'I'm ready': Austin Mayor Kirk Watson on police contract negotiations
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A big driver of KXAN's expanded newscast is to have conversations with newsmakers and local leaders. As a way to kick that off on Monday, Austin City Mayor Kirk Watson joined us to discuss important topics facing the City of Austin.
Read a transcription of the discussion below or watch the interview in the video player above. Some responses have been edited for clarity.
Interim assistant city manager overseeing APD
Mike Rush: We want to start with something that many people have been talking about for a little while now. And that is when the city of Austin announced that it was hiring former Austin police chief Art Acevedo for a newly-created role. This would be an interim assistant city manager overseeing the police department. He later said that he wasn't going to take that job but not and not before, a lot of pushback from the community, local leaders as well as sexual crime survivors, and they have complained about you know, during his tenure as the chief that he did a poor job of investigating those sorts of cases. You supported, hiring Acevedo in hindsight, is that a mistake? Do you think?
Watson: Well, any time I get the opportunity, and certainly the city managers, the same way where we can support our police officers and support APD, we're always looking for ways to do that. We inherited a situation where the police department is severely and seriously understaffed. And so we have attempted a number of things along the way to try to provide the support and have the backs of the police department. It was believed that what we would be able to do is have a better communication with city hall, the city manager made the decision that's in the purview of the city manager. But the city manager made the decision that this would help with communications between the police department and city hall, and it didn't work out. So, this is one of those situations where things don't always work the way you want them to work. But we will continue to look for ways to support the police department. And my hope is that soon we'll be back at the table negotiating with the Austin Police Association. Because I think, ultimately, the best thing for us to do is get a long-term contract with our police.
Jennifer Sanders: We'll get to that in just a moment, especially that Feb. 1 vote. But how do you feel about creating that new role or want to stick with the current?
Watson: That's really the manager's decision. And the manager saw that as an opportunity, like I say, to bolster and have the backs of the police department. He'll have to make the decision whether or not he sees that sort of the best way to go. And we'll see where that leads.
Rush: If he does decide to go that route with his new position, what do you want to see in this person?
Watson: So, I want to see somebody that has experience with policing, somebody that the police will look to as something that they can respect and would be able to, as I indicate, bolster them and have their backs, but also somebody that can help with communication between city hall and the police department so that we're all on the same page.
Police contract negotiations
Sanders: OK, so let's get back to the union. So, city leaders are expected to vote Feb. 1 regarding that package for Austin police officers. So, you are asking that officers get a bonus if APA can come to the table and then an additional bonus, if that contract gets signed by June 1.
Watson: That's right.
Sanders: Is there any indication that you all will come to the table, hash out an agreement hammer out those details?
Watson: I'm ready. And city management is ready. What's been difficult up until now is that the Austin Police Association has not indicated it will come back to the table. And so what we're attempting to do with the resolution that I passed, what, two weeks ago, and this ordinance that will be on the agenda on Feb. 1, that's going to be Thursday. What we're attempting to do is make sure that the police have their salaries and benefits guaranteed. We're also making sure that there's an incentive package in there so that when someone wants to become a cadet, they're incentivized through the entire process and even through their probationary period, and they will get additional money. And we also want to incentivize them to come back to the table. I have had since the election of the new president of the Austin Police Association, at the end of 2023, I've had any number of contacts with with him. He's very clear in the way he approaches things. He's been very open about how he feels about things. So, I'm very hopeful that soon APA will be able to find its way back to the bargaining table because we're both in agreement. We're both in agreement that the best outcome for our police and the police department would be a three to four-year contract.
Sanders: OK, is the g-file. Is that impacting any of this? I know, our viewers probably don't know that. If you could give us a synopsis of what that is.
Watson: The reason it's named the g-file because it's part of a statute that is that all the numbers and then subpart 'G' and it's called the g-file and what it is is this confidential file for complaints that are made against police officers that are determined to be unfounded, or there's no discipline. That has always been confidential. But the voters in Austin last May voted about 79%, to say they don't want a g-file. So we know we know that, and by the way, that vote created an ordinance. So, Austin currently has an ordinance that says you can't have a contract that allows for a g-file. So, we know where we are on that. And so we ought to get back to the table and negotiate because we have the guidance we need from the voters.
Austin Commission for Women
Rush: Final question. You had formed a task force on empowering Austin women entrepreneurs. I believe they've been meeting, and they're supposed to be coming to the table with some recommendations that can be integrated into the system, where do we stand? What do they recommend, and how do we enact?
Watson: Well, they're still doing their work. We've created that and Carla McDonald graciously agreed to serve as chair we call it All Austin with the mayor's task force on Austin women entrepreneurs. One of the things that we've found out, we already knew, and that's why I did this and why Carla and that task force has done such good work, is that there are a number of things that are keeping some of our very creative women in this community from being able to achieve some of the goals they want to achieve. For example, access to capital, one of the things that they have determined is that there's a real problem with access to capital. On a national level, only about 2% of the venture capital finds its way to women businesses. In Austin, it's at 1%. So, things like that things, about getting affordable goods and services to be able to start a business and networking is another big area. And I anticipate that sometime in this first quarter, they'll come back with some actionable items that we'll put into place to help build the ecosystem for our women entrepreneurs.
Sanders: And it seems like it's really focused on creating also an equitable process.
Watson: Well, that's a key part of it. Absolutely. Because we recognize that there hasn't been the kind of equity we need. And one of the big issues there is child care, which is a real passion of mine. And I don't believe Austin will be able to get where we want it to get in terms of equity, unless we're addressing things like child care, and that has a disparate impact on women.