Austin City Hall notebook: Aug. 24 work session centers on emergency preparedness, cultural arts funding

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The Austin City Council met for a scheduled working session on August 24th. (Ben Thompson / Community Impact Newspaper)

Austin City Council met on August 24 for the first scheduled meeting of the body since the city’s budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year was approved.

The main focus of the working session was on three briefings by employees and community members on the topics of cultural funding, forest fire prevention and a review of how the city dealt with the winter storm Uri. The council will next hold a regular meeting on August 26 to work out an agenda of 112 items.

Shifts in art funding

The first briefing of the council of the August 24th session, requested by District 2 Councilor Vanessa Fuentes, was on Austin Cultural Arts Funding programs. The briefing allowed staff to highlight some proposed changes to the city’s model in support of local cultural institutions and to provide an overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on artists and city funds. Staff also highlighted their commitment to a funding model that they believe is based on equity as a cornerstone, as city reviews and community events related to funding over the past few years had highlighted inequalities in funding.

“As part of the community conversations and engagements early on in this process, MJR Partners gathered hundreds of hours of feedback on several key observations,” said Meghan Wells, manager, Austin Cultural Arts Division. “We noticed a lot of them, but perhaps the most difficult of them revolves around the need for collective acceptance that historical inequalities exist in the city and in our funding program, and that we have to purposely strengthen our culture-specific organizations in order to build our ecosystem more equitably.”

After an employee presentation, the council members supported the renewed focus on a fair distribution of the funds as a whole. However, some said they remain concerned about how changes to the city’s funding programs are being implemented, the dates behind proposed staff shifts, and when such changes will be made.

One important change officials focused on relates to the city’s hotel occupancy tax levies, which flow into Austin’s cultural fund and which have declined during the pandemic. While the art funds are currently operating on hotel tax projections, the staff is suggesting a move that may have programs targeting actual returns as early as the next fiscal year – a move that has received mixed responses from the podium.

“To be clear, it’s not about moving towards a fair model. I think that’s great and necessary. … But the question I have is, is this the time to move towards a model that is leaving organizations that are to some extent dependent on this funding, is this the time? ” said Fuentes.

Council members requested more details on the possible adjustments to the program models, and Deputy City Director Rodney Gonzales later said it was clear that in the near future staff should transparently provide more information to the council and residents after their presentation. He also asked councilors to work with their representatives on the Arts Commission to better capture the pulse of Austin’s creative community and guide possible change as stakeholders determine how best to distribute the limited funds to people and organizations in need .

“These are tough decisions ahead of us. There are no easy answers. At the end of the day we have far less income than before COVID[-19], and that alone means there will be financial cuts across the board, “Gonzales said.

Prepare for fires

Council members also heard on August 24 of a contingent from the Austin Fire Department Wildfire Division speaking to the city’s work in preparing for the major fire threat.

Firefighters from the Forest Fire Department praised some of the city’s ongoing preparatory efforts, including the introduction of fire management systems, community education and regional cooperation. The AfD officials also warned that forest fires are likely to occur in the future, regardless of local prep efforts, highlighting improvements to several plans as the next steps the city can take.

“Just as firefighters don’t stand in the bed of a stream and hold out our hands and stop a flood, we won’t be able to stop an event like this. But we can prepare our community to be better prepared to take a hit, survive and come back, “said AFD Capt. Kregg Phillips.

The initiatives discussed by the representatives of the AfD department included further evacuation planning, cross-agency coordination and the development of a broader emergency communication system for residents. Department head Carrie Stewart was one of the officers who raised awareness of the dangers, emotions and chaos that natural disasters and related evacuations can create and suggested further training as the best course of action for such incidents and emergencies.

“If we are relying on a plan that we cannot follow, then we have no real plan,” said Stewart.

Alison Alter, councilor for District 10, whose district focuses on areas currently at elevated to high risk of forest fires, also said that continued focus on the risk of fire is key to preparing the community. Both elderly and the firefighters present pointed out the importance of preparing homes and businesses for fires, engaging in relevant community conversations, and being aware of public emergency alerts related to such incidents.

“We’ve done a lot, but I think it’s really important to emphasize that fighting forest fires, preventing forest fires, and containing forest fires is everyone’s fight,” said Alter.

Age and District 6 Councilor Mackenzie Kelly, along with county and public safety officials, are hosting a virtual fire-prepared town hall on August 25 at 6:30 pm. The meeting can be found here.

Looking back at Uri

The council concluded its working session with a presentation by several members of the City Citizens Winter Storm Review Task Force. The group, convened this year after Winter Storm Uri, spent months considering feedback from Austin residents about their experiences during the lockdown, including their thoughts on the city government’s failures and examples of positive lessons learned from the crisis. Task force members also shared recommendations from residents on how Austin could improve its response to future natural disasters.

The Task Force’s final report is based on input from several public hearing sessions and written submissions to the group collected between April and July. The effort resulted in analysis and suggestions on 10 topics that the Task Force members identified as being common to local residents.

At the top of the list was communications, which Task Force member Jeffrey Clemmons said was an issue raised by an “overwhelming majority” of those involved in the group’s review process. Contributions included criticism of the city’s use of social media posts and virtual meetings to provide information during the storm due to widespread lack of power and internet services, while alternative phone and radio transmissions were “underused”. Clemmons said residents had also cited a lack of translated communication for non-English speakers and a lack of information and resources for the elderly and people with disabilities. Following the presentation, Fuentes said the city should consider options for a universal emergency communications system as it is important for various resilience measures including forest fire and storm planning.

Clemmons and the other members of the task force, Rebecca Austen and Sareta Davis, also discussed residents’ criticisms and suggestions on issues such as government transparency and an associated loss of community trust, access to food and shelter, and role by community organizations in the provision of relief supplies. The report was hailed by Mayor Steve Adler as one who brought “a tremendous amount of work” – including volunteers who were at the end of the community’s frustrations – who created “great food stalls” for the city. Several issues raised also prompted council members to express their views on Austin’s failure during the event.

“This is one of those times when, as a private person, I was disappointed in the reaction my city gave me when we say ‘the city’. And so, on behalf of this agency, including my colleagues, I officially apologize for what … we as a community have not been able to, “said Pro Tem Mayor Natasha Harper-Madison.

The task force’s work ran parallel to the ongoing internal reviews of the event, and city manager Spencer Cronk said Austin’s own full impact report on the storm is expected in late September. He also said that several departments are already driving new resilience and disaster relief initiatives, which are detailed in this report.

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