KEY POINTS:

 

  • The Austin City Council continues violating its rules to marginalize public input and diminish the democratic process.
  • At the July 18th council meeting, approximately 20 zoning cases were “taken on consent” and passed with a single vote despite the council’s rules expressly prohibiting this.
  • The Austin City Council was recently taken to court about the council policy limiting citizen communication and lost.

Consent Agenda

Austin City Council meeting agendas are broadly divided into a consent portion of the agenda and a non-consent portion. Consent agendas are widely used by organizations and governmental entities to group items that are so uncontroversial that they can reasonably be expected to be adopted without debate or a separate vote on each item. Our city council’s adopted Rules and Procedures For City Council Meetings, Public Hearings and Appeals provide that “The council may adopt items by consent of the council without a separate vote on each item, as the consent agenda”.  The rules  specifically prohibits adopting by consent items subject to a public hearing or set for a specific time. Keep reading to learn why these exceptions are important, but first, a little history.

History of Consent Agenda Abuse

Earlier this year, the mayor took the untenable position that public speakers interested in addressing multiple consent items had only two minutes total rather than two minutes per item. Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs challenged this interpretation in court and won. In response, the council passed a new public participation ordinance, allowing a minimum of two minutes on each consent item. Unfortunately, the council’s new rule discounts public opposition by treating consent items opposed by the public as uncontroversial items unworthy of council discussion. Worse, the council has now found a new way to abuse the rules.

Degrading Public Hearings and Violations of Their Own Rules

Our city council has now started treating public hearings on zoning cases and neighborhood plan amendments on the non-consent agenda as consent items. At the July 18th council meeting, approximately 20 zoning cases were “taken on consent” and passed with a single vote after a combined “hearing” despite the council’s rules expressly prohibiting this. No street addresses were given for any of the cases; there was no description of the type of zoning being granted, only a recitation of the agenda and case numbers. No staff presentation was made even though a staff presentation is required by the land development code and the Council’s own rules  (which, ironically, were readopted by the council at the July 18th hearing). A motion and a second to adopt these cases “on consent” was made even before public testimony (which was lumped together for all cases) started. No council member responded to the public comments or offered an explanation for the zoning changes. There was no council discussion – even on cases where the public had lodged written and oral concerns. It was over in a matter of minutes: twenty zoning or neighborhood plan changes were adopted “without objection” in about twenty minutes.

What this Means

By consolidating and characterizing contested land use changes that will affect the lives of nearby residents as “consent” items unworthy of discussion, in violation of its own rules, the council has demonstrated its disregard for the rule of law and its constituents. Its imperviousness to public testimony and lack of engagement suggests that the decision on these cases had already been made before the hearing and that the views of residents, many of whom took time off from work to attend, were considered irrelevant. This indifference promotes cynicism and discourages democratic participation in local decision-making. Perhaps that is the goal.

By rubber stamping these cases identified only by case numbers, as though they were so much cargo, and ditching staff reports at the hearing, the council makes it difficult for the viewing public to know—without research—what the council has done. Perhaps that, too, is the goal.

The council’s mechanistic approval of changes to our zoning and neighborhood plans is just a piece of a larger picture. More on that next time.

 

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