Good God! We we’re joking yesterday about City Council’s late avalanche of items, but there’s nothing funny about this Thursday’s 101 item agenda.
Factor in the special-called meeting tomorrow to go over the Downtown Austin Plan, and the slow trickle of re-election announcements, and we’ve got quite a busy week.
But back to the subject at hand: Below, the City Council agenda highlights for Thursday, November 18:
Items 2,3: Agreement to reimburse cost of contractor running water pipe ($5.4 million) and wastewater ($8.1 million) out to the Formula 1 site. Supposedly, the city recoups costs via water sales.
Item 4: $23.5 million contract with MHW Contractors for Water Treatment Plant No. 4 site work.
Item 5: The big enchilada: paying out the remaining $300 million allocation for WTP4 construction in one drop.
Items 13, 14: Setting an assessment rate for the Austin Downtown Public Improvement District (PID) of 10 cents/$100 valuation. The PID pays for Downtown upkeep and improvements, raising $2.5 million.
Items 15, 16: Setting an assessment rate for the E. 6th Street PID of 15 cents/$100 valuation. The PID pays for Sixth’s maintenance, raising $63,000.
Item 17: $740,000 for “representation services” and lobbying at the upcoming Texas legislature.
Items 23, 24: Two WTP4-related amendments to legal contracts: one pertaining to the construction manager’s contract, another regarding environmental compliance at the site, bring the totals to $260,000 and $495,000 respectively.
Item 26: Approving the Parks and Recreation Department‘s “Long Range Plan for Land, Facilities, and Programs,” after it was postponed from last meeting.
Item 56: Item from council (Mike Martinez, Chris Riley and Sheryl Cole) creating a joint subcommittee of the Urban Transportation Commission and Downtown Commission to study and make recommendations regarding parking Downtown, and report back to Council by March 2011.
Item 57: Item from Martinez and Leffingwell supporting passage of “meet and confer” bargaining legislation at the upcoming Legislature covering non-civil service city employees.
Item 58: Item from Riley and Martinez studying locating business along transit developments and transportation hubs in future economic development deals the city inks.
Item 59: Item from Laura Morrison, Randi Shade and Cole “declaring the City of Austin’s support and participation in a multi-pronged, comprehensive hate crimes initiative to foster a safe and welcoming community by building public infrastructure, awareness, and sensitivity related to hate crimes.”
Item 60: Item from Morrison and Bill Spelman extending the city manager’s deadline to make recommendations regarding historic preservation and it’s potential economic impact.
Item 66: Setting a hearing on the use of parkland to excavate a shaft to build an underground transmission tunnel for WTP4 for December 16.
Items 71, 72: 10:30am morning briefings, first on the new Central Library project, the second from the African-American Resource Advisory Commission.
Items 75-100: The day’s zoning agenda, including nine annexations of the Greenshores subdivision in Northwest Austin (Items 79-87), what looks like an expansion of the Spec’s liquor store by Highland Mall (Item 90), and making Hyde Park a local historic district (Item 100).
What the hell else is happening?
On the city calendar: Council’s Public Health and Human Services Committee meet in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall, 301 W. Second, 3pm.
The Zoning and Platting Commission meets in Council Chambers at City Hall, 6pm.
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This article appears in November 12 • 2010.