many units as if we just crammed in a lot of efficiencies. But we think this is a rare and amazing opportunity to build housing for larger households and families with children in the downtown area. We'd like to build affordable housing in all parts of town to get the opportunity to do it on site. Adjacent to the Y is pretty amazing. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next we have Larry speck, Greg Anderson, Joe Riedel, [9:17:57 AM] Bobby Levinsky. >> Dean. >> Larry speck. I was co-director of the comprehensive plan in the 1980s that proposed this high density residential, mixed use district all over the lower part of downtown. The idea there was to make much more sustainable alternative for living, lower energy use, lower land use, lower water use, and it has been phenomenally successful. With the support of mayor and council, we have transformed the lower part of downtown and made it a really sustainable place to live, not just in the units themselves, but in a lifestyle that's not car dependent. People can walk and people can bike, and people can really opera without a car. This is a perfect site for extending that. We're running out of those sites, and this one is I lived three blocks away from this site for 18 years. I know this neighborhood, two great grocery stores right [9:18:59 AM] there, thousands of jobs within walking distance, great mass transit, great bike way access. This is the perfect site for that kind of really sustainable lifestyle to thrive. And it it as currently planned, is not only providing that wonderful lifestyle possibility, but also then adding a lot of amenities. It's also 1000ft from the nearest single family house. It is has two major arterials and a railroad track separating it from any other kind of lower density residential neighborhood. It's wonderfully located. It. It will then produce a real benefit for the park itself. This part of the park is heavily used on a Saturday morning in the Wright sports season, but for most of the time it's pretty uninhabited and it feels a little unsafe in this part of [9:19:59 AM] the park. And there's nothing that makes a part of the city safer than having residents around it. And that'll provide this. Thanks. >> Thank you. Dean. >> Next speakers are Donna Osborne and Steve Amos. >> Thank you. >> Steve Amos has time donated by Sheila Lyon and Mike Benkert. They both here. >> They're both they're both here. >> Mr. Amos has six minutes. >> I'm Steve Amos and I'm on. And I want to thank you so much for this time and opportunity. And also you always have to be careful for I mean how things change. A moment ago I had two minutes and now I have six. So that's fantastic. First off, I'm the chair of the old west Austin neighborhood association. We border from Lamar boulevard to lady bird lake to mopac to [9:21:00 AM] Enfield. We agree on the need for a refreshed ymca. Personally, the ymca is a huge part of my life growing up. We know the benefit to our community. Also. We need childcare and we need affordable housing. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the teachers at Matthews elementary and Austin high school, if our first responders there on on blanco at the fire station could actually live here? The people that work in this building, we support that. In reviewing this particular pod, there are some areas to discuss specifically the seven fold increase over the current zoning of 60ft, seven fold. It's almost four times over the 110ft along west Lamar. The picture you see is looking from south to north. You see Lamar, that whole space [9:22:00 AM] there, that whole that's the current neighborhood. In fact, if it looks good to you, it also could look really good to a London based magazine this past year. Timeout. Number in the top 50 neighborhoods in the world. Why? One of the things I mentioned green space, no other Texas neighborhood was mentioned. We have a very unique property there, which I think we have a lot to thank for our past leaders and lady bird Johnson. So just to look at this for a moment, is this this also go great as you saw a moment ago. Here's the current footprint. You see the the parks. That's Lamar, you know, you know to your right. And now looking from across the street just to put it in perspective [9:23:01 AM] on the far left that's 100ft high, the J plaza that's right near mopac and fifth street. When you come further, right above where it says ali, that's about 50ft high. That's the one that's also on west west of Lamar. And then you begin to get into our city density. Looking at it right now with your back to the lady bird lake is is the current view. And now here's what it's going to be. It's totally change of the neighborhood configuration and setting a very, as someone said, a slippery slope for development in an area right now that's nothing like this. In fact, looking at this property from this is near the high school, looking towards town. See, see [9:24:02 AM] the belvedere at 75ft and go all the way down. There is one thing that's I like to note about this slide to be corrected. It's not one proposed 425 foot towers. It's three and a very sensitive environmental zone, and it really sets the stage for potential that type of height all the way down the the western part of the river. So here's where we have it right now. To the east of Lamar is our established high density. I moved here from Manhattan. We like big density and there's a lot of space there for more density. And what do we have on the left? We have a neighborhood unique top 50 in the world. We look forward to having conversations so that we can have a development, but [9:25:04 AM] with a more approachable height. We haven't even talked about the transportation issues. Some folks I know with Austin high school say they already have nightmares based on that. So thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you for your consideration as we move forward so that, well, as we think of the future, as we strive to build community and an Austin thrives for generations to come, won't be great if our neighborhood still stays within that top 50 in the world. So thank you, mayor, and thank you everyone for this opportunity. >> Thank you, Mr. Amos. Yes, ma'am. You need to hit that button. >> There you go. >> I'm Donna Osborne, here with awana and a 40 year resident of the neighborhood. We're totally excited about the opportunity for a wonderful new Y and on site affordable housing and child care with Walter Monroe in our neighborhood. But we do have some concerns, and I will only state these in a broad, [9:26:04 AM] broadly in line that they align with city staff review comments that we've seen because our neighborhood association has not yet arrived at a position on this application. One concern is the basement water treatment facility and using parkland downhill for release, which appears to be necessary because of the proposal of a project that is 95% impervious cover. Has the applicant assured the city and the public that there is no reasonable alternative? The exists precisely that. So that no. So that alternatives must be fully explored before proposing development. That is a protected riparian buffer. No reasonable alternative means all others are truly physically infeasible, not merely less convenient. Shifting the building footprint, restructuring the layout, splitting the facility, relocating functions upslope, or downsizing the project to fit the site without encroaching into the cw would be options. A building too large for the environmental constraints of the property creates a self-imposed hardship. [9:27:05 AM] Engineered and subsurface systems, which can fail silently, cannot replicate the ecological functions of an intact riparian buffer such as infiltration, habitat resiliency, and long term water quality filtration. Protecting lady bird lake itself is a long term community service. Also proposed affordable housing is not supported by strong language in the submitted site plan notes which state if nothing is built or only the facility on the property is the town lake. Why the requirement for affordable housing will be void. The potential project has been publicly marketed thus far, highlighting the affordable housing component and its benefits. Any Hyde increase requests must contain affordable housing component that runs with the land, regardless of the timing of the construction. Historically, height increases are granted because of the inclusion of affordable housing. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> What I would ask that you do is the questions or the comments that you're making. If you want to send those to council so that council can ask those questions of the folks that spoke before you all, perfect. [9:28:05 AM] >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. >> That concludes all speakers on item B one. >> All right miss harden would you come down. >> I signed up on by I'm Joe Rangel. >> Did he. >> Yes I did call you. >> Your name was called. But please come forward and speak. >> Is Sandra Hamilton here. Yeah. You will have four minutes. >> Sorry sir. They called your name, so. >> I didn't know I needed to move then. Good morning council. My name is Joe Riedel. >> You need to turn on your microphone. >> All right. It's been a while since I spoke here. Good morning. I just thought I'd take a look at this. >> As one second. Mr. Riedel, he has four minutes, so we need to set the clock. There you go. >> Okay. I just decided to look into this as an interested person. I've spent a lot of time on lady bird lake, and I was kind of surprised at the lack of detail in this development assistance. In [9:29:06 AM] particular, the proposal they submitted. You saw a slide earlier with the land use plan that showed 2 or 3 roads coming over to the proposed property, but in the council back up that that the land use plan does not exist. They just talk about what they're going to do. They didn't they didn't show a layout of where they wanted things to be. And as a result, when the staff reviewed this, they they couldn't evaluate what was going on. They didn't know where the buildings would be, where the four different driveways would be, and so forth. And they really just vaguely sparked, spoke about traffic improvements. If you look at the city staff comments, you'll see there's a number of problems with what was submitted and I can go over those in a minute. I did bring some slides. I found out that I can't show them because I didn't turn them in before 5:00 yesterday, but I want to mention one of the sets of slides would relate to a [9:30:06 AM] restriction on the parkland south of the Y that parkland is part of the sand beach reserve, which was set aside in 1840 for public purposes. The city now owns it, but it would be a violation of the deed. And if the if the city allows the Y to take over parts of or use parts of the park for its own purposes, private purposes. Another thing I wanted to mention just showed you some slides. The boundary between public land on the south and private land on the north depends upon the location of the bluff, the high bluff of the Colorado river, and due to us surveyors mistakes back in 1916. The Y is now claiming more land than they actually own. It's not a lot, but it's a [9:31:07 AM] sliver in the south part of their property, and it probably includes a lot of the trees they would otherwise plan to be cutting down. And speaking of trees, you know, they don't even preserve all of the heritage trees. They talk about moving some of them, and of course they don't want to move them onto their own property. They want to put them somewhere else so they can build a 95% of of the land. Right now, the impervious cover is 56%. So, you know, that's something that is not really environmentally sustainable, so to speak. And it's it's an affront to all the other people in town who are, you know, respecting the land and leaving some of it alone. There's some other problems. Let's see. Okay. They never explained why they want to go to 425ft, but it it's just [9:32:10 AM] clear they want to just max out on this. And I don't know if this is really one of those proposals where the developer just requests the moon knowing that, well, it will get cut back some, but we'll still get plenty. So. There are many other problems here when they want to have a fire Laine back back toward the railroad on a 45 degree angle. What kind of vehicles go up 45 degree slopes? Finally, on affordable housing, we won't necessarily get what we want. In multiple units. You can count two bedroom as two units, and they would create a segregated housing by putting all these people, low income people in one building. >> Thank you sir. Miss Harding, before you wrap up and we go to questions, if anybody has any [9:33:11 AM] questions, I've got a question or two. And it may be that we want to hear from, but but there are two things that that I made a note of that I would like to hear something today on. And that is the complaint that there was would be a release of wastewater into the parks. If and if you can't answer the specific. >> We do have watershed. >> Okay. >> We do have city staff here that could speak to that. >> But whoever's. >> Good morning. Council Liz Johnston, watershed protection environmental officer I'm not aware of a release of wastewater that we are in conversations with the applicant on how to improve water quality benefits from surface water. I understand that they are proposing a black water reuse inside the building. I you know, we would not support release of wastewater into the green space though, and I don't believe that's [9:34:12 AM] something that they are proposing. >> Very good. Thank you. The second question I've got is the use of the park. And this is probably not a wastewater question, the watershed question, but the use of the park for private purposes. I've been dealing with sand beach a long, long time. >> So yeah. >> And I'm happy to have the applicant come up and answer any questions or make any commitments that we might need. If that saves time and is helpful. >> Thank you. I'll defer to our parks staff. >> Do you want me to ask my question again, please? It was alleged that part of what their proposal this proposal does is it uses park land for private purposes. And so I'd like you to address that. [9:35:14 AM] >> You. Good morning. I'm Randy Scott with the city of Austin parks and recreation department. Mr. Robin Hammons, principal planner with parks and recreation department. We overlaid the proposal on the parkland, and it looks like there's about four acres of parkland being used, either as roadways or water quality. Those would require a chapter 26 by a sponsoring city department. Mitigation would range could be all the way up to $80 million for that land. >> All right. Let me turn to the applicant and see what your reaction is to that. >> Steve turner again. So the allegation, mayor, and your question related to private purposes, we're not using the parkland for private purposes. [9:36:15 AM] Anything that we're suggesting is a decision that the that the city will make in terms of whether or not we should spend some of our money to help, for instance, water quality from the neighborhood. Our water quality is taken care of on site. So this is just community benefit, not private benefit. >> So the four acres that he referred to would be if we if and by we, I mean we as a community or we as a council wanted to look at this program and say, while we're doing this, there may be some other things we could do to achieve additional public purposes. >> And and for the most. That is correct, mayor. And for the most part, we're willing to pay for those things, but they do not benefit the project. >> So so the concept of using any parkland for private purposes and the private being here, the ymca or the the development that the ymca is bringing forward, that's not [9:37:15 AM] the case. It would be if, in addition to that, the council, on behalf of the city and the city professional staff, looked and said there are additional public improvements we might could make and that would have an impact on parkland. >> That's correct. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> You want to comment on that? >> I do just want to mention that there is a council approved vision plan for Vollmer beach. And those improvements do not go towards implementing that. The roadway. >> I mean, we have we have a lot of decisions to make. >> So yeah. >> And that's different than private use. Yes that would be. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> Yes it would. Go ahead. >> Robin Hammonds from the parks and recreation department, I think probably what was being referred to is the superiority elements of the pud are being placed on the parkland. So it's not the private it's not the [9:38:17 AM] building wastewater or water quality itself. It's the elements that make the superior. So that's the decisions that the city has. >> Well, we'll have to have a real discussion about that. But I wrote down the exact language it was using the park for private purposes. So as we go forward, let's not try to create additional problems. Let's let's see how we address the specific concerns and problems. Great. Thank you. Members. Other. Yes, mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. I would just ask if staff can share the vision plan to us so that we can also take a look at that. I'd be interested in seeing how this project lines up to that vision plan, but overall, I just want to say how exciting this project is for our community. I'm very thrilled to see all of these partners come together, and for us to have this truly transformative project right in our downtown with child care, housing, affordable housing, family oriented housing, amenities for our youth, mental health counseling. I mean, there's a lot of benefits here. [9:39:18 AM] So I'm very pleased with the proposal and I'm excited to see it move forward. >> Great. >> Thank you. Mayor pro tem other councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. Thanks for the update today. And I am also looking forward to how this project continues to develop. I had just a couple of questions. One was about understanding what the implication is between the increase in impervious cover on the property. I understand that there is a lot of attention being paid to the water quality, but can somebody from staff or the applicant help me understand what we need to be considering as far as increase, if anything, as far as increasing impervious cover on that property? >> Good morning. Thank you for that question. So, you know, I think impervious cover means there's less open space on the property and which makes it a more of a challenge to find locations for certain elements like water quality, TRE [9:40:19 AM] mitigation, landscaping. So the applicant is looking at other alternatives to achieve those such as green roofs, looking at, you know, again, the the the trading off site water quality stormwater from Lamar, for example, in an area that's not as used as park space, for example, and looking and having conversations about where the TRE mitigation could go. So so, you know, there are there are ways to, to to kind of mitigate that, the high impervious cover. But it is a little bit more of a challenge. >> Okay. So that's still a work in progress is what it sounds like. And it sounds like from what Mr. Drenner said a moment ago where water quality was taken care of on site, he's referring to just the facilities, not the impervious cover. >> Correct. Right. Yeah. So they'll have a subsurface water quality treatment facility to treat the building itself. Yeah. Yeah. [9:41:22 AM] >> Councilmember duchen. >> Identify yourself, please. >> Dave Anderson representing the ymca from a water quality perspective, all 95% of the impervious cover on the site will be treated on the site 100%. I looked at some data yesterday that said, we're treating 104% of what we're supposed to be treating. That is all treated on site. Anything we do off site will be discussed with watershed, with Liz and with the parks folks. But I want to be super clear that we're taking care of all of the required water quality treatment for 95% impervious cover on our site, just just like it's done in every site around the city. Thank you. >> Okay. And I if you do have some updates, I would love to see them regarding how you plan to treat that. >> Yeah. As as the design continues to evolve based on these conversations, we've met with watershed half a dozen times, and we'll continue to do that. We will will keep you [9:42:23 AM] updated as we go. >> Perfect. Thank you. Absolutely. The other question I have was just about the affordable housing component. I'm just curious if somebody can help me understand from either the applicant or housing, how the if and how the housing scales to the height of the property. >> Councilmember Dave Anderson representing the ymca. Again, how does it scale? Can you ask that a different way? >> So you've got 90 units, right. And let's say just in theory, you went up to 500 or maybe down to 350. Do your 90 units scale linearly, for instance, with the height of the building, or is there a different calculation at work for how you're getting to 90 units? >> We are. >> Divorced from fair. >> Question, fair question. The intent, the development of the unit, the 90 units is based on. Is based on. The bonus square [9:43:26 AM] footage applied to the pud. In this case, we subtract out. The ymca use like on most projects when you calculate affordable housing, right. You calculate it on the market rate residents. Right. You don't. When you have a bonus program, you usually look to to look for things like community benefits or you look for things like affordable housing. So we took those off the table. When calculating our affordable housing. If we did more units, more condominium units, I would expect the number of affordable units to go up. If we did less, I think we would have to have a discussion on whether or not I can't say right now that they would go down automatically. I think we'd have to have a discussion on what that looks like. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Yep. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember vela. >> Thank you. Mayor. I just [9:44:26 AM] wanted to echo mayor pro tem Fuentes comments about the the childcare benefits and the housing benefits. But I also especially with the the the property tax situation and trying to make sure that we have additional funds, the additional revenues that large buildings like this, the kind of intense property tax value and the large payments that ultimately flow into not just our coffers, but Travis county coffers as well, are going to be a huge benefit. And as we think about the viability of our finances moving forward, especially with the 3.5% revenue caps, we've got to encourage this type of growth to be able to sustain our the quality of our municipal services. So this looks like a great project. Look forward to staff making sure that it's a great project, but it's highly likely going to be one that I [9:45:27 AM] will fully support. So thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Councilmember. Anybody else okay. Do you want to wrap up or anything. Last you want to say miss harden. >> I don't have excuse me. No closing comments from me. I think we have what we need. The applicant can now submit their pud application again. We are still weighing their superiority and there's a lot of work to still be done. >> Great. Thank you very much. Thanks everybody for being here. We appreciate you taking the time members. That's going to take us to item b2. And before we take up the specific item, I will turn to the manager for comments. >> Thank you mayor and members of the council. This morning you will hear a presentation of the Austin police oversights 2024 annual report. The report outlines the department's oversight activities and major trends for 2024. I want to acknowledge the effort of the Austin police oversight staff, [9:46:27 AM] as well as its leadership, for their work throughout the year. With that, I will turn it over to director Gail Mccann and her team to share the annual report. >> Thank you. Manager. Director Mccann. Whenever you're ready, let us know and welcome and thank you all for being here. >> Good morning, mayor, council and city manager Broadnax. I'm Gail Mccann, director, Austin police oversight and in compliance with the Austin police oversight act, we are going to present the annual [9:47:28 AM] report, which will outline the activities of the police oversight during calendar year 2024. Austin police provides impartial oversight of the Austin police department's policies, practices and conduct. The goal here is strengthening transparency and accountability and trust within our community. I'd like to take an opportunity to thank the Austin police oversight staff for their dedication and professionalism in carrying out the work every day. If you're wondering why we are presenting the 2024 report at the end of 2025, the reason being is that the Austin internal affairs division have 180 days to complete an [9:48:29 AM] investigation. In doing so, what you will find is that the internal affairs division, after completing an investigation, that we may not complete an investigation to mid year. And so it would be June the following year before all complaints are investigated and completed. This information is then provided to our project lead on the annual report, which is the information is subsequently reviewed and then finalized and coordinated with the Austin communication and engagement department and the city manager's office. This approach helps us to ensure that the annual report provides all the complete and accurate data. So it's the following year in June, when all of the investigations are complete. And so that's why you see that [9:49:30 AM] the annual report is being published at the end of the following year. Some of the key trends you will see in this presentation includes a decrease in the number of community members contacting the office compared to 2023, alongside a significant increase in compliment for officers, which more than doubled. We believe that this indicates improved quality of engagement between officers and community members. You will also notice an increase in both internal complaints and external complaints. It is important to distinguish between internal complaints, external complaints, contacts and complaints. Contacts are all the contacts we have, all [9:50:33 AM] the incoming communications from the community, community members and this decreased during 2024. Complaints or allegations of officer misconduct, and this number increased in 2020 four. Internal complaints are initiated with the Austin police department and come to a Pio from the internal affairs department. External complaints or those complaints received from community members, most notably sustained external complaints, rose substantially in 2024. From 14 and 2023 to 69 and 2020 for a sustained complaint means the investigation found sufficient evidence to support that the act actually constituted misconduct. In assessing why we [9:51:36 AM] may be seeing these drivers, these possible trends, we identified several operational factors enhanced community engagement, the the ability for community members to file and affirm anonymous complaints with apo without a sworn officer being present. Full compliance with the Austin police oversight. Following the ratification of the meet and confer agreement no. G file, which provided greater transparency and just growing public confidence in oversight. These factors, taken all together, helped explain the shifts reflected in the data. I now want to transition the presentation to our leadership team, who will provide a more detailed overview of each division's work. We have three divisions the complaints division, the community [9:52:38 AM] engagement position division, and the policy and research division. First, you'll hear from miss Sarah Peralta, who is our public information and marketing program manager, who will present the office community engagement activities for 2024. She will be followed by miss crystal Kimbrough, our policy compliance consultant, which will present an outline the division's policy and research initiatives. And then finally, Mr. Masters. Kevin masters, our deputy director, who will provide a comprehensive summary of the 2024 act activities undertaken by the complaints division. Sarah. >> Thank you. Gail. My name is Sarah Peralta and I have the privilege of leading the awesome police oversight. Almost said the wrong name, awesome. Police oversight, communications community engagement team. Before I get started, I wanted to quickly explain the scope of our team's [9:53:38 AM] work, from engaging the public online to facilitating conversations, oppose communications and community engagement. Team collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to increase transparency and build relationships throughout the community. Now, I'm excited to bring you our 2024 highlights. So per the awesome police oversight act, our office hosts an online central depository for documentation related to police oversight. In 2024, we published 151 documents to our online hub. Those documents include disciplinary memos, recommendations and lawsuit documents related to police misconduct. All of these documents are available to the public on our website at police oversight. As you may know, the awesome police department's general orders 117 is a policy to publicly release materials related to critical incidents, like an officer involved [9:54:39 AM] shooting within the ten day policy. Those materials may include a body camera footage, a dash camera footage, radio traffic recordings, and more. As part of that policy, Austin police oversight reviews the materials before they go out to the public. In 2024, we reviewed materials for related to seven critical incidents. Building sustainable partnerships throughout the community is a key part of our mission, and we work in partnership with stakeholders to build awareness about our programs and services and build trust with community members. In 2024, we participated in 50 community events, from presenting to boards and commissions to engaging workshops and trainings with various community groups. One of the many events that we host is our police oversight implementation working group, which is hosted in alignment with council resolution 99. During this meeting, we present complaints data from the last quarter. We answered questions from community members about our complaints process, and we present the latest information [9:55:39 AM] about our work. In 2024, we hosted four meetings, a mix of both online and in person to make it convenient for community members. All of our meeting materials are posted on our website at police oversight. In case you couldn't make it to the meeting. Now, I'm going to hand this off to crystal for information about our policy team. Crystal. >> Thank you. Sarah. Good morning again. I'm crystal Kimbro. I serve as the policy and research manager for apo. I'm excited to share with the policy and research division accomplished in 2024. First, I would like to give a quick overview of our division's responsibilities. They include driving policy and training, turning data into insight, strategic research and foresight, and legislative and policy guidance. Sources of our work include APD initiated policy changes, complaint generated trends, city manager directives, city council resolutions, community input, [9:56:40 AM] and professional advisory committee. In 2024, the policy and research division made 26 recommendations on the following general orders. Some of those included. Drone policy. Hair policy. Low speed interventions. Transport vehicle policies, taser device guidelines and tire deflation devices. The policy division manager serves on the professional advisory committee, which makes recommendations to improve APD's academy curriculum. In 2024, we reviewed the course interacting with the deaf and hard of hearing. Recommendations made included increased community engagement, use of modern tools for interpretation, expanding active learning opportunities, and focusing on local history within the deaf and hard of hearing community. In 2024, the policy and research division published quarterly use of [9:57:42 AM] force reports, which consolidated data provided by APD's force unit. These reports provide insights into total force incidents. Subjects and officers involved. Force levels by sector, types of force used and response techniques applied and resistance encountered. Thank you. And I'll turn it over to Kevin masters, our deputy director. >> Thank you. Crystal. Good morning, mayor Watson, council members. Manager Broadnax. My name is Kevin masters, and I have the privilege of being the deputy director at Austin police oversight. I will be providing a summary of the complaint data contained in the 2024 annual report. Here's a quick overview of the complaint process. Any adult can file a complaint or a compliment concerning an apo officer about the interactions that they had, or are they witness. They can file a complaint or compliment online, over the phone, in person, or by mail. Community [9:58:45 AM] members do not have to provide their contact information, and they can remain anonymous during the entire process. After apo receives a complaint, the complaint is assigned to a complaint specialist who will conduct a preliminary review. The preliminary review involves a review of the officer's body worn camera, any car dash camera, any materials provided by the complainant, as well as reviewing all reports completed by the APD officer. After the preliminary review, the complaint and is contacted in and we determine how they would like to have their complaint processed. There are three ways in which they can process their process their complaint. They can elect to have a community concern, which means they just want the police department to know about their incident. They don't want any further contact. They can elect to have a supervisor referral, which means they would like to speak directly to the officer's supervisor, and they can request a formal investigation if they request a formal investigation, the complaint is forwarded to a complaint [9:59:45 AM] investigator in our office. The complaint investigator contacts the victim. The complainant gets additional information, transposes that information into a complaint affidavit, and the complaint is forwarded to the internal affairs division for formal investigation. We monitor all formal investigations throughout the process for complaint and to request a formal investigation and a supervisor referral at the conclusion of a formal complaint investigation, oppo will contact the complainant and inform them of the disposition of their complaint. This slide presents data on the volume of community interactions with Austin police oversight, specifically contacts which reflect the number of individuals who reached out to oppo, which include complaints, concerns or general inquiries and compliments. These are positive feedbacks received regarding the actions of an officer. In 2023, we received 1552 total contacts, 99 of which were [10:00:46 AM] compliments 2024 we received 1052 total contacts, of which 211 were compliments. Tracking compliments alongside complaints help balance the narrative and provide a fuller picture of community police interactions. Fewer contacts may indicate a decrease in community awareness or concerns, while a rise in compliments could reflect improved officer conduct or improved community relations. This slide contains information in terms of how complaints are categorized. Formal complaints are categorized in five ways actually, six ways a through D pending as well as supervisory referral, minor policy violation. Class a complaints are the most severe allegations, which may include excessive force, death in custody, egregious officer misconduct, and they can receive discipline of demotion, termination or 15 days or more suspension time. Category B through D decrease [10:01:48 AM] in their severity. Other investigative classifications include supervisor referral, community concerns, information pending, no classification recorded, which means the case didn't go to APD. The low number of class ac complaints suggest either fewer serious incidents have occurred or potential underreporting. A notable number of complaints were community concerns and supervisory referral. This is because many people either just want apb, APD to be aware of their experience and they don't want any further contact, or they want to speak directly to an officer's supervisor. External complaints trend to class D supervisor referral and community concerns. This slide distinguishes complaint outcomes. As a reminder, internal complaints or complaints filed by APD personnel, and external complaints or complaints filed by community members. In 2024, there were 841 complaints forwarded to APD, compared to [10:02:50 AM] 578 in 23, which is a 45% increase. The number of formal complaints investigated decreased by 26% from 159 to 215, and sustained complaints. External complaints increased significantly from 14 and 23 to 69 and 2024. Internal complaints increased in 2024 and all categories, a 35% increase on complaints that were initiated, a 80% increase on formal investigations launched, and about a 20% increase in sustained complaints. Comparing internal to external outcomes show variances in how complaints are handled based on their origins. A high number of internal complaints are sustained following the investigation, which may indicate more serious attention is given to internal complaints. Internal APD members are more knowledgeable about what constitutes an actual policy violation. Therefore, we expect there to be a higher number of external complaints that are sustained. [10:03:51 AM] This slide focuses on discipline and disciplinary actions taken by APD in response to substantiated complaints. Discipline includes reprimands, suspensions, education, discipline, and termination. A total of 125 officers received discipline in 2024, compared to 103 in 2023, a 21% increase. Discipline from sustained external complaints were nine and 24, compared to 14 and 23, which is a 35% decrease. Discipline from sustained internal complaints were 116 and 2024, compared to 89 in 2023, which is a 21% increase. In addition to formal discipline, APD also provides training counseling for officers who commit lower level offenses. The number and types of disciplinary actions may provide insight into APD accountability practices. Most discipline resulted from internal complaints, with fewer instances of formal discipline being assessed with external complaints. And, as stated before, a Pio. We recognize [10:04:51 AM] that officers are more likely to receive sustained findings and be disciplined for internal complaints, because the level of the allegation and internal complaints tend to involve more serious offense, and APD members know what constitutes a policy violation. For 2023 to 2024. Contacts decline. Decline, compliments, doubled, external and internal complaints rose, and more officers face discipline. External complaints tended to the class D and supervisor referral and community certain categories, while sustained external complaints increased substantially from 2023 to 2024. That completes the complaint division's data. >> Thank you for your attention, mayor and council. We're happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Councilmember qadri followed by councilmember Laine. >> Yeah, I just had a quick question on one of the first slides that mentioned there's a growing public confidence in the oversight. How is that measured? [10:05:52 AM] >> The the confidence and oversight? >> Yeah. Just by the public confidence. >> Yeah. Just by what we are seeing in terms of the number of complaints being filed, the number of individuals that are coming to our office, office filing complaints, were seeing more sustained complaints. Now, of course, there is a robust oversight from our office. And so this year in 2024, not in terms of the number of outreach events we conducted, but the the the robust out reach we are doing to reach community members. And so we are seeing a trend there with the engagement with officers and community members, as you noted, as we've noted that we saw compliments rise substantially this year for for officers. And so with that trend, we are we see that there is it appears that there [10:06:54 AM] is greater engagement, positive engagement with officers and community members. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. >> Councilmember zo qadri. Councilmember Laine, followed by councilmember Siegel. >> I have some questions related to slides 22 and 23. So on. Community on page 22 community complaints. External 2024 I see 69 sustained complaints, but on page 23 ex discipline issued for external complaints. Total sustained in 2024 is nine. Does that mean that only that 60 of the complaints did not receive a disciplinary outcome? >> No, it's not a one sum game. So the discipline does not equate to the sustainment. So a complaint can be sustained and disciplined. The best way I can describe it is to say it's not a one sum game. Every time you see a sustainment, you're not [10:07:55 AM] going to necessarily see a discipline action. There could be a sustainment with training or some other type of action. There could be a sustainment on on an incident with two episodes of discipline on that one incident. So it's not a one in, one out, one sustained, one discipline. >> Okay. So how should I interpret the 60 sustained community complaints in 2024? The 60 like there are 69 that were sustained. Nine of them. I mean, there's nine disciplinary outcomes. What's going on with the other 60? >> I would say either some form of training is being provided or something other than formal discipline. The discipline you receive, you see on this on the data is formal discipline, which is termination, suspension, letters of reprimand. There are other forms of training and lower levels of discipline that's not tracked. And what's captured in this discipline. Oral counseling is not a formal, formal discipline. Written [10:08:55 AM] reprimand. While it is a level of discipline, it's not necessarily captured on the formal discipline that's in our our reporting as well as ebd and and other trainings that they offer for lower level violations. >> I do see a category for oral reprimand, and I also see a category for education based discipline. And I'll just flag that. I think that with 60 other incidents, that's an important thing to show some breakdown on as far as what's happening. And you've already answered the next question, though, on the internal complaints. How are we having more discipline than the number sustained? Thank you for that. My final question is when can we expect the 2025 report to be available? >> So as I noted earlier, we want to ensure that we provide full and accurate data. So complaints that are being filed late in the year, for example, in December, being that the the internal affairs department [10:09:56 AM] have 180 days, it could be June of the following year before we get that complete data in terms of investigative data. And so once we receive that data in June, that's when we start to validate the data and compile the data. And so it's normally around the fourth quarter of the following year before we release the next report, just based on the fact that internal affairs has that 180 days. So you'll see that those complaints are being that's being filed, for example, this month. It could be June before they finalize. Even when we publish the 2025 report, there are still some cases still pending, but we want to get as closely as possible to having complete and accurate data. >> Okay. I'd like to flag that. Perhaps we could try to find a way either to provide some preliminary analysis sooner than a year after it's complete, [10:10:59 AM] or we could find a way to look at if there are ways to expedite that transmission of data. Because this being such a large area of concern in our community and among council, it is helpful to know sooner which direction we're headed. So I'm just raising those two possible abilities if we can. Thank you. I appreciate. >> That feedback. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember Siegel and councilmember duchen. Thank you, mayor, and thank. >> You, director and team for all this work. You know, Austin police oversight is an essential part of our local government and really helps build trust in law enforcement and our accountability systems. And I want to thank you for all the public engagement you're doing, the commitment to continuous improvement. My team has developed a few questions about the report and the underlying data. And so I'll ask some of these now. But if some of these are better to kind of respond offline, happy to do that as well. Just first note is that the qr codes in the presentation don't seem to be working. For example, when you scan the APD use of force [10:12:00 AM] analysis link, it says it has been deactivated, so hoping that can be updated. Yes, but I guess about the complaint process and kind of the underlying report. I want to start with page 19. And you know, this is like the overview of the complaints process. And, you know, subsection four is the complaint outcome. And so the Austin police oversight can object to the disposition or disciplinary action, disciplinary action imposed by the police department. I'm wondering if, you know, how many times did apo object to an APD disposition in 2024? >> We do not have that data in front of us. What I can tell you is that we made approximately 17. I think it is disciplinary recommendations. The chief aligned with about half of those, and I think 3 or [10:13:04 AM] 4 of those recommendations, the officer either resigned or retired prior to disciplinary actions being imposed. But we can definitely get that number for you and follow back up. >> Okay. Thank you director. And in terms of the complaint outcome, how often does apo meet with complainants and show them what you've found? >> Meet with them and show them. >> What what you found? >> Well, we are following up with complainants. Once a complaint is filed, there's a continuous conversation with in regards to the status of the complaints. That's not normally a face to face meeting, but that's a a phone call to say this is where we are. Once the investigation is complete, we are following back up with the complainant via telephone or email, letting them know that the complaint is is closed out. >> Okay. And do you provide [10:14:04 AM] more details or what kind of. >> Provide more details? I defer to Kevin in terms of. >> The yes, we we were usually contacted them and advised them the disposition of the case. You know, your case was substantiated, which means your allegations were affirmed or the officer, it was found that no policy violation occurred. And then we're able to answer any questions without talking about the specific details of the investigation, for the specific details of the investigation that's in id files, we refer them to internal affairs, but we provide as much information as we can on the whys and what's next. And we also make sure that we provide all complainants with how they can receive copies of their complete file from id, as well as all apo files and body worn camera. >> Okay. Thank you very much. And then looking at the next page of the underlying report, the the preliminary review section, it summarizes the allegations by type and the first category, which is I [10:15:05 AM] guess the largest area of complaint is no assistance from APD for this category. Do you know how many disciplinary actions resulted versus how many were recommended? >> No, we don't have that information. And if what it looks like, what you're looking at is the one pager information in terms of the top level of complaints, we don't track, we don't have the ability to data mine in terms of the disposition on those complaints based on the category of the one pager. >> Okay. And by one page you mean like a page 20 of the the main report. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thanks, sir. Just a few more. I wanted to go over today, mayor, on page 22 of the main report, this is titled at the top classify. Looks like [10:16:07 AM] there were 88 formal complaint recommendations. Can you provide a breakdown of these? For example, what were the complaints concerning how many resulted in disciplinary action? >> That would be information we would have to collect and get back with you, councilman. >> Thank you. That's fair. Is it explained to complainants that there is no oppo investigation if they choose supervisor referral? >> We we do a preliminary review of every complaint. So before we contact a complainant, we have completed a preliminary review which includes looking at body worn camera, dash camera, APD systems to determine if we believe a policy violation occurred. So we do a preliminary review on 100% of the complaints that we receive. >> But in terms of your your question, councilman, yes, we are providing that information in terms of there is no formal [10:17:07 AM] investigation if community members are selecting to classify their complaints as a community concern, they are the driver of the complaint process. And so we are giving them information. What a supervisor referral is, what a formal complaint is, what a community concern is. And so they are making those determinations in terms of how they want to their complaint to be processed. >> Thank you. Director, do you know is that something that they are presented with in writing, or is it more of a verbal explanation. >> More of a verbal, that initial contact? It's more of a verbal conversation with them. When they iitially talk with the complaint specialist. >> And then fast forwarding a little bit to, I guess, page 27. And this is the the page of the main report that has a chart on discipline issued. Can you provide some examples of sustained complaints. This is kind of following up on council [10:18:08 AM] member lane's question. Sustained complaints that did not result in disciplinary disciplinary action. Do you have a couple examples of that? >> Yes. Sustained complaint that didn't result in a disciplinary action could be a lower level discourtesy. Or maybe an officer may have made an inappropriate comment to a complainant or let's say, failed to follow through where an officer didn't complete his or her report in a timely manner. And it kind of left the complaint in hanging and it was sustained. Those types of findings can be sustained and not be a formal disciplinary action. It could be an oral counseling, or it could be some form of training the officer receive. And that doesn't constitute disciplinary action. >> Understood. Thank you. And then last question for today. It looks like online six disciplinary action. Disciplinary actions have been posted for 2024. But this chart [10:19:08 AM] seems to indicate that there were nine actions. Do you know do you have information about the other three? >> I'm sorry sir, could you repeat the question? >> Yes, sir. So on the oppo website, six disciplinary actions for 2024 have been posted, but this chart seems to indicate nine actions. And so it seems like three are not on there. Do you have more information about that? >> Yeah. We will will will definitely check the website and determine where the additional three disciplinary actions are and ensure that they are posted. >> Okay. >> Thank you, thank you thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you mayor. I was hoping you guys could clarify a couple. First of all, thank you for the work you've done here and and every indication I have from reading both reports, the presentation and the actual report suggest that things seem to be trending in a healthy direction. So I'm very [10:20:09 AM] encouraged by what I'm seeing. A couple of questions I'm hoping you can clarify. One is it sounds like there are recommendations that are made that are both as a result of the internal and external complaint process, but it sounds like there are also policy recommendations that are made. Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Do we have any breakdown? It seems like most of the energy was spent on understanding the breakdown of the complaint recommendations. Do we have any understanding about the extent that APD adopted the policy recommendations that were outlined for things like drones or tasers or things like that? >> I know on I guess the slide shows not back up, but I have asterisks next to the recommendations that were either partially or fully implemented by APD. Again, we make these recommendations, and whether or not APD accepts them is, you know, their their [10:21:12 AM] choice. So the ones with asterisks were either partially implemented or fully implemented. The rest have not been implemented. >> Okay. So if I could if I interpret that the asterisks indicate to the extent that something has been partially implemented or fully implemented, the rest of them, I can assume, have not been implemented at all. >> Correct? >> Okay. Thank you for that. I'm also curious about I think there was a. On the slide. Let's see what this is. I think slide 22, it looks like we're doing a much better job of investigating the internal complaints between 23 and 24. Looks like in 23, maybe two thirds of them were investigated in 24, almost like what 96% were investigated. Can you help? Is there any explanation you can share that helps account for why we're [10:22:13 AM] doing a dramatically better job investigating the internal complaints between year to year? >> Kevin. >> In the internal complaint investigation there submitted internally by APD. The investigations are conducted by APD. While we do a preliminary review, APD would have to answer that question there. The driver of the activity. >> Okay, now, would now be an appropriate time to ask either chief Davis or Henderson to help me better understand that. >> Absolutely. >> Sir. Can you repeat your question? >> I was wondering, between 2023 and 2024, it looks like we did a substantially better job investigating our internal [10:23:14 AM] complaints, like going up from call it 6,065% to close to 100%. So and they indicated staff indicated that that was more driven by APD internal policy rather than the work that they've done at appo. So I'm curious if you can help me understand why we seem to have done a much better job investigating our internal complaints. >> I think they're supervisory driven. And so it is the supervisor, the frontline supervisor, recognizing behaviors that need to be investigated and sending them up the chain to be investigated. And so that's what we're seeing is a more robust driving drive from those frontline supervisors. >> Okay. Thank you. Help me understand that last question. I've got one of the first slides in there. Indicates it talks about the possible drivers of why things are trending in a much better direction. Chief Davis, I might use your perspective here. Also, if you don't mind staying around for one more question. [10:24:15 AM] One of the things that's not there. So first of all, one of the things that is there is the idea that we did a much better job outreach, which I'm grateful for also, as others have indicated. But it also assumed I'd get a different response in the data if we'd done a much if we'd, my expectation would have been had we done a have we enhanced our outreach efforts? I would have actually gotten I figured out how to get potentially even more complaints or more compliments in where it seems like we've actually gotten a aggregate decrease in the amount between year to year. One thing that's not on there is any changes that are implemented by APD on there that might have accounted for these changes. So I'm just curious if you feel like all the all the changes that we're seeing year to year are being driven internally by opioid processes, or there are also things that APD has done to account for why some of the improvements have been reflected in the data you've shared today. >> Yeah, I will say that in [10:25:18 AM] terms of I know we noted that the compliments for officers have increased in our office in compliance with the oversight act. We do body worn cam audits, and we really are seeing positive engagement between officers and community members as we are doing those body worn cam audits. And so it's not just that we are getting the compliments that are coming into our office. We also, as we do those off those audits, we are also seeing that positive engagement with with officers and community members, and we are following back up with those officers saying, we've used your body worn cam today, and this is what we saw, that positive engagement between community members and officers. And so I, I, I believe that as we are following back up with officers and talking to them about what we're seeing on on [10:26:19 AM] audits that we're reinforcing, reinforcing that behavior, that positive behavior between community members and officers. >> Chief, is there anything you can add to why you think we've made this kind of improvement year to year? >> Yeah, I think it's probably a combination of both. I appreciate the work that Gail does, I respect it. I think there's absolutely, you know, police departments across the country have to have this. So I respect the whole process. But it is also how we're doing internally as well. And so setting that expectation and certainly as we move into, you know, looking at 2025, how we're doing that and how we're getting better at it, customer service driven, being customer service driven, all of that is important. So I think it's a combination of both. >> Are you seeing any kind of data on your end, chief, in terms of anything you can measure? I don't know, recruitment, morale, anything like that, that this kind of reporting impacts the way that your department or your officers are either running or [10:27:20 AM] behaving. >> Well. Again, I think there's absolute benefit here. And I think as we start looking at and people feel confident in their in their police department and we start getting, you know, when you're looking at the complaints and I think apo or apo did a fantastic job of kind of breaking down what those complaints are. And we can start measuring those how we get better at that as we move forward. So I think certainly, you know, moving into this year and moving into 2026, it is about how we're our response times are improving, how we're getting on scene, how we're looking at the whole reporting process ourselves. And again, being customer service driven as an agency. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your work on that and clarifying that. And thank you all for the presentation. I'm looking forward to the data for next year. >> Thanks. Councilmember duchen, councilmember. Councilmember. Ellison, councilmember vela. >> Thank you very much. I was curious if y'all collect any data or how, if at all, you measure the satisfaction of the [10:28:22 AM] complainant. Do you have any kind of question at the end, you know, are you satisfied with how this resolved? >> We we do not have. I know this year there is a plan to really engage community members with with a survey. We've talked about doing that in terms of there was a question earlier in terms of our ability to gauge whether or not community members are, are, are pleased with the work that we do and what we're seeing as as we noted, while we we noted that contacts for community members have decreased, but the number of complaints being filed with our office is increased. And one of the trends that we associate with that is that there's more confidence in the oversight. You know, the oversight office. [10:29:23 AM] And so while we don't have any data and just the ability to do some of that, that data mining, as we are seeing the number of complaints being filed in our office, we believe that this is a trend that shows that the the community is really confident in the in the oversight in the site office. And in the services that we provide. >> Can you talk a little bit about just what the process looks like that makes this complainant focused, you know, not focused on whether it's the officer or whatever, but but that this process is really complainant. >> Yeah, we really do aim to provide procedural justice for community members. And so that's ensuring that we have a complaint process that is really accessible. That's really easy for community members to file complaints. There are a number of ways in [10:30:24 AM] which community members can file complaint. We also ensure that anytime we are doing Austin police oversight, community events that are sponsored by Austin community oversight office, that we have interpretive service services. We ensure that we are having our materials that are printed in multiple languages. One of the things we did in 2024 is that we built out what's called an intake space, and it's a private space, confidential space, not on the same floor as our as our office to allow a safe space for community members to come file complaints. I don't know if you are aware, but our office is located on the same floor with internal affairs, and so there's always that possibility for community members to run into our office officer. And so we build out this space in a corner, on [10:31:24 AM] another, on another floor, to ensure that community members know that they have a space that's private and safe, that they can come to and file their complaints and really not have that opportunity to to run into to officers if they're coming directly to our office. So all of that being complaint centered. >> And I'm curious what you think looking to next year, what you would like to see done better, done differently, just what is kind of on the horizon that you think is a room for growth? >> Yeah, I think one of the things we we I know, one of the things we like to see, we really would like to have the ability to do a little more data mining, to tell, to tell our story. We do have some very exciting projects coming up for [10:32:25 AM] 2026. We're going to revamp our know your rights campaign, enhancing that project. We are scheduled to mid-year do an officer involved shooting dashboard. So so communities are are getting information in real time. And the past what we've done is we've done an officer involved report for like over a five year period. We don't think community members should have to wait. We want to give them that information in real time. So those are two of the bigger projects we have planned for for 2026. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> I can't seem to get that turned on. >> Thank you. Mayor, I had a quick question, which also pertains to the graph that's shown on page 20. But there is a definition on 29 which is that highest that highest level of reporting no assistance from APD. Can you talk me through [10:33:26 AM] specifically what different types of no assistance were seen in that area? Sorry, that's not the slide. I'm looking at the report. Sorry. I think we may be working off different documents. So it seems like the top complaint was no assistance from APD. Is that a matter of they called and someone didn't come quickly enough. Someone didn't come or they did show up and they weren't satisfied with the outcome of the interaction. Can you talk me through that? >> Yes, that's exactly what it is. >> You need to hit your button. Setting a bad example and I apologize. >> Thank you. Mayor, yes, to your question, what you described is exactly what happened. What this data represents is we have our primary complaint intake person. Whenever we receive a complaint, we look at the nature of the complaint. And and she identifies what is the top, what are they seeing, what are their primary complaints. And you answered your own question. Yes. Is the answer to that [10:34:28 AM] question. >> So all three of those situations are being categorized in one correct as one. No assistance. Yes. Is there a way that we could get a little more breakdown on what is about response time and what is, you know, someone showing up and showing up quickly and then being, you know, having to communicate that maybe that's something that APD can't help with, for instance. >> Yeah. And we call this this is really our what we call the bucket list. Because sometimes we get so many complaints. If we try to itemize every complaint we get, we need probably 20 pages. Just for that. We try to identify a bucket that we can put certain types of complaints into. I guess we could, but that would require. Additional time and space. >> I would love if there's a way to dig down a little deeper. I know as you get further outside the city core, you end up with the calls either taking longer or maybe an officer can't come out until the morning if it's a noise complaint or, you know, some, some issue like that. So I'm very curious about what is did [10:35:29 AM] someone show up versus someone showed up and, and the person who had called 911 just didn't think that they were able to solve the issue. They were wanting APD to help them solve, if that makes sense. >> It does. It makes sense. We'll we'll take a look at that and have some conversation around it. >> That's great. I would appreciate it. And then I had one other question about page 25 where it talks about internal and external complaints. The external complaints, 841 were forwarded from Pio to the department. And then it says 159 were investigated, which were all 159 that oppo had recommended to be investigated. Which is great to hear that if the police oversight office is is making that suggestion that the police department is taking it seriously, what is in the other bucket of those 841 that did not rise to the level of suggesting APD actually take a look at it. >> The the other bucket consists of the other things [10:36:30 AM] that the complainant requested. Supervisor referral, community concerns. >> Okay. And then oppo just said we don't think it's necessary to investigate. Can you help me understand that? >> No, that the formal investigations this is complaint driven. So 99.9% of the time we process a complaint and complaint the way that they ask us to. If they ask us to do a formal investigation, we will make sure that a formal investigation gets done. If they ask for supervisor referral, we will more often than not make sure that a supervisor referral gets done. The only time we deviate is if during our preliminary review, we see what may be a more egregious violation occur, that we think it should be handled as a formal investigation. We do have occasions where a complainant will call and say, hey, I want a supervisor referral, or I just want the police department to know about this. I don't want to be contacted, and we elevate it to a formal investigation because we believe it needs that. So it's really complaint driven, [10:37:31 AM] the 159 that are investigated, it's because they've asked for an investigation and are during our review. We believe it warranted an investigation. The balance is what they asked for. If they ask for supervisor referral, we forwarded to APD for supervisor referral. If they ask for a community concern, we forwarded to APD as a community concern. The last thing we want to do is have a complaint and call us and say, hey, I want the police department to know about this. I just want it to be a concern. I don't want to hear from someone. And then they get a call from the police department when they specifically told us they didn't want it. We don't want to be in that environment. >> I see. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clarifying that. And then at the bottom of that same page, the internal complaints internally initiated by the police department. Can you tell me what types of scenarios where the police department will self-initiate you looking into it? Or kind of start a ticket, if you will, to say there's something that needs to be looked at here? Can you talk me through those scenarios? >> Sure. There's a number of ways. One is all critical [10:38:31 AM] incident. Whenever there's an officer involved shooting or a death in custody, an internal investigation is automatically initiated. Most accidents, which is the largest number of complaints? I don't I don't think it's actually but that's the type of thing that would constitute an internal investigation. Or if an officer saw another officer or supervisor saw an officer do something that he or she thought was inappropriate, that's when what the chief said they would refer to internal affairs for an investigation. Those are all the internal investigations. >> I see. And by accident you mean crash, like, yes, yes, an interaction with a police vehicle or something like that. >> Correct. >> Okay, okay. Thank you. I appreciate the information. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember vela. >> Thank you. Mayor. Supervisor. Referral. When someone calls and you mentioned that a couple of times, what exactly does that mean? Supervisor referral. >> That's when and we explained the situation to the complainant. And when we say another way we process complaints is if you'd like to speak to the officer's [10:39:32 AM] supervisor about your incident, because when a complainant calls us, we don't have the authority to talk to them about the specifics. That's on a body worn camera. On some occasions, we don't have the authority to talk to them about the specifics. That's in a report. The report may not be approved yet. However, a supervisor can talk to them about all that stuff. So we let them know that if they would like supervisor referral, they can request that. And within certain days, the supervisor is required to contact them to have a conversation. When they request a supervisor referral, we let them know that they'll be contacted by supervisor. And once the supervisor completes the the contact of the complainant, there's a form they have to fill out that goes to internal affairs and then comes to us and we circle back with the complainant. So we do a 360 just to affirm or confirm that they had an opportunity to talk about a supervisor about their their complaint, and if they had an opportunity to vet out what needed to be vetted out. >> Got it. And so when someone calls in, they're not filing a complaint per se. They kind of, [10:40:33 AM] you know, want to talk to the supervisor of an officer that they had some kind of interaction with. >> We still we still classified as a formal as, as a complaint, a formal complaint, but it's still a complaint that's just processed as a supervisor referral. >> Got it. It's not investigated. If the if the outcome that the complainant wanted was to just communicate with the supervisor, you're going to put them in touch with the supervisor. Supervisor is required to reach out to that person within a certain number of days, and then they have to circle back to both internal affairs and then ultimately to apo to kind of close the loop and make sure that there was that interaction that actually happened between the complainant and supervisors, that. >> That's that's absolutely correct. But we also when you say it's not investigated, we are doing a preliminary review of every complaint that is coming to our office. >> So even on some of those, you all may say, you know what? That does need to be investigated. >> Absolutely. >> Okay, absolutely. >> If we identify that it's egregious, we we make the [10:41:34 AM] decision that this needs to be escalated and should be investigated as a formal complaint. >> Okay. Thank you for that. That's very helpful. And so and again, just to clarify for myself and I think for the public, the internal complaints that you have, this is on your presentation on page 22, internal complaints. Those are initiated by APD, either by supervisors or by other officers on the scene or whatever the case may be. Is that correct? >> That is correct, sir. >> Got it. And then the community complaints, those are not initiated. Those are initiated by folks calling in to your office saying, hey, I had a problem with this, or I had a problem with that, or whatever the case may be. >> That is correct. >> Is there overlap between the two where, you know, APD is already investigating and, you know, and just kind of trying to suss out how how much overlap is there? >> I don't have the numbers in front of me, but there [10:42:34 AM] definitely is overlap where a community member has filed a complaint and the internal affairs, the supervisor for an officer has also filed a complaint related to that same allegation. So there is some overlap there. >> Got it. And then again, going back to the ones where a complainant called and said they did want a formal investigation, I just want to make sure that I understood this, that all of those cases, you referred them to APD for a formal investigation and there was a formal investigation. Was that is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Great. So there's no cases where the public is saying, hey, I want y'all to look into this. And there was no kind of follow up. >> No, sir. >> That's great. That's great. Then I understood and I heard that. Do you all do random audits of body cam cameras? >> That is correct. In compliance with the Austin police oversight act, we do random body worn cam audits. And so the staff is looking at [10:43:38 AM] body worn cameras. I don't know, I don't have the number in my head in terms of how many body worn cam audits we did it. >> I think we did around in 24 1200 reviews of body worn camera and over 1000 hours of video. >> And are those in relation to specific incidents, like a random selection of incidents, or you're just pulling a random day and reviewing the the footage just as a precautionary matter. >> Not not related to a specific incident. We're just pulling the data and looking at it randomly. >> Got it. And then with regard to the academy recommendations, I saw that you have and I know that that council member Siegel mentioned the qr code is not working on that, but that there were some recommendations with regard to curriculum and or the academy. Could you talk about those a little bit? What's going on with that? >> I'll defer to crystal. [10:44:39 AM] >> Yes, I'd be happy to talk about that. There is was part of cronk recommendations to create a pac, which is the professional advisory committee at the academy, and it's made up of sworn and civilian subject matter experts that review courses that we their courses that are being taught, courses we review the cole material, review the instructors curriculum, the powerpoints, all the things that are handed out to the cadets, like supplementary educational tools. And then everyone writes their own recommendations on improvement through the lens. Like I, I write the recommendation through the lens of Austin police oversight, and we get back together to discuss it. It's written up and sent to the commander to review and then sign off on on whether or not they want to implement those [10:45:39 AM] changes. >> Okay. And and I'm assuming that's the recommendations. And the qr code would lead to a document that has the recommendations to the academy. >> Our website has there's separate documents. You would have to go through the website to see the curriculum recommendations, but they're all on our website. >> Okay. Thank you for that. And then just broadly speaking, any trends in particular with the use of force. And I know we were talking about, you know, over the last couple of years, like, are y'all is there anything that jumps out with regard to the overall use of force complaints and concerns? >> The data that we well, complaints is different than the use of force report? Yeah, I can speak to the reporting. And that data we were getting from the force review unit, it didn't get into demographics. It wasn't that detailed. But I [10:46:40 AM] would say sector wise, you know, George sector was highest in use of force, things like that. There were trends within the report, but there was also data missing. >> Okay. Well we'll I'll follow up on that offline. Finally, you were mentioning that, you know, sometimes maybe someone is not satisfied with the outcome of their complaint right now. Again, with the the g5, with opoa, and then ultimately the full transparency that was included in the police contract. When someone is not satisfied with the report, or honestly, even if they aren't satisfied with the report, they can request the investigatory materials and they will receive the investigative materials. Is that is that correct? >> That is correct. >> I mean, with the with the G file, a community member has the ability to request their their case information via a public information request. [10:47:40 AM] Prior to that, you could make the request, but the information was not released to the community members. Now that there's no confidential g5, community members have the ability to make a request for a public information request and receive those that evidence or that case file information. >> Yeah, I just want to emphasize what a positive change that is and what a big change that is. I mean, it's one thing to get a, you know, say, oh, it was investigated and we took care of it and we can't tell you anything about it like that. That just does not instill confidence. I just the full transparency where people can follow up on their concerns and review the results of the investigation, whether they're satisfied or not, honestly, with the outcome is just, I think, critically important for instilling public confidence and improving public confidence. So again, just wanted to highlight that. >> Thank you. Chief. Did you have something you wanted to [10:48:41 AM] say. >> Yes, mayor I did. In regard to your your question about the the data on the use of force. So one of the things we contracted with doctor robin ingle, you guys have heard her presentation on the use of force. One of the things she found is on the website, the use of force was being reported twice. And so that's why it was pulled off of the site to make sure that that data was correct. And so that's what we found is when we started looking at it, there were some uses of force that were being double counted. And so that's why that was pulled. And that will be put back on correctly. >> Okay. Thank you for the clarification chief. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Council member. All right. Members that will take us to the we have one speaker I think, on this item. So I'm going to ask that the clerk call this speaker. >> Yes. The only speaker we have on item b2 is Nellie Paulina Ramirez. >> Please come forward. >> You will have two minutes. >> Thank you for being here. And thank you for your patience. But we thought the best way to do this was let all the [10:49:43 AM] presentation be made. >> Fair enough, fair enough. I did have prepared remarks, but after listening to the presentation, you'll bear with me as I kind of make my way through my notes. My name is Nellie and Paulina Ramirez, and I am a resident of d5, and I am also chair of the public safety commission. Many of you should have. All of you should have already received the recommendation that the public safety commission passed with regards to the office of police oversight, which included a request for a complete audit of their complaints process. I think after listening to today's presentation, I just want to have a little sidebar and say that there's been a lot of talk about the increase in compliments for officers and. An improved, improved, improved results for internal complaints that APD is seeing, and a huge nod to chief Davis for making [10:50:45 AM] these improvements. I don't want us to conflate improvements at APD with satisfaction with the office of police oversight complaint process, because the way those complaints are being handled is distinct. So I wanted to say that. And then just a reminder that sworn officers have a law enforcement division, city legal, this council, the Austin police association and their legal team supporting them. Complainants only have the office of police oversight. The community wants an opo that supports and informs complainants every step of the way first, and my hope is that council will push our office of police oversight to better advocate and go to bat for the community that voted for their continued existence as a department. I say this because. [10:51:51 AM] Finish. >> Say because and then we'll be done. >> My overall big picture concern is that we have an office of police oversight that has, in the interest of creating a good working relationship with the Austin Austin police department, created an overly deferential process to the Austin police department. >> Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you all. We appreciate the presentation. Thank you very much. Members. The next thing we have on our agenda is that we're going to go into an executive session. Before we do that, however, I want to again, because I'm worried that when I started this morning, some of our staffs may not have been paying close attention to the drawing of seats. And so for everybody that's in the in the back rooms and in their offices right now, let me call out the seats again so that everybody will be ready when we come back. [10:52:51 AM] Councilmember Harper and by the way, number one is to my far right. Number one is the westernmost seat. Councilmember harper-madison will be in seat six. Councilmember Laine will be in seat three. Council. Council member Siegel will be in seat nine. Councilmember vela will be in the mayor pro tem seat. Councilmember qadri will be in seat eight. Councilmember mayor pro tem. Councilmember Fuentes will be in seat five. Councilmember Velazquez will be in seat one. Councilmember alter will be in seat two. Councilmember duchen will be in seat four, and councilmember Ellis will be in seat seven. I just want to get that out so that everybody there'll be no confusion. With that being said, the city council will now go into a closed session to take up one item pursuant to section 551086 of the government code, the city council will consider [10:53:52 AM] utility competitive matters related to item E one. Considering matters related to Austin energy generation, operation, and resources. This involves certain public power utility competitive matters under section five, as defined under section 551086 of the government code. Is there any objection to going into the executive session on the item announced hearing none. Without objection, the council will now now go into an executive session at 10:54 A.M. For members of the public. When this executive session is over, there will be no other items on the work session agenda of the council. So I will come out and we will adjourn the meeting, the work session. At that point in time. For now, we go into executive session. [12:24:22 PM] >> Everybody ready? You ready? Okay. Good afternoon. We're out of closed session. In closed session, we considered utility, competitive matters related to agenda item e1. It is 12:24 P.M. And there being no further business to come before the Austin city council at this scheduled work session. Without objection, the city council is adjourned at 12:24 P.M. Thank you everybody.