Council Notes: When To Park That Election

Changes to the fall expansion of parking hours Downtown – passed 6-1 earlier this year but slated for a second look after Council Members Laura Morrison (the original nay) and Kathie Tovo proposed a review – are on this week's City Council agenda following a postponement last week. Today (Thursday, Aug. 4), the item returns along with an expected compromise resolution from Mike Martinez that would only charge for evening parking Downtown on weekends.

Political jockeying on the dais becomes more obvious with a pair of items relating to the 2012 city election. Item 26, from Morrison and Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, asks the city manager to determine whether a spring 2012 vote is feasible. Recent state legislation moved federal primary dates so close to the May municipal elections that Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir has questioned whether City Council elections could be held at the same time. The legislation also allowed local contests to be moved to November without a charter change, a move Mayor Lee Leffingwell has depicted as somewhat inevitable. Item 26 asks for options and related costs of keeping a May contest, including the purchase or rental of the city's own election system, according to the draft item. And Item 28, from Cole, Morrison, and Leffingwell, would establish a 15-member Charter Revision Committee to serve as a sounding board on single-member districts and other potential charter changes. The mayor would get three appointees, while each council member would get two, and all members would be appointed by Aug. 25.