"For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister."
Hebrews 6:10
A couple interesting tidbits in Ellen Troxclair's latest constituent newsletter:
Update on Search for New City Manager
As many of you know we are in the process of finding a new city manager. This week, the City of Austin’s Human Resources Department (HRD) is requesting Council approval of the staff-selected firm. Former City Manager Marc Ott resigned back in August to take a position with the International City/County Management Association. City Council unanimously voted in September to appoint Elaine Hart as the interim City Manager.
The City Manager position is obviously an important issue to all of us on Council and to the community. My priority is making sure that we get the absolute best candidate pool possible, which means we must have the best search firm. If this requires us to spend a little more to ensure we end up with an outstanding city manager, this will be well worth the investment. Considering the size of our city, the level of compensation, and the divisiveness that has surrounded the City Manager, it is an important and necessary investment to find a leading executive recruiting firm.
I requested that Council restart the interview process and instead of HRD conducting the interviews with the search firm, the full City Council interview the finalists and choose a firm that will best understand our community needs.
....
Central Library Seeking More Money
The Library is asking for an additional $5.5 million dollars to complete the new Central downtown Library. Nearly a decade ago voters approved a $90 million dollar bond to construct a central library. This week marks the fifth request for more funding to complete this project. In 2010, council approved an additional 30 million dollars bringing the budget to 120 million dollars.
On top of the already over-budget library, Council approved an extra $1.3 million dollars to the project in June. Yet, the library is coming back and seeking $5.5 million dollars more from council! If the extra $5.5 million is approved, that would make the Central Library $36 million dollars over budget.
The City can not keep recklessly spending our tax dollars. The City must learn to live within a budget and keep our departments accountable. The voters approved 90 million dollars to spend, and that budget should have been respected. Unfortunately council passed the additional funds on a 8-2 vote, with me voting against. I will continue to fight these costs over runs.
Read the whole thing here.
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