[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="630"]Austin City Council The 10-1 Austin City Council was sworn in January 2015.[/caption]   Austin City Council approved a new governing structure during its Jan. 29 meeting. The new structure was first proposed Jan. 8. It changes how an ordinance or resolution is routed to go before City Council to more closely resemble the process of the state legislature. One of the major changes is the creation of council to focus on certain topics and work with boards and commissions to develop laws and regulations. Amendments to the structure were suggested Jan. 29, including reducing the proposed number of council committees. Originally 13 committees were proposed under the new structure but the final number was reduced to ten. The committee on intergovernmental affairs was erased, and committees on audit and finance, as well as committees on economic development and innovation and creation industries, were each combined into one committee. The council committee list is now as follows:

  • Audit and Finance
  • Mobility
  • Public Utilities
  • Austin Energy
  • Health and Human Services
  • Public Safety
  • Planning and Neighborhoods
  • Open Space, Environment, and Sustainability
  • Housing and Community Development
  • Economic Development and Innovation and Creation Industries
Concerns from members of the public on the new structure were received at a town hall meeting Jan. 22 as well as through phone calls, emails, and other interactions between City Council and constituents. Much of the feedback they received was regarding concern that people could no longer address the full council and would instead be limited to a council committee made up of four council members. The ordinance was amended in response to those concerns to allow eight members of the public to speak to City Council on any issue, with four speaking for the "for" side and the other four speaking for the "against" side. Each speaker is allowed two minutes. The original option that permits four council members to voteto allow public input at the full council meetingremained in the ordinance. Mayor Steve Adler said he plans to announce council members' committee assignments, including appointments of chairs and vice chairs, on Feb. 9