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BG Reads 1.31.2024

BG Reads 1.31.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - January 31, 2024

January 31, 2024

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January 31, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

✅ City Manager Garza responds to questions from Austin City Council, addresses his own future

✅ Austin Energy, advisory group move toward presenting plans to Council

✅ Texas Supreme Court pauses depositions in Paxton whistleblower case

✅ Party feud breaks out ahead of RNC meeting in Las Vegas

Read on!

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Garza responds to questions from Austin City Council, addresses his own future (Austin American-Statesman)

Just over a week after a meeting with five members of the Austin City Council regarding the contentious near appointment of Art Acevedo, Interim City Manager Jesús Garza responded to questions from members of the city council and outlined what his priorities are in the coming 60 to 90 days as he prepares to hand the reins of city administration to a permanent chief executive.

In a memo sent to the mayor and City Council on Tuesday that was obtained by the Statesman, Garza did not address Acevedo, but said his overall focus areas remain the same as when he first assumed the role — addressing mayoral, City Council and community priorities with a sense of urgency; positioning the organization for the next city Manager; and bringing stability to the city as a whole, he said.

"Some important examples of these included: homelessness, emergency management, development services/perming and housing/affordability," Garza wrote. "In each of these areas we have made significant organizational and leadership changes. However, the work is not done and will continue to be a priority during my interim management."

One of the questions poised by City Council members and addressed in the memo is what the proper communication with or input from the City Council is on personnel and restructuring decisions.

One of the questions poised by City Council members and addressed in the memo is what the proper communication with or input from the City Council is on personnel and restructuring decisions… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

5 questions with Austin ISD’s new superintendent, Matias Segura (KUT)

About one year after Matias Segura became the Austin Independent School District's interim superintendent, he now has the permanent job. The school board unanimously voted last week to appoint him to the role.

Austin ISD has not had a permanent superintendent for about 18 months.

Segura took over for the previous interim superintendent, Anthony Mays. Mays had replaced Stephanie Elizalde, who left on June 30, 2022, to head Dallas ISD.

According to the contract Segura signed, his annual base salary will be $362,250. His salary is on par with other superintendents in large Texas school districts. Segura’s contract runs through Aug. 31, 2028, which school board members have said offers an opportunity for stability in the years ahead.

“We have great faith in Mr. Segura’s commitment to Austin ISD and in his ability to work with our board and community to celebrate and strengthen the district we love,” Austin ISD Trustees said in a statement.

Segura is not only committed to the district, but he is a product of it. His mother was an Austin ISD teacher for decades. He went to Kocurek Elementary School, Covington Middle School and graduated from Bowie High School… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin Energy, advisory group move toward presenting plans to Council (Austin Monitor)

Austin Energy has seemed to be at odds with environmentalists over its updated power generation plan. And it is likely that the working group tasked with helping the utility come up with a new plan for fueling Austin’s electricity needs will be skeptical about the utility’s plan for reaching carbon neutrality by 2035.

City Council, meeting as the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee on Tuesday, heard from AE General Manager Bob Kahn and Chief Operating Officer Lisa Martin, as well as two environmentalists speaking during citizen communication. Al Braden, a member of the Electric Utility Commission working group, and Diana Prechter asked Council to direct the utility to move faster in eliminating fossil fuel from the utility’s portfolio. Braden said it was especially important that Austin “hold the line” on the utility’s commitment not to build any new fossil fuel plants. He said it seems likely that AE will want to build a new gas plant either at the Decker Creek power station or at the Sand Hill power plant.

Kahn described the timeline for coming up with a new resource generation plan for the utility. It started in spring of 2023 and continued through January. Kahn told the Council that the EUC working group was supposed to come up with final recommendations on Tuesday. He said it would be fine if they were done in the next couple of days. The group is supposed to present their recommendations to the EUC on Feb. 12... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Despite micromanaging concerns, the city’s telework policy advances (Austin Monitor)

After a debate on how granular the policy should be, the Planning Commission has given its blessing to a series of amendments that will help shape the city’s telework policy.

The amendments were initiated by the Planning Commission last year as a change to Austin’s Strategic Mobility Plan. During the height of the pandemic, the city shifted about half of its workforce to telework, but last year saw the interim city manager push back against that as a permanent change. In October, City Council endorsed the Planning Commission approach, and changes that would increase the number of city employees who work from home were put into the context of transportation goals that seek to reduce the number of employees who get to work using single-occupancy methods.

Commissioners embraced the amendments, voting 10-2 to recommend the changes to City Council, with commissioners Greg Anderson and Felicity Maxwell voting against. However, the discussion revealed concerns with how specific the policy should be... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[BG Podcast Weekly Recap EP. 234]

On this episode Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia wrap up the week of January 22nd, 2024 in Austin politics.

Topics include:

✅ Austin Council reaction to Art Acevedo hire (continued)

✅ 2024 Mayoral election updates

✅ And more

LISTEN ON: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify

Click here for this week’s Austin public meeting meeting times and agendas.

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas Supreme Court pauses depositions in Paxton whistleblower case (Texas Tribune)

The Texas Supreme Court has temporarily halted depositions that were scheduled to begin Thursday in the whistleblower case against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The all-GOP court issued an order Tuesday staying the depositions and giving the parties until Feb. 29 to respond with their broader legal arguments. The decision was made public within hours of Paxton’s top political ally — former President Donald Trump — calling on the court to end the case.

The Supreme Court did not elaborate on its decision to stay the depositions.

"This was not a ruling on the merits and we look forward to continuing the fight for justice in this case," two whistleblower attorneys, Tom Nesbitt and TJ Turner said, in a statement. "The people of Texas deserve answers from Ken Paxton."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas is revamping how community colleges are funded. Here are some of the proposed rules. (Austin American-Statesman)

Texas' new community college performance-based funding model might be revamped for fiscal year 2025, according to new rules proposed at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's January meeting. Emily Cormier, assistant commissioner for funding and resource planning, on Thursday presented several new credentials of values that could qualify for higher education state funding as well as tweaks to reduce double counting.

The proposed rules are designed to provide further incentives for community colleges to invest in high-demand credentials that reflect state and regional workforce needs, and to reward schools when students complete their credentials on time.

The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 8 in its last regular session, and it was signed into law in June. It gives community colleges millions in additional money and shifts them away from an enrollment metrics funding model to a merit-based one. Community colleges will receive state money based on how many degrees, certificates, transfers and credentials of value they award.

The HB 8 funding breaks down to 95% performance and 5% base funding. The fiscal year 2025 rules would add a second level within the performance-based funding to target the student experience. The baseline performance level would fund community colleges for all conferred credentials of value, meaning credentials expected to help students earn more than a typical high school graduate and recoup their cost of attendance within 10 years based on average earnings in the state.

Commissioner Harrison Keller said the “incredibly rich” data the coordinating board has from the institutions allows them to look at individual student trajectories. If students are on path to completing their education in line with or ahead of the expected time frame, under the new credential value “premium” level, colleges would be rewarded for that. The new level would reward colleges more for each student projected to have a positive return on investment before a target year based on the credential and data about the typical trajectory. The coordinating board is also partnering with the Texas Workforce Commission, which gets wage records from employers, to determine earnings in Texas. “We’re the only state that’s doing that,” Keller told the American-Statesman in an interview after the meeting… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Councilman John Courage looks for consensus in 2025 mayoral bid (San Antonio Report)

Councilman John Courage — once known for his liberal politics — is running for mayor as a centrist, touting his years of experience on City Council as evidence he can find agreement on an array of difficult problems facing San Antonio in the coming years. “The demographers have pretty much told us we’re going to have another million people here somewhere in the next 20 to 30 years,” Courage told reporters outside City Hall after his Thursday campaign launch.

“This city needs to be prepared to provide for them the services that they will expect,” he said, listing public safety, transportation, public health, housing and opportunities for work as examples. Courage, who represents District 9, is the first current City Council member to join the 2025 mayoral race, while at least three others are weighing potential bids.

His Northside district accounted for roughly 18% of the total votes cast in the 2023 municipal election, and is the only council district Republican Gov. Greg Abbott carried in the November 2022 midterm election. Among the council members thought to be eyeing the mayor’s job, Courage and Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8) are term-limited from seeking reelection to their council seats, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg is serving his fourth and final term. “I have more to offer in the way of reasonableness and being responsive to the community and just using common sense in the decisions that need to be made,” Courage told reporters of his goals to continue serving in elected office. “I think that’s an important ingredient in future councils.”

Courage has long been active in Democratic politics and ran for office multiple times before he was elected to the City Council in 2017. He grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, and started college with plans to become a teacher. As a student, he protested the Vietnam War in 1970, but left college a year later to enlist in the Air Force, and moved to San Antonio for basic training… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Whitmire blocks council member from calling unauthorized meeting about affordable housing program (Houston Chronicle)

Mayor John Whitmire stepped in Monday evening to block an unauthorized housing committee meeting called by District F Council Member Tiffany Thomas, who had scheduled a Tuesday discussion on a highly competitive affordable housing program. Council committees play a critical role in shaping city policy across key areas, including transportation, economic development, housing and ethics. These committees are subject to reorganization by incoming mayors, who often choose to modify their structure and leadership.

Whitmire has not yet unveiled his committee assignments, according to the mayor’s office. But Thomas, who served as chair of the Housing and Community Affairs Committee under former Mayor Sylvester Turner, attempted to organize a committee meeting Tuesday morning to review this year's 9% tax credit program applications. The program allows developers to charge lower rent by offsetting a portion of their federal tax liability.

Thomas posted the meeting agenda online last week and asked six other council members, including three first-term members, to attend the meeting. One of the newcomers, At-large Council Member Julian Ramirez, confirmed that he was never appointed by the mayor and said he was invited by Thomas based on his predecessor's role on the committee. Whitmire emailed council members Monday evening and clarified that the meeting would not occur.

“He does respect Council Member Thomas and her housing expertise, but this is not the way to do it,” said Mary Benton, a spokeswoman from the mayor’s office. For over a week, the housing committee was the only one with names of its chair and members listed on the city website. Benton said Whitmire never approved anyone to post these names on the webpage. The information has since been removed. “It's not unusual for a new mayor to take the time to really review (committee assignments) and make sure that it's done accurately and done the right way,” Benton said, adding that Whitmire is planning to announce committee appointments by the end of February… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Party feud breaks out ahead of RNC meeting in Las Vegas (Politico)

Days before the Republican National Committee was set to convene here, hundreds of Republican officials gathered in a casino ballroom Monday to vent their grievances about the party — and warn that it is ill prepared for the 2024 election. “We are at war,” one man shouted from a microphone at the event, hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action, lifting his arm in the air.

“Where are the tools? Where are all the little things that the left is doing but we don’t?” The gathering, in the hotel next door to where the RNC will meet later this week, was the culmination of more than a year’s worth of frustration from some Republicans in and surrounding the committee — about its finances, about its struggles to match Democrats’ organizing efforts, about its four-term leader. A year ago this month, the vast majority of the RNC’s members voted in favor of keeping Ronna McDaniel on for another term as chair, despite an ugly reelection fight that exposed rifts and vulnerabilities inside the committee.

But at this point, many grassroots activists say McDaniel has lost their trust, perhaps permanently. They say they’re tired of losing. And whatever facts and figures the RNC provides to defend its record, the arguments sound to them like excuses. Terry Dittrich, the chair of the Waukesha County, Wisconsin GOP — the largest Republican county in the state — said he received word from the RNC of a Victory 2024 program they’ll launch there this spring. But he and his county party have been attempting to carry out their own voter outreach efforts since July, and Dittrich said the national party should have already established year-round programs there to compete with what he sees Democrats doing.

“The fact of the matter is the same executive committee, the same leadership structure, the same strategic plans, the same ‘victory programs’ are all in place with the same people, and yet we have lost 22 out of 25 statewide races,” Dittrich said, referring to Wisconsin elections over the last dozen or so years — a period beginning before McDaniel was placed in the job by Donald Trump in 2016. “And so my question would be simple,” he said. “If you’re in a business and your business lost 22 of 25 accounts that you were after, would you have the same structure continue? Would you have the same people continuing to lead?”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Iran threatens to ‘decisively respond’ to any US strikes as Biden weighs response to Jordan attack (Associated Press)

Iran threatened Wednesday to “decisively respond” to any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic following President Joe Biden’s linking of Tehran to the killing of three U.S. soldiers at a military base in Jordan.

The U.S. has signaled it is preparing for retaliatory strikes in the Mideast in the wake of the Sunday drone attack that also injured at least 40 troops at Tower 22, a secretive base in northeastern Jordan that’s been crucial to the American presence in neighboring Syria.

However, concerns remain that any additional American strikes could further inflame a region already roiled by Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea... (LINK TO FULL STORY)