It may seem like government offices are in slow mode during the holiday season, but Austin's City Auditor is working against the clock. That's because there’s a very strict timeline the auditor needs to meet in order to put together the group that will draw Austin’s new city council district maps.
The auditor is following the guidelines and timeline laid out in Proposition 3. That was the citizen-initiated charter amendment passed by Austin voters last month. But some of the terminology in Prop 3 needs to be tweaked into more official legal terms in some cases. In others, it just needs to be clarified. So, the City of Austin's Auditor, Kenneth Mory, is asking for citizen input.
“We’ve issued out certain items in our website, which include: to the draft application – interpretative guidance and a new revised schedule," said Mory. "And we are asking the public at this point to comment on those.”
Comments can be made online, over the phone or by mail through January 11.
This is the last opportunity for public input before the redistricting commission is in place. The commission is supposed to have a proposal for council districts by next December. The first city council election under the new system of geographic representation is scheduled for November 2014.
