CITY & COUNTY
News from Austin, Travis County & Williamson County
HIGHLIGHTS AUSTIN City Council voted Feb. 23 to settle three lawsuits totaling $1.5 million from protesters allegedly injured by Austin Police Department officers in the May 2020 police brutality and racial justice protests. Austin has now agreed to pay out $18.88 million to victims of police violence during the demonstrations along with $3.3 million to the family of a man shot in the back and killed by police in May 2017. Austin City Council will meet April 13 and 20 and May 4 at 10 a.m. at Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St., Austin. 512-974-2250 www.austintexas.gov/department/ city-council Travis County Commissioners Court will meet April 4 and 18 and May 2 at 9 a.m. at the Travis County Administration Building, 700 Lavaca MEETINGS WE COVER
COUNTY VACANCIES The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the Williamson County Juvenile Detention Center have experienced an increase in unfilled positions among corrections officers and supervision officers, respectively, over the past four years.
Austin petition process in line for revisions City Council voted March 9 to establish a resident commission tasked with proposing updates to Austin’s political petition process, potentially including a higher signature requirement and new ethical and transparency standards for petitioners. Propositions could also be locked to higher-turnout November elections. Council’s action came two months ahead of an election featuring two rival ballot propositions resulting from petition drives. One, backed by Austin’s police union, has attracted criticism from some officials over claims that petition canvass- ers misled residents or obscured details of the proposition. In Austin, anyone who collects the signatures of at least 20,000 registered voters may petition the city government to enact new policy, roll back previous council action or amend the city charter. The removal of a city official would follow the same process, but with a higher signature requirement of 10% of the city’s voters—currently, more than 66,000 names. Successful petition measures may either be approved by City Council or, more commonly, put BY BEN THOMPSON
Williamson County navigates shortages in justice system
CITIZEN-INITIATED PETITIONS IN TEXAS
Texas voters may petition their cities to enact policies or take other actions, and successful petitions typically prompt elections. Petition requirements vary by city.
2020 population estimate
City signature threshold*
City
Petition signature requirement
BY GRANT CRAWFORD
Budgeted positions
Position vacancies
Percentage of vacant positions
WILLIAMSON COUNTY Officials are facing a shortage of adult corrections officers and juvenile supervision offi- cers in Williamson County facilities, forcing staff to work overtime, preventing youth from receiving individualized care and leaving officials searching for solutions. Corrections facilities and juvenile detention centers are both facing a similar issue throughout Texas. The William- son County’s Sheriff’s Office and the Juvenile Detention Center are among the pool of agencies nationwide in search of new people willing to join the profession. As of February, the sheriff’s office had 62 corrections officer vacancies out of 256 budgeted positions. Mean- while, the juvenile center was looking to fill 17 of its 77 positions. These shortages have spurred Sheriff Mike Gleason and county officials to provide pay raises in an effort to improve recruitment as the county competes with area agencies to bring in new faces. Following a report from Gleason at the Jan. 24 meeting that three officers had left over the weekend for other positions, the court approved raising the starting salary for corrections officers from around $42,000 to $51,000. The move will allow the county to be more competitive, Gleason said, but the solution to these staffing shortages is “a little bigger than salaries.”
15% of voters in the highest-turnout mayoral election within three years of petition’s filing
Houston
2,304,580
36,155
WILLIAMSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
10% of registered voters as of the last regular city election
San Antonio
1,434,625
82,372
3.4% 12.1% 20.5% 24.2%
2020 2021 2022 2023
Dallas
1,304,379
10% of registered voters
66,510
5% of registered voters or 20,000 voters, whichever is smaller
Austin
961,855
20,000
Fort Worth
918,915
20% of registered voters
101,526
SOURCES: CITIES OF AUSTIN, DALLAS, FORT WORTH, HOUSTON AND SAN ANTONIO; BEXAR AND HARRIS COUNTIES; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU/COMMUNITY IMPACT
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
*ESTIMATES BASED ON CURRENT AND PAST ELECTION AND VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMATION
WILLIAMSON COUNTY JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER
on an upcoming election ballot. Austin has seen 15 petition elections since 2012 on topics such as ride-hailing regulations, the city’s government system, marijuana enforcement, police staffing, and criminalizing public camping and sleeping. The 20,000-signature threshold for most petitions represents around 3% of the city’s voter pool, well below limits set in other large Texas cities and many peer cities nationwide. Austin used a 10% threshold until 2012; the current limits were
enacted to line up with state law. “If we’re going to spend valuable city resources on an election, that petition should stem from a representative cross-section of the public and not an ever-shrinking sliver,” said District 5 Council Member Ryan Alter, who sponsored the resolution to create a new charter review commission. Once formed, that commission will work to produce recommended changes that Austin voters will consider in the city’s November 2024 election.
9% 11.7% 28.6% 22.1%
2022 2023 2021 2020
St., Austin. 512-854-4722. www.traviscountytx.gov Williamson County Commissioners Court
will meet April 4, 11 and 18 and 25 and May 2 at 9:30 a.m. at the Williamson County Courthouse, 710 Main St., Georgetown. 512-943-1100. www.wilco.org
0 1020304050607080
SOURCE: WILLIAMSON COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
HYMEADOW 12611 Hymeadow (512) 506-8401
NORTH 620 10601 N FM 620 (512) 506-8316
ARBORETUM 10515 North Mopac Expressway (512) 342-6893
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