ATX PULSE 7/22/24: City Council Approves 13 Charter Amendments for Nov. Ballot // Broadnax Considers Service Adjustments // Firefly CEO Weber Departs Suddenly

ATX Pulse

Everything YOU NEED TO KNOW about Austin.

Monday, July 22, 2024

By Matt Mackowiak

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Today’s Weather: H: 86° / L: 73°. Rain expected. Latest forecast from Fox 7 Austin’s Leslie London here. Heavy rain and flooding expected Mon-Wed, per KVUE. Roads closed Sunday due to flash flooding, per Fox 7 Austin.

TOP NEWS

~ “Austin leaders react to Biden dropping out, endorsement of Harris,” CBS Austin’s Andrew Freeman — “Austin leaders are reacting to President Joe Biden's announcement that he's dropping out of the 2024 Presidential race and throwing his weight behind his vice president, Kamala Harris.

Austin's Congressman Lloyd Doggett was one of the first Democrats , and the first in Congress, to publicly come out and call on Biden to drop out. He says while he's thankful for the president's service, he thinks this was the right move to beat former President Donald Trump in November, and says now the democratic work can start on selecting the right nominee at the convention next month.

Doggett says after the presidential debate late last month, he had serious concerns that President Biden was still up to the task to defeat Trump in November.

"Freedom is at stake, whether it's freedom for women's health care or freedom for democracy," Doggett said. "It's really just a question of the numbers. I appreciate the accomplishments that he has, but felt it was very important that we not turn our government over to Donald Trump and his crowd."

President Biden made the decision to drop out of the race Sunday, and while Doggett says he's sure it was a difficult one, he's hopeful that now the democratic process can play out to find a strong nominee at the Democratic National Convention next month.

"I think the process needs to be open to anyone else who thinks they can make a strong case that they can prevail in the battleground states." Doggett said.

Biden has endorsed his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris. It's a pick Travis County Democratic Chair Pooja Sethi says she would absolutely support.

"People are saying we're excited to vote for Madam President, let's go. And so there is an excitement among young people," Sethi said. "There's excitement among groups and people are ready."

She says this November, women's rights are on the ballot.

"Democrats are putting a woman on the ballot, and there is nobody who we trust to stand up for our rights and our livelihood and what we need more than a woman." Sethi said.

Meanwhile, Governor Greg Abbott referred to Harris as Biden's Borders Czar in a tweet reacting to the news Sunday, saying in part...

"I think I will need to triple the border wall, razor wire barriers and National Guard on the border."“ CBS Austin

THE BLOTTER

~ “UTPD seizes gun, drugs from 2 juvenile suspects at university housing,” CBS Austin’s Stephanie Becerra — “The University of Texas at Austin Police say they seized a handgun and a large number of drugs from two juvenile suspects after reports of suspicious activity at a student housing facility.

Police say the reports came from the Dobie Twenty21 university housing and one suspect was taken into custody at the Travis County Gardner-Bretts Juvenile Justice Center to face charges.

Both juveniles were issued criminal trespass warnings, and they are not affiliated with the university.” CBS Austin

CITY HALL

~ “Council OKs 13 proposed charter amendments for November ballot” Austin Monitor’s Chad Swiatecki — “Voters will decide on 13 potential amendments to the city charter in November, with two of the most significant potential changes affecting the number of signatures needed to recall a City Council member, and requiring elections for citizen-led ballot initiatives and charter amendments to take place in large even-numbered election years.

At Thursday’s meeting, Council considered 15 total possible charter amendments, with a high-profile measure that would have increased the number of signatures required to put a referendum on the ballot failing due to lack of a motion.

The amendments, which were named in a way to not have another Proposition A or B in front of voters again, would seek to do the following.

Prop C: Proposes changes to ensure that the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) operates independently from the City Council, has the authority to update district boundaries when needed, sets a clear start date for new district maps, increases the pool of potential appointees, provides clarity on filling vacancies and permits city staff to communicate with the ICRC outside of meetings as long as it follows transparency rules.

Prop D: Seeks to delete language requiring City Council to meet at least once each week.

Prop E: Would allow City Council to change its meeting rules by official vote following proper posting as an agenda item.

Prop F: Would change the charter to clearly define “election” and to update limits on campaign contributions and spending every Jan. 1, instead of when the budget is adopted, to match federal and state practices.

Prop G: Would ensure that elections for citizen initiatives and charter amendments are held on the next available November election date in even-numbered years, as long as there’s enough time to meet legal requirements.

Prop H: Would increase the number of signatures needed to recall a City Council member from 10 percent to 15 percent of voters in their district and requires the petition circulator to sign an affidavit instead of the person who signed the petition.

Prop I: Would allow City Council to appoint and remove the city attorney.

Prop J: Would change the deadline for municipal court judges to resign if they want to run for another office, making it the same as the deadline set by the Texas Constitution for other officials.

Prop K: Would align city financial practices with standard accounting rules, modernize budget procedures and contract practices, and raise the limit on how much the city manager can approve in contracts without needing City Council approval.

Prop L: Would remove appointees and employees of the office of the city auditor from the classified civil service.

Prop M: Would eliminate the need for submitting an affidavit to report claims of death, injury or property damage and instead follow the state law’s deadline for such notices.

Prop N: Would allow for fixing spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes, and allow removal or changing of outdated or unenforceable language due to state laws or court decisions.

Prop O: Would allow officeholders to ask for and accept political donations while still in office to cover unpaid campaign costs or repay personal money spent on their campaign.

During public comment, the failed ballot referendum change drew the most attention, with opponents saying it would cause those initiatives to be converted into citizen-led charter amendments, for which the signature requirements are covered by the state Constitution and thus are more difficult to alter.

“It’s gonna push people to do citizen-initiated measures through the charter process. It’s gonna push even more inappropriate legislation that citizens bring into the charter process if that (the 3.5 percent signature requirement) is maintained and put on the ballot,” activist Chris Harris said.

Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who led on revised language to give Council purview over the hiring of the city attorney, said she hopes the measure passes after failing in a close vote in a prior election.

“This is an opportunity for us to have a more robust conversation with our community,” she said, noting the Texas Municipal League found 73 percent of home rule cities authorize their city council to directly appoint the city attorney. “This really is ensuring that we’re aligning our structure alongside other big cities in Texas, as well as ensuring that we have that more accountability in place for our community.”” Austin Monitor

~ “Broadnax considers service adjustments as ‘tough’ budget awaits” Austin Monitor’s Chad Swiatecki — “The Austin Monitor recently sat down with new Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax to discuss some of the more prominent issues facing city staff and City Council as he gets situated in his job.

For the budget process as you’re going through it, are there any big differences that you’ve noticed procedurally in how Austin has assembled its budget compared to what you came from in Dallas?

Not at all. If there’s anything that will be different, it’s an approach that looks at it over a two-year window now, which is something that I’m working with the team and hopefully working with the Council to move forward so that they have a better snapshot of not just what they’ll be approving in the next three months, but what that might look like, the levels of service and any other types of programmatic efforts the following year so that they can get a little bit more long-term view of programs, whether pilot or not, to give some calm to where our budgets are from year to year. That would probably be the only nuance, but that won’t be new to me. It’ll be new to this city, certainly. But I think budgeting – as I’ve been doing it for many, many years for local government – is pretty consistent in how they approach it, just depending on the laws that the state may have. Getting to learn and understand the departments coming in a month new already, and jumping straight into budget, I’m relying heavily on the institutional knowledge of our team when it comes to what those needs are and what the other types of issues and challenges are.

This is going to be a tough year this year, and so there’s not a lot of new recipes that are going to be created in my mind. We’re going to be hopeful to try to maintain the current level of service and advance some other areas that Council has set as a priority. Or pull some things off the needs list and inventory to figure out how we can make some progress. Bigger perspectives on the budget, from me at least, will be gleaned over the next six to nine months when it comes to me getting more familiar with the city of Austin (and) … I won’t say the politics, but the neighborhood concerns and the pent-up things that folk have been asking about and for, then helping navigate through some of those priorities with the Council and the community and level-setting on what we can realistically accomplish. We also have to look at what we’re going to have to get other folk to help us with – whether the county, the state or the private sector – to find a way to lean in on some of those things that make Austin the place everybody wants to continue to move to.

We’re coming out of an odd period because we’re a couple of years since the pandemic has really affected our day-to-day lives – late ’21, ’22 is when we started. We’ve had the nice after-effects of federal money and all that. Obviously, we know that that is coming to a close very soon. There’s going to have to be a new equilibrium in a lot of people’s minds. I think back to a few weeks ago when there was that group out front calling for an extension or expansion of rent assistance. I thought: Heart’s in the right place but, guys, look at the books. I guess you talk a little bit about adjusting realities where we’re headed because obviously we’ve seen that already there’s a budget shortfall. In the budget and probably the one after that.

There’s been talk recently about the end of lots of federal (American Rescue Plan) money, and the new expectations that will require people to adjust to. How do you deal with that? Is it through fees? Are you looking at any new novel mechanisms to address the budget?

First and foremost, it’s about getting my arms around what we’re doing as a city and having a conversation about whether or not we need to continue to do some things or reprioritize and reallocate. And then focus on what is emerging, particularly for programs and projects that may not be meeting the expectations that we want. That will probably be a much more learned opportunity for me. We’ve been through a pandemic, and a lot of big cities – no different than Austin – had resources that they had never had before to really do some things that were generational in nature, that cities had not heretofore done. Having the conversation with the community about (the fact that) federal dollars are not here anymore so we’ve got to get back to local government services and not more of the larger federalized local government services that I think folk have gotten used to. That’s just a straightforward conversation with people.

There may be a step down in what we do and a realignment of how we do it from a fiscal matter, but that’s just really about being honest and straightforward with people and just saying what we can do and figure out who we can call upon that we can work with to figure out alternatives, whether they’re monetary or just process, procedure and just better engagement with folk to share with them where they might go get different types of assistance. That’s not an easy conversation, particularly for folk who have been on the ropes the last few years. But there are many things that Council as well as administrators know we just can’t continue to do.

You ask, am I a fee guy? At the end of the day, it’s really the expense that a resident has to pay, whether fee or tax. I don’t really see a lot of difference in that. It’s really about just making sure if we’re providing a service, folks feel like they’re getting their money’s worth for it. I think people will pay for what they believe is worth what they’re getting. The understanding of how local government is funded is my job to make sure people understand that, and I think they do in this community. But there are a lot of challenges out there, people, for financial, just, survival – and you see it with the cost of living.

Take the situation with the rental assistance. If you look at the city’s role in any of that, six years ago, at worst, it was more a function of heat mapping where certain kinds of things occurred, from foreclosures to the types of things that impacted people. Then the impacts on neighborhoods is where we focus as it relates to people no longer in homes, and now they’re open. That was really our main focus and the county kept track of it for purposes of reporting. But given where we were with the pandemic and where we are with homelessness – the ripple effects are forcing us to be more engaged because it’s not as simple as that anymore. We’re going to pay for something on the other end one way or another. Even the diversion in our homeless ecosystem has changed. It used to be, hey, I’m having a problem. I’m about to get kicked out. And on the other line we would say, all right, call me when you get kicked out, and then I can help you, because my program is not geared for people almost about to be out on the street. It’s for people on the street. You’ve seen a shift that it’s about prevention now. Things change, and I think we’ll change from budgeting to what we fund to how we approach it. I think we’ll evolve as a local government, and we’ll figure it out, quite honestly.” Austin Monitor

OTHER NEWS

~ “New leader at helm of Strategic Housing Finance Corp. of Travis County,” Austin Business Journal’s Cody Baird — “The Strategic Housing Finance Corp. of Travis County has a new leader.

Dianna Grey has been named the new executive director of SHFC, according to a July 18 announcement. SHFC is a nonprofit that partners with private developers to boost access to affordable housing. Grey, who previously served as the homeless strategy officer for the city of Austin, has been SHFC’s interim director since January.

“Dianna is a trusted leader, a rigorous thinker and a proven catalyst for generating high-quality affordable housing in Travis County,” stated Julio Gonzalez Altamirano, the board president of SHFC. “As the cost of living increases in our community, boosting affordable housing remains a top priority. Dianna knows how to creatively and equitably get that done at a scale that will make a difference.”

Under Grey’s leadership as interim executive director, SHFC has established fully independent operations over the past six months, having transitioned from a long-standing relationship with the Housing Authority of Travis County. SHFC has a portfolio consisting of 3,700 completed housing units with 2,000 more under construction.

Previously, Grey served as homeless strategy officer for the city of Austin, director of the Texas program for the Corporation for Supportive Housing, program director for the Enterprise Community Loan Fund and executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Austin.

For the remainder of 2024, SHFC priorities include filling several new positions, including a director of real estate, as well as streamlining communications to better communicate the nonprofit’s purpose to the community at large.

Affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues Travis County, and the country as a whole, is facing. In June, the median sales price of a Travis County home hit a whopping $525,000, according to the Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS, and the average rent in Austin of as of March was $1,707, according to RentCafe. Further, at the time only 2% of Austin apartments were affordably priced from $701-$1,000 a month as of March.” ABJ ($)

BUSINESS NEWS

~ AUSTIN’S FAST 50: “Nominations now open for the 50 Fastest Growing companies in Austin” list from the Austin Business Journal”. More here.

~ “Firefly Aerospace parts ways with CEO Bill Weber,” Austin Business Journal’s Brent Wistrom — “Firefly Aerospace's board of directors is parting ways with CEO Bill Weber.

The company did not cite a reason for the exit. It said board member Peter Schumacher will serve as interim CEO while the board initiates a search.

Firefly declined to comment further on the decision.

"This change does not affect Firefly's programs and planned missions in 2024," a company spokesperson said.

Firefly had its fifth rocket launch on July 3. The rocket deployed its low Earth orbiting satellites and was deemed a success by the company. As of February, Firefly had more than 720 employees — 670 in the Austin area. The company has recently expanded its rocket manufacturing and testing facilities to the small town of Briggs, which is north of its Cedar Park headquarters. Firefly was valued at $1.5 billion during its most recent funding round in November last year.

Weber's departure came just two days after aerospace news site Payloadspace.com reported that Firefly is investigating allegations of an inappropriate relationship between Weber and a female employee.

“Firefly was made aware of the allegations from a former employee at the same time they were reported to Payload,” a company spokesperson shared with Payload. “We are looking into them. Our initial findings do not support any facts behind this speculation.”

The company said it has formed a transition committee, led by board member Chris Emerson, to support Schumacher.

Weber was appointed CEO in September 2022 as Firefly's initial investors were pushed out of the company due to national security concerns and private equity firm AE Industrial Partners became Firefly's primary owner. Before joining Firefly, Weber was CEO of KeyW Corp., a cyber operations and analytics company.

Schumacher, the company's interim CEO, is a board member who previously held the interim CEO role. He has been a partner with Miami-based AE Industrial Partners since 2019, and he was a principal with the firm before that. Prior to joining AE, he was a director of business development at GE Engine Services, a business development leader with GE Aviation and a services engineer at General Electric.” ABJ ($)

SPORTS

~ OLYMPIC ALERTS: Sign up for KXAN’s Olympics push alerts and newsletter here.

~ AUSTIN FC: “Five takeaways from Austin FC’s tie vs. Charlotte FC as Osman Bukari and Mikkel Desler debut,” Austin American-Statesman’s Colby Gordon — “Austin FC salvaged something from the week on Saturday. 

Staring at their third loss in eight days when they trailed Charlotte late in the second half, the Verde & Black produced a point from the stretch thanks to Jon Gallagher’s goal that gave them a 2-2 tie at Q2 Stadium. 

It might not have been the result the club wanted, but it avoided a minor disaster and now provides a fresh start with the Leagues Cup beginning Friday. Alex Ring joined Gallagher in scoring for the Verde & Black (8-10-7, 31 points), while Karol Swiderski finished a penalty and Iuri Tavares found the net for Charlotte. 

Here are some thoughts from Austin FC's final MLS match for a month as it starts Leagues Cup play at home vs. Pumas UNAM of Liga MX:

Osman Bukari lives up to the hype

Austin FC’s newest designated player was everything the club expected. 

Bukari was easily the fastest player on the field and showed the ability to successfully beat defenders in one-on-one situations. He created several scoring chances, and once he gets fit enough to play the entire game and is completely on the same page with his teammates, he’ll greatly benefit the club even more than what he showed Saturday. 

It’s a shame Austin FC didn’t take advantage of what Bukari provided for the game’s first 20 minutes, for if it had, we’re probably talking about the club coming away with a win. 

Right back Mikkel Desler also made his debut when he subbed on in the second half. Though he didn’t do anything extraordinary, he fared well and will be a positive addition once he gets in shape to play 60 minutes or more. 

Defensive mistakes were costly

Ring had a small lapse in judgment when he made a challenge in the box late in the first half that led to Swiderski’s penalty. While it was arguably a soft call to award a penalty, Ring’s challenge was unnecessary as it came against a player near the top of the box who had his back to the goal. 

Charlotte’s second score came when Austin FC right back Hector Jiménez was simply outmuscled to a cross by Tavares. 

If there’s a criticism to be made of Verde & Black coach Josh Wolff this game, it’s that he brought Jiménez out for the second half. While it’s passé in soccer to make substitutions at halftime, Austin FC had received a solid first half from Jiménez, who's four months from turning 36 and is the lowest-paid player on the team. 

Wolff was in a tough situation at the position with Gallagher, the team’s regular starter at right back, and Owen Wolff being on heavy legs from the two previous games and Desler only fit enough for 30 minutes. But Jiménez is a liability when he’s on the field for more than 30 minutes, and Austin FC should have considered getting a productive half out of him a win. 

Man of the match: Dani Pereira

Playing farther up the field as an attacking midfielder with Sebastián Driussi suspended for the game instead of his usual spot as a defensive midfielder, Pereira shined. His passing and movement with and without the ball were fantastic, and his assist on Ring’s goal was a thing of beauty. 

Pereira mentioned after the game that he’s more comfortable playing as an attacking midfielder, and though with Driussi returning Friday he’ll move back to his usual spot, he did give the coaching staff something to think about. 

Bottom line: In this case, take the point

Though not desirable, a tie here was acceptable with Driussi and center back Julio Cascante missing. 

Austin FC received good news from the league when it decided Driussi’s suspension would be only one game, and when the club returns to MLS play Aug. 24 at Nashville, it will have its best squad of the season with Bukari, Desler and new center back Oleksandr Svatok fit and up to speed.

However, sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference, two points behind Minnesota and one point ahead of Dallas, the club’s margin for error for the final nine games of the season is razor thin. Getting anything out of the two road games vs. the Los Angeles teams will be tough, so Austin FC has to produce results in its other seven remaining contests and find a way to end the season with at least 44 points and hope that puts it in the playoffs.

Leagues Cup

Austin FC should be able to play freely and aggressively in its games vs. Pumas UNAM and fellow Liga MX club Monterrey in the group stage of the competition as it has nothing to lose. The Verde & Black weren’t given any favors with their draw of having to face two of the best teams in Mexico and will be heavy underdogs in both contests, even with the home-field advantage of playing at Q2 Stadium. 

If Austin FC can get out of group play, that should be considered a tremendous success.” AAS ($)

~ TEXAS FOOTBALL:  “Texas, Oklahoma: Differences between SEC and Big 12 football start with talent,” Austin American-Statesman’s Thomas Jones — “The talk about what Texas coach Steve Sarkisian called “the pageantry” of the Southeastern Conference filled the Omni Hotel throughout SEC media days.

Coaches lauded the legacies of legendary programs. Players praised the league’s history of churning out high NFL draft picks. Commentators commended the ardent fan support, the rabid rivalries and the unquestioned dominance of a conference that has won 13 of the 18 national titles since 2005, the year Texas quarterback Vince Young got to that corner for the winning touchdown against USC in the Rose Bowl.

But between the lines, what makes the SEC different from the Big 12, which served as Texas' home conference for 28 years?

When asked that question at media days, SEC folks from all angles talked less about the X's and O's than the Jim Bobs and Billy Joes, to update an old college football saying.

“I think one of the main things is just the talent overall,” said Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate entering his third year as the Longhorns’ starter. “Not to say the Big 12 wasn't talented, but I feel like in the SEC, there's a lot more first-round guys. And there’s good coaches that put them in a position to go in the first round.”” AAS ($)

~ TEXAS FOOTBALL: “Case closed: Texas loses to Tennessee in the ‘UT’ debate for conference within SEC,” Austin American-Statesman’s John Leuzzi — “It doesn't take much to rattle up a college football fanbase — especially in the SEC.

Or even start a rivalry from nothing.

Both seemed to be true back in 2021 when a simple — and perhaps "silly" — debate was started between the Tennessee and Texas fan bases on which school would be the "UT" of the SEC once the Longhorns entered the conference after they departed from the Big 12.

On Friday, that debate seemed to have been put to a close when Texas was abbreviated as "TEX" in the SEC's preseason team press release while the University of Tennessee was abbreviated as "UT."

Sure to the average fan, this can come off as a "silly" thing and lead to the ponderance of the thought: "Who cares? It has nothing to do with what happened on the field." And that fan would be correct. But in the SEC, where football is religion so to speak, "It Just Means More" and the fan bases don't pass up on the opportunity to win bragging rights other fan bases.

There is no real answer or conclusion as to why the SEC chose to abbreviate Tennessee as "UT" and Texas as "TEX" but one could pinpoint it to seniority — which could leave a sour taste and be looked at as "weak" reasoning, depending on if you are Longhorns fan or not. After all though, Tennessee was one of the founding teams of the SEC in 1932 and Texas just joined the conference.

Texas and Tennessee won't play until 2026 during the SEC regular season.” AAS ($)

TEXAS CULTURE

~ “Actor Glen Powell is going back to school in Austin,” Culture Map’s Brianna Caleri — “One of Glen Powell's next roles? Texas Ex.

The Austin native actor – whose latest film, Twisters, is out Friday, July 19 – has taken Hollywood by storm (pun intended) over the past couple of years. But his career isn't the only thing he's focused on.

Powell recently told IndieWire that he intends to go back to the University of Texas at Austin to complete his education. He previously attended the university but left before finishing his degree.

"I'm not going to be sitting in a class with other students on the regular. I'm basically going to be coming back because I have to finish up," he told the publication, adding that he'll be shooting a remake of The Running Man in London this fall, but he will be back for proctored exams.

Powell said UT is letting him "figure it out" with distance learning, including Zooming in for classes. In addition to being in-person for exams, he'll also be back on campus around two or three times a semester.

Powell added that The Running Man director Edgar Wright has been "very nice about letting me finish my degree in the middle of this massive movie."“ Culture Map Austin

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

~ FILM: Camera Obscura. Screenings of films by central Texas filmmakers. The Vortex (2307 Manor Rd., 512/478-5282). More info here.

COOL JOB ALERT

~DEPUTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR: Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), Austin, TX. Salary: “Competitive”. More info / apply here.