ALESHIRELAW

A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

700 LAVACA STREET, SUITE 1400
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78701

Bill Aleshire

Bill@AleshireLAW.com
512 320-9155 (call) 512 320-9156 (fax)
_______________________________________________________
February 23, 2016
VIA EMAIL: Anne.Morgan@austintexas.gov
Anne Morgan, City Attorney
City of Austin, Texas
301 W. 2nd Street
Austin, Texas 78701
RE: Settlement Offer:
Brian Rodgers v. City of Austin, Cause No. D-1-GN-16000615, in the 345th District Court, Travis County, Texas.
Dear Ms. Morgan,
My client, Brian Rodgers, has authorized me to make the following settlement offer in the
above-styled Open Meetings Act claim against the City of Austin. As you know, the City Council
adopted a zoning ordinance, based on an agenda notice mentioning only zoning, that also included
waivers or redirection of over $100 million in City fees for the Pilot Knob development. We
contend that violates the public notice requirement of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
This settlement offer is made early in the case—before either party starts spending
significant amounts of attorney fees and before the City formally answers the lawsuit—because
Mr. Rodgers cannot imagine that this City Council would believe in retrospect, as a matter of law
or of good governance, that the way the Pilot Knob agenda item was handled is the right way to
conduct taxpayers’ and ratepayers’ business. Even the City Manager, other City staff, and many
of the Council members have publicly admitted that the agenda wording gave no clue of the
enormous fee impact the adopted “zoning” ordinance included. On this assumption, that Council
might agree that public notice was inadequate for the $100 million fee impact, I am authorized to
make this offer of settlement and request that you present it to your clients.
Mr. Rodgers proposes that the City Council either vote to rescind its action taken on
December 17, 2015 on Agenda Item #80, or agree to an Agreed Final Judgment that the action is
void for failure to comply with TOMA section 551.041 relating to disclosure of the “subject” of
the agenda item. In addition, Mr. Rodgers proposes—pursuant to TOMA section 551.142 to
prevent such violations in the future—that the City agree to a narrowly tailored permanent
injunction prohibiting the Council from deliberating or acting on any agenda item in the future for
a zoning matter that includes a waiver or redirection of City development impact fees without

 disclosing that fact in the agenda item public notice.
If the City is agreeable to these terms, I will be available to work with you on specific
documentation of this settlement to expeditiously resolve this lawsuit. We understand, that if the
Council rescinds the Pilot Knob action approving the ordinance (or the action is declared void by
the court), the Council is free to re-post an agenda item in the future with proper public notice to
vote again on the exact same deal or some modification of it. This offer expires one week after
the City files its Answer to this lawsuit. So there is no surprise, please be aware that this settlement
offer is going to be made public; it would seem ironic not to.

ALESHIRELAW, PC
______________________________

Bill Aleshire
Cc:

Brian Rodgers