AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Just days after Austin City Council members voted to place a number of city charter amendments on the November ballot, a new lawsuit is now threatening to remove them.
That lawsuit, filed Monday by the Save Our Springs Alliance in Travis County's 98th District Court, alleges that Mayor Kirk Watson and council members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act. Specifically, the suit alleges that during last Wednesday's council meeting, both the public participation requirements and the public notice requirements of the Act were violated by packing all 13 proposed amendments into one agenda item.
Attorney and former Travis County judge Bill Aleshire, who represents the plaintiffs in the case, called the council "lawless" in a news release Monday. "This lawsuit is another example of their arrogant disdain for transparency. Mayor Watson and the Council majority are undermining democracy with violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act."
Monday was the final day that jurisdictions could order new election items to be added to the November 5 ballot - meaning that, if a judge rules in favor of the SOS lawsuit, the city would be unable to put the charter amendments on the ballot this year.
"Most of the proposed Charter Amendments would further reduce city hall transparency and accountability", SOS executive director Bill Bunch said in a news release.
Among the proposed amendments include a change to raise the threshold of signatures needed for a recall election of a council member, moving initiative and citizen-initiated charter elections to only happen in even-year November elections, and giving the City Council the authority to directly appoint and remove the city attorney.
City of Austin officials, in a statement late Monday, acknowledged the lawsuit. "Following a lengthy and robust charter amendment process that included multiple opportunities for public input, we are aware of the lawsuit that SOS filed today that challenges the Aug. 14 charter amendment election ordinance. The city stands by the process used."
Earlier this year, Bunch and the Alliance sued the city over its public participation at city council meetings. A temporary court order required the city to give each speaker three minutes per agenda item that they wished to speak on, as opposed to a flat limit of two minutes per speaker - a policy Council had only recently adopted. Ultimately, council members voted to adopt new rules for public participation, allowing for a minimum of two minutes per agenda item.
