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Austin council to post agendas earlier after change to Texas Open Meetings Act
Summary
City staff explained a change in state law requiring agendas to be posted three full business days before meetings, which moves the deadline for council members to pull items earlier and requires presenters to submit materials a day in advance for cybersecurity screening.
Mayor Pro Tem Fuentes and city staff told the Austin City Council on July 22 that a change to the Texas Open Meetings Act will require the city to post meeting agendas earlier and adjust internal deadlines.
Genesis Covino, chief of staff to the city manager, told the council that pulled agenda items will now be due on a Wednesday instead of a Friday. "What is changing as mayor pro tem indicated is that pulled items are due on a Wednesday now as opposed to a Friday," Covino said, adding that offices will still receive a draft agenda about 13 days before the meeting and that Q&A content can be added up until the day before the meeting.
Neil Falgo of the law department explained the change in statutory language. "The Texas Open Meetings Act had stated that the agenda needs to be posted 72 hours before the time of the meeting. That has been revised to state that the agenda must be posted 3 full business days before the date of the meeting," Falgo said, giving the example that a Tuesday work session would need the agenda posted for Thursday, Friday and Monday to count as the three full business days.
Council members raised concerns that the earlier pull deadline will compress the time council offices and staff have to review long agendas and to respond to public input. Council Member Veil said the change shifts what had been decisions made the morning of a work session to roughly eight days before the actual council meeting, and urged staff to look for ways to reduce postponements. "I'm honestly, I'm just kind of trying to think through this as we confront this," Veil said.
City staff also said they will require presentation files be submitted by 5 p.m. the day before a meeting so the information technology team can perform a basic security screening and pre-load presentations into the meeting queue. Covino described the change as driven by cybersecurity concerns and operational efficiency: handing unscanned thumb drives directly into city computers creates a risk and delays meeting flow.
Staff said the revised posting practice will take effect Sept. 1 under the new law, and the city will test the new calendar in August to work out operational issues. Council members asked staff to return with clarifications about holiday weeks, possible earlier distribution of draft agendas, and how the city will minimize the risk of pushing items to the council meeting because of the earlier pull deadline.
Council members and staff agreed to continue refining procedures and to use Q&A, technical assistance and earlier communication to limit the number of items that must be postponed at the dais. Staff emphasized they would continue to provide draft agendas and Q&A so council offices can get answers even after the pull deadline.
