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Council adopts consent agenda including three injury settlements and funding for crisis response and youth mental-health services
Summary
At its March 6 consent vote, Austin City Council approved three personal-injury lawsuit settlements, an amendment to an Integral Care contract to expand mobile crisis teams, and agreements funding mental-health services for LGBTQIA+ youth among other consent items.
The Austin City Council adopted the consent agenda without objection. The consent package included three recommended personal-injury lawsuit settlements, a one-time amendment to an Integral Care contract to support expanded mobile crisis outreach teams, and agreements to fund youth and LGBTQIA+ services, among other items.
Assistant City Attorney Jeremy Thompson briefed council on three settlements listed on the consent agenda (Items 21, 22 and 23): - Remick v. City of Austin: recommended payment of $250,000 related to a June 2022 crash involving an Austin Police Department patrol vehicle. In exchange plaintiffs will release all claims and dismiss the district-court case. - Bravo v. City of Austin: recommended payment of $235,000 related to a February 2021 crash involving a city truck and injuries to Ms. Alicia Bravo and her minor child; plaintiffs will release claims and dismiss the lawsuit. - Quintanilla v. City of Austin: recommended payment of $240,000 related to a March 2024 crash involving an APD vehicle.
On Item 4 the council approved an amendment to the contract with Integral Care to provide one-time, six-month funding to expand the Emergency Medical Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) and the 9-1-1 mental-health crisis diversion (C3) effort. Aloki Shah, president of the United Workers of Integral Care, testified in support and said the funding will allow increased shift differentials for second and third shifts and weekends, addressing staffing shortages for crisis response teams.
Council also approved two Austin Public Health agreements on the consent agenda (Items 25 and 26) to fund youth mental-health services with community partners. Public testimony included concerns about whether funding allocations equitably serve Black students and other groups; speakers and multiple council members noted they will follow up with disaggregated data requests. Item 25’s backup lists $563,359 for Youth & Family Alliance (LifeWorks); speakers and council members said items 25 and 26 together total roughly $1,100,000.
Other consent items receiving attention included a public-art ordinance (Item 29) that prompted advocates to request retroactive protections to preserve a mural by Professor John Yancey; councilmembers added cosponsors and directed staff per a motion by Council Member Natasha Harper Madison. Council also approved a pilot flood-insurance assistance program and agreements supporting early-childhood services and local events such as Eeyore’s birthday.
The consent agenda was approved as read and taken as a single vote. The AHFC board then met and approved matching AHFC consent items related to the council’s housing-bond amendment.
